Ronald Bergerson

The Purloined Bag Ronald Bergerson

Anders Jenson, a high school senior is about to tape record a pair of loons from where he is hidden in the grass near the water?s edge. Just as Anders presses the button to record, the loons explode from the water frightened away by a thrown object. Anders turns and sees two men a short distance behind him conversing beneath a chestnut tree. He aims his parabolic reflector at the two and overhears a plot to rob the local bank. What is more astonishing is the man doing all the plotting is Anders next door neighbor, the bank president. While replaying the tape that night in his bedroom, Anders realizes that there is a brief gap in the robbery when the money is out of sight by either men and free for the taking. The following evening he snatches the bag of money before it is picked up. His sole intent in sabotaging the robbery is because he resents the false injustices dumped on him during the past year by various members of the community and the school. Now faced with what to do with the money and not intent on keeping it, he decides to return it without his involvement coming public. Anders returns the money with a novel solution leaving people to wonder just what happened and who did it.