Oops.

Earlier today me and my friend were shopping in Santa Monica, one of the richest places in Los Angeles. I say “we” were shopping but it was mainly him, for I don’t really have any money right now (hmmm, the common places of my stories) and was mainly just tagging along. We went inside this GAP shop and I noticed an abandoned Lush bag next to a pile of shirts (you know Lush, the shop with all the soap bars, solid shampoo and the like). I looked inside to see if there was stuff in it or if it was just a neglected paper bag, saw that there was indeed stuff inside and just walked past it, thinking “Hmmm, a free bag full of Lush stuff!”. But I let it be, and went looking for my friend.

And here’s my first confession: I thought to myself “If the bag’s still here when I come back, I’ll take it”. I wasn’t too sure, but I thought of doing it.

And here’s the second one: I took it! I even told my friend “OK, I’m taking the forgotten bag, let’s make for a quick getaway”. He ruined the quick getaway, but that’s hardly the point. The point is, I shouldn’t have taken it. I should have given it to the cashier or some other store clerk and said “Look, someone forgot this, you should keep it in case they come back”. But I didn’t, I took the bag and tried to blend into the crowd, looking like just another person with just another Lush bag – not one that was forgotten and then stolen.

I feel bad. Not bad as in “I want to kill myself” bad, but bad as in “I wish someone would return my bag if I’d forgotten it in a shop”. And I try to do to others what I would like done to me, I really do – obviously enough, I often fail.

I know it might not be a huge deal, and I try to shake it off by thinking that some people wouldn’t even give this a second though, after all the bag was forgotten, I let it sit before I took it, I was shopping in Santa Monica and whoever bought it can probably afford more. Would Bonnie and Clyde feel bad?! No. Would Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid?! Would Robin Hood?! (now I’m just trying to make myself look a bit better). Well they probably wouldn’t, but I do. Which is, at the same time, silly and…honest.

I don’t want to flog myself too hard, and I am trying to convince myself that this is not that big a deal, maybe just some belated juvenile delinquency. But I’m pretty sure that bag wasn’t worth taking. Damn it. Too late.

 

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