Bank Robbery

America, the Land of Opportunity, where anyone can succeed. Where people are free to come up with ideas and turn these ideas into a nice profit. At least that’s what I was taught in school. Only problem is, sometimes even the best idea is completely worthless.

When I was a young kid, a scheming kid, I had the ultimate plan to get rich. The perfect plan - robbing a bank! Not the most original idea, I know. And not the most effective approach either. But with a little different twist, I was convinced my idea would work.

So, I went down to the local bank and studied their security, the building layout, and camera locations. I then spent several days observing the behavior patterns of the employees when they arrived to work and as they left. I then devised my strategy.

Before anyone gets the idea that I’m a criminal with a bank robbing history, I should clarify that I did NOT rob the bank. That was not on my agenda. Instead, I used my well thought out plan as material for a report at school. My teacher was duly impressed; first, that my plan might actually work and second, that I would reveal it.

But that was part of my grand scheme. I needed someone else’s opinion before I moved on. The fact that the teacher thought it would work gave me confidence to go to the next step.

Going back to the bank, I walked right over to the Bank President’s desk and asked to talk with him. For some reason he agreed to talk and I handed him a copy of my report. He read the details of how I would go about robbing his bank, at first with an amused smile. Then, the smile faded into a worried frown.

When he’d finished reading, he wanted to know why I’d given the paper to him. After assuring him that I had no intention of robbing his bank, that I was merely pointing out the possibility that existed by identifying the weak spots in his security, I expected him to offer me some kind of monetary reward.

And that’s where my “perfect” plan hit a snag. He didn’t seem to believe the bank should pay me anything. He said they already had a security firm, which took care of preventing bank robberies. Disappointed, I took my paper and left. My idea hadn’t been worth anything. There would be no payoff.

A few days later though, I noticed some remodeling going on at the bank, along with a few additional cameras being installed. There were other changes as well. Each of the changes were things I'd addressed. Of course, I asked the Bank President why he was making the modifications if my idea had been worthless. He said, “I didn’t say it was worthless or that it wouldn’t work; only that we weren’t paying you for it.”

Well, that was rather un-American, I thought! Obviously, my good idea was only worthless to me. So much for the Land of Opportunity - I couldn’t even make a profit off of bank robbery!

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books. Over My Dead Body, The Journey, and Miscarriage Of Justice, and other titles, are available as ebooks on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. His books are also available in print at most online retailers or at www.bruceabordersbooks.weebly.com. The popular Wynn Garrett Series Books are now available on Barnes And Noble® at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=867526 See Bruce’s Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders #MiscarriageOfJustice #BruceABorders