Jottings From Fifth & G: Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue

One November Saturday I headed out at 3:30 for Safeway. My grocery list was small, but necessary: romaine lettuce for Rusty, my canary, Tylenol and nose strips for a deviated septum. I found a handicapped parking place near the entrance and clumsily rounded up my purse, cane and two brown bags. That’s when I think I was spotted by three perpetrators — a white haired senior with a cane, a purse and two brown grocery bags, walking with caution.

I headed to the wine aisle, but was distracted by a half-price sale of Ruby Jewel ice cream bars, the Rolls Royce of ice cream bars. Last summer I had my first one at a lavender farm, a lovely eight-ounce confection of lemon cookies and honey lavender ice cream. Pricey, yes, but these were half price!

Reaching for one on the top shelf, always a bit of a stretch, I knocked down two.

One I threw in the cart next to its lone occupant, my black, quilted purse. Before stooping down to pick up the other bar from the floor, I glanced at my purse. It seemed safe, but I was also aware of very many people around the freezer display.

With the Ruby Jewel in its place on the top shelf, I tried to marshal on.

That’s when a voice behind me asked, “Ma’am is this yours?” I ignored him since I didn’t think he was addressing me. But he asked again, louder, and I turned to see a piece of yellow paper in this hand. I shook my head, ‘no’ and proceeded on my way. That’s when I saw my purse was missing. Stunned, I turned to find the man who spoke to me and quickly went to the nearby entrance shouting, “My purse was stolen. Someone stole my purse.”

A couple in their 20s dashed off for Dick’s after a Salvation Army volunteer pointed in that direction. Another kind and helpful couple asked me what I intended to buy and I mentioned my three items. Crystal, the store manager, brought me water from Starbucks where I sat for the next two hours with Mark, a Tualatin policeman, who had been parked at Dick’s. Later, I confided in friends that was the first time I spent chatting with a man one on one in 11 years. (Well, maybe with my dentist two years ago when we discussed a major overhauling of upper teeth).

Mark gave me the phone numbers of two credit cards to cancel, but I couldn’t see. A pair of readers was in my purse along with my phone. A Safeway employee brought me a pair of 250 readers so I could punch in the numbers. We learned that the thieves had already made stops at Home Depot and Walmart, charging $500 worth of gift cards and merchandise.

In “A Scandal in Bohemia” Sherlock Holmes told Dr. Watson, “You see, Watson, but you don’t observe.” This rings true. I had looked at my purse in the cart, but didn’t observe the people around me, only sensed them. Apparently, three people were involved — one to distract, one to snatch and quickly pass it on to a third. In other words: observing on the pigeon’s part; seeing on the statue’s.