An eventful evening in Paris

By Riza Sharma

I was 7 years old when I went to France for our summer vacations along with my parents and younger sister.

On our first evening, we planned to visit the nearby market. It was a cloudy evening. We saw a shop selling freshly made croissants. And so, my dad decided to buy some croissants for us. He told us to stay near the shop while he brought the croissants for us.

As we were waiting, two men came and started talking to my mom. They were very friendly to us. They even played with my sister for a while.

My mom was carrying a yellow-coloured small bag. Suddenly, I figured that my shoe laces had untangled and so, I requested my mom to tie them. I sat on the nearby chair while my mom was tying my laces. Her bag was still on her shoulders.

Soon, my dad returned with the croissants. The strangers were still there, talking with each other. We walked to the other side of the road, while my sister and I were eating the delicious croissants.

As we walked on the road, rain started to pour heavily. My dad opened an umbrella and I opened mine. Suddenly, my mom realised that her yellow bag was missing! In that bag, we had our passports and money. My parents panicked thinking that we will be in Paris forever! Without a passport, we will never be able to go back to India. We were all frightened. My little sister started to cry.

My mom recalled that when she was tying my shoelaces, she did feel something was off. But she ignored it. At that time, the strangers were still there. So, my parents were sure that the two strangers stole the bag.

We went back to the hotel thinking that we must report the incident to the police. When we arrived, I opened the cupboard to take my colouring book while my parents were still talking about the missing bag.

In the cupboard, I witnessed something and couldn’t believe it! Our passports and money were there in another yellow bag. It wasn’t the one which my mom was carrying. I squealed in excitement and told my parents. They were very happy and relieved.

My mom suddenly remembered that the stolen bag consisted of some biscuits and chocolate powder, and not the passports. The bag was still missing but since there wasn’t any important stuff in it, it was a relief.

Eventually, we couldn’t stop laughing thinking about the expressions of those thieves who thought they fooled and looted us. We outsmarted them!