You are driving through the slums when , all of a sudden , you catch sight of a masked man barreling out of a bank to your right ........ revolver in one hand and a black bag in the other. He pushes a few bystanders out of the way as he wildly makes his way across the street in front of you to the getaway car. As he reaches the curb he trips up and falls spread eagle on the sidewalk....... the gun pops out of his hand and goes skidding through an open restaurant door while the bag bursts open on impact spilling its contents ..... $20 , $50 and $100 bills.....which in turn were scooped up by brisk , gusty winds and sent helter skelter in all directions. With police sirens rapidly approaching the bank robber jumps into his car and speeds off........ with the cops in hot pursuit. Immediately following this failed hold up the civic-minded , honest citizens who had witnessed the whole affair and who had likewise gathered up the scattered bills line up at the bank door to restore the money to its rightful owner.
YEAH ! .... mon oeil , mon pied et mon cul !! My eye , my foot ... and all my other body parts !! Maybe in a perfect world !!! But surely not in this one !!
In 1988 I was driving up the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica just north of Jáco and heading for Puntarenas to see some friends. A truck ahead of me was brimming over with huge frozen tuna fish so I kept my distance ..... and then it happened ! The truck 's left back wheels suddenly dipped into a giant "hueco"..... or pothole..... causing a massive exodus of about 25 "chickens of the sea "..... and sent them sliding and skidding in all directions across the road in front of me. I pulled over and stopped while the truck.....oblivious of its loss.... rumbled onwards and finally out of sight. There was not much traffic along that road but I started pushing the fish like curling rocks to one side anyways and finally got a hand from other passing motorists and local crop farmers.
We started chatting about whether the truck would come back for the " denizens of the deep " or not .... whether the driver even knew he had lost part of his load , etc ......when I noticed that some of the local gentry and their families were legging it "lickity split" down the side roads ... across fields... pushing wheelbarrows !! Coming for the big catch !! Tuna from heaven !! If you enlarge top photo and look closely at my right hand you'll see front end of first barrow to reach the main road. Many others stuffed a tuna into the passenger side of their cars , threw a blanket over it .. and sped off. I smiled to myself and tried to imagine ... in my mind's eye.......the festive meals that would result from this mana from above.
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