Tony The Thief: Trapped

52 Stories in 52 Weeks: ## 40 Tony The Thief: Trapped *

By: Mr. George D. Patnoe., Jr.'s Ambidextrous Brain + Spiritual Mind.

The house sat alone, on top of a lonely hill, as an unprotected temptation to any thief. Tony sat alone too, in the valley night after night, being tempted by the house’s unspoken desires. Sooner rather than later, Tony mustered up the courage to enter the trap of his own demise, although he knew it not. From a distance, Tony saw only the dark windows during the night hours, as if no soul lived in the house. ‘Surely, no one must be living there, leaving the house’s items unprotected.’ thought Tony.

The issue never emerged within Tony’s mind that maybe his mind and soul was as dark as the house’s windows, so he was not afraid to enter the house with no lights. Being spellbound by the unknown, he could not shake the urge to enter and explore the unknown world of a single standing, seemingly lonely house. The housed seemed to be inviting him in for a visit.

Tony had walked in darkness all of his life; almost from the moment of his birth. He had never seen the light beyond the darkness that surrounded his life, or within his own mind and future. Even though the sunrise rose every morning with the hint of the metaphysical light of wonder, he walked on earth with little wonder in his soul or mind. The metaphysical light of wonder was always within reach of Tony’s thoughts, but he knew not the way or the path to the light of wonderment. He felt as if he had something called a soul, or something other than a skin and bones body, but he never saw it underneath the light of daylight; of that powerful sunlight.

But being a thief in the nighttime, he missed most of the daylight since he mostly slept throughout the daylight. Being a soul walker of the night, he had seen the guts of so many houses that he had seen so many of those nice and normal household items people could own if they worked to make money to purchase household stuff. Even if they never had a hint of the guiding light that would lead them out of darkness of their souls. It seemed a simple dilemma really; the light versus the darkness; just as the sunlight versus the darkest moonless nights for all creatures of the earth.

While most people slept at night, searching for their dreamy adventures in their dreamworlds, or to simply rest for their next day of sunlight, Tony was searching for his own dream of an peopleless house; but a house filled with goodies that he would keep or sell for money. Tony always felt that houses were plainly devoid of a soul when they were empty of living people, like owners and the owners families. Wood and nails put together to form different sized boxes for one purpose or another, so people could live and rest from the world, day or night.

Tony always carried a thick steel crowbar to pry open a window or a door. He knew that he could use it as a weapon if he needed to defend himself from a homeowner who was defending his house from a thief. Tony did not grow up with thieving parents; nor did his brothers and sisters steal. Tony never dreamed of becoming a professional thief, but he called himself a good amateur thief since he had never been caught by either the police or the homeowners; at least not yet.

But sometime, a few months before he was to become an adult, an uncaring gang friend dared Tony to use his crowbar to open a window to the old lonely house on the lonely hill. The dare was to stay in the house for only five minutes. At which time, Tony was to leave the building with only one item. It was part of a gang test, but the gang was always testing. Tony did not hesitate to unlawfully enter a house without the owners permission, because he always followed the gang’s dares because he felt that the gang was more important then losing his freedom or his soul.

It was a moonless night when Tony was dared to unlawfully break into the lonely house, just for the foolish fun of it, just for the foolish challenge of it. The cool winds were blowing wildly through the dark air and around the already chilly Tony. But Tony was dressed with warm black clothes, to be prepared for the chilly guts of the lonely house. He could barely see himself in the night’s shadows. As he walked up the house, he felt his heart increase its pumping action, as his mind was telling him to turn around and pump his feet out of the yard. Two silent voices within the mind of Tony; each voice was a different future for Tony; although he knew not what each future would be for him. One voice said go into the lonely house, the other voice said turn around and run away.

He looked at the house, guessing that it was supposed to be empty of people. But he could not be sure if the house was empty or if people were in it. He knew that the gang had played jokes on him before, with their own sense of humor. They were always looking for a good laugh, at the expense of Tony. But Tony never wavered from their challenges. Tony always wanted to satisfy the gang no matter the result. Even a jail sentence was not a concern for Tony, because he was foolishly unaware of the law of unintended consequences.

As Tony grabbed the crowbar out of his book backpack, he felt his body sweat with cold fear as he looked around the yard. Something seemed strange, but he could not put his finger on it. Yet, he slowly lowered the crowbar to the windows bottom edge and he very slowly pried open the wooden window. Pushing the wooden window up as high as he could push it, he lifted one foot to step through the window, and then the other foot. He knelt down on the cold wooden floor, just to get his mind settled before he began roaming throughout the house. He listened through the house’s silence, but he heard only silence. So Tony closed the window so as not to bring attention to the house with an open window. Tony was trying to be careful, but sometimes being careful can still change the future of one’s life.

Tony held onto the steel crowbar, just in case he needed a weapon against an attacking dog. With the other hand, he grabbed his flashlight and he turned it on. The flashlight’s beam lit up the room. Tony felt like he was temporally safe when he saw the books on the bookshelves. ‘How am I going to find something valuable in a room filled up with books?’ thought Tony.

He stood up and he looked down the aisle of books. He started to softly walk down the aisle of books with his beaming flashlight lighting up the way for him. He knew that he needed to bring something back to the gang as proof that he completed the dare for the gang. He was thinking about a diamond ring or a gun or maybe some cash from a wall safe. He knew that he was going to have to search for something worth some money, so the gang could sell it at a pawn shop.

Walking through down the aisle of books, on both sides of him, he realized that he had never seen so many books in his life. The bookshelves went all the way to the ceiling. Tony was beginning to think that he was in a library, but how could the lonely house be an even lonelier library. It must have been a book room for a very rich guy who loved to collect books, so thought Tony. The rich guy most own better items to steal. Or could he?

So he continued to walk to the next room. He opened the glass door, and he saw many more tall bookshelves with books stacked as high as the ceiling. He walked to the next room and he saw a kitchen pass the next room of books. Next to the kitchen was a room with huge leather chairs and a few sofas. He began to feel comfortable, for many reasons. He was starting to get hungry and tired. He saw huge leather chairs to sit down to rest for a while. And he realized that maybe he would not have to steal anything for the gang, at least for this night. ‘I could always take a book for them. Then the joke would be on them.’ thought Tony, as he noticed the wooden stairs.

The wooden stairs teased his eyes with real thieving possibilities. So he started to walk up the stairs and he carefully and slowly took one step at a time, just to make sure the wooden stairs did not squeak. After all, all thieves know how one squeak of any kind could wake up a sleeping dog. And no thieve wants to deal with a sleeping and especially an awake dog. When he reached the top of the wooden stairs, he noticed the rows and columns of books on the left side of the hallway. They exactly echoed the rows and columns of books on the first floor.

But he noticed the brass signs on the bookshelves ends. So he walked down the lightly lit hallway, only to see the black letters on the brass signs. One after another: History, Economics, Religions of the World, Art, Music, Math, Science, Law, Politics, Psychology, and on and on and on. He could not believe it. ‘What am I going to do, steal a book?’ he asked himself. ‘How was he or they going to make any money with a book? What kind of house was this anyway? Who buys a house and fills it up with books? How could there be books in every room? Did one person read all of these books? I bet there are books in the bathroom too!’ Tony silently giggled at that last thought.

He was beginning to feel as if no one was in the house, so he started to feel at ease as he began his walk down the wooden stairs. Tony was still very careful with each step he took; so he lightly stepped down on the wooden stairs to sneak a listen to the stair’s squeak before the squeak entered the higher air currents of the house. As soon as he started to walk down the wooden stairs, he felt a change in the houses air currents anyway. He felt it was time to leave, so he hurried back to the window from which he had entered the book filled house.

The window was waiting for him as he tried to lift the wooden window up. But it was stuck. It would not budge. So he reached for his crowbar out of his unofficial book backpack and he pointed the steel edge towards the bottom of the window edge. His arm’s muscles tensed as he felt nothing, except the new sweat on his forehead. He could not wait any longer to get out of the house, so he grabbed onto the steel crowbar with one sturdy hand, all fingers tightly holding the instrument of destruction. One flick of his wrist, he swung the crowbar into the window. His eyes opened as the steel crowbar bounced back towards his body. He gripped the crowbar with both hands, and with his two arms, he straightway aimed the edge of the crowbar into the window again. Again, it only bounced back, only harder this time. The sweat of fear began to bubble up on his forehead as he thought, ‘Who protects their books?’

Tony headed towards the front door. Heck, he thought. It should be easy enough to just walk out of the peopleless house. He crept passed the rolls of bookshelves, towards the front door. His body went limp as he notice the seemingly unbelievable sight before his eyes. DOUBLE SIDED DEADBOLT LOCKS. Not only one, but two. Tony quickly froze as he guessed that if the front door had DOUBLE SIDED DEADBOLT LOCKS, then the rear door probably had DOUBLE SIDED DEADBOLT LOCKS too. And if one window had unbreakable Plexiglas as one window, then every window probably had unbreakable Plexiglas too. Tony walked to each window to try to pry them open, but to no avail.

Tony quietly walked over to the refrigerator, opened it and grabbed a drink. He listened intently for any sounds which might have indicated someone had woke up, if anyone was indeed inside the building. After he sat down in a oversized soft leather chair, he put up his feet and relaxed. He felt as if his mind was becoming sleepy, as if he was starting to dream without sleeping. He felt the air become cooler and cooler, as if an air conditioner was on, but he could not hear any sounds throughout the house. It still seemed to be empty, except for the books.

Trapped inside a house with nothing but books, Tony began to feel something new about the house and about himself. He had never seen so many books in his life. He never knew that some people actually like books for all kinds of reasons. To discover other people’s adventures, to learn about new ideas of life and death, of honor and self, to explore new worlds and universes. To find the God of all .To find one’s mind too. Tony’s mind began to realize that there were other possible lives beside his own life of being a thief. He started to see another life for himself, separte from the life of being a gang member; if that is called a life.

The books and the authors started to speak from the great beyond to him. Tony sat still in the huge, leather grand chair to listen to the authors from the great beyond. He closed his eyes to calm himself down; and to calm down the author’s voices from the great beyond, even from the voices from the books themselves. ‘Could the voices of authors speak to the minds on earth? questioned Tony. ‘Could they speak to me?’ wondered a curious Tony. ‘I wonder what they would say if they did speak to me. I wonder.’

Having a mind free from the clutter of television, in a house filled with books and the voices of authors, Tony felt his mind changing into a new creature with a new desire to read all of the books that he could get his hands on. He was becoming trapped into a new life of ideas instead of things. He was beginning to see himself as a reader of books, to learn everything that he did not know. He was slowly deciding to read at night, instead of stalking other people’s houses so he could steal material junk to make his gang happy.

His gang would never care about him if he was ever caught and he had to go to jail or to prison. He suddenly saw himself being surrounded by steel bars and other inmates who were not lucky enough to be trapped in a house fill of books. He saw himself being surrounded by prison guards who were telling him what to do and when to do it. He started to realize how none of gang members would ever visit him in prison. He would be alone, just as he is now, except for the difference between the bookshelves and the steel bars. He saw himself visiting the jail library for books to read. He saw himself being forced to read books in prison because there was nothing else to do. Instead of a nice leather chair, he would be sitting on a cheap used cot or steel bed with a thin pad on it. He would be trapped in jail instead of a house, with no way of escape, except for books.

In no time at all, Tony saw himself visiting the jail library for a book to read, instead of visiting a public library to borrow a book to read. He saw himself trying to mentally escape the prison life, and then he saw himself truly escaping the thieving life. He realized that in no short time, he was going to start reading as soon as he could escape from the trappings of the book house, as long as the police were not waiting for him when he found a way out of the book house. But in any case, he simple saw the simple difference between the jail library and the house and public library: steel bars versus freedom.

Tony had began to wonder why his parents did not collect books. He also began to wish that they had started to collect books so he would have started reading at a younger age. After he had realized the importance of owning a book collection, he also realized that he would be starting a book collection for his own personal library. He knew that he would have a book collection so his future children would be able to read up on any subject they desired. He knew that unlike his parents and gang members, he would teach his children how to read and then force them to read in no uncertain terms.

He knew of so many gang members who ended up in jail, just to find themselves reading books to past the time. Reading books like caged animals, as if they were making up for lost time in their childhood. Tony remembered one older friend who Tony had visited in the local jail. When Tony asked him what he did most of the day, his friend said he read a lot. Which of course seem ironic to Tony. Some people who did not read as children or adults ended up being locked up in a steel bared cage with books in their hands.

He felt himself becoming a new person; a person who did not want to steal another material item his earthly life. Instead, he felt his mind desiring the world of ideas of all the topics that were located in all of the books he had seen. He could not steal the books ideas, but he felt as if he could feel them. How could a soul steal ideas that were located in books? After all, writers of ideas write their words and ideas in books for all people to read; to capture new ideas within the readers minds?’ thought Tony. He had entered a world where all true thinkers of all topics had dared to enter; the realm of knowledge and understanding.

A person’s mind could not be stolen, nor could a person’s soul. He lifted up his hands to simply touch the books covers, as if the hard covers had some sort of magical quality that might be leaking from the inside pages of the books. Yet, everyone knows that the magic of any book lies within its pages, under the book’s cover; just as a soul lies is hidden by the mask of skin and bones called a body.

Even as his fingers rubbed against the books, his whole body felt the importance of the physical book, just as his soul was beginning to feel the magic of words and ideas that were open for all to read, to comprehend, to apprehend, to understand, to know. Tony had found a new world. He felt like a child again. A child who was free to explore the worlds under the sunshine. He was possessed with a new sense of vitality and excitement. Moreover, he felt as if his soul was feeling the soul of the thinkers and writers who wrote to save the souls of all human beings who were lost in the darkness of their souls, by the darkness of ignorance.

Tony giggled softly out loud with a new goal in his life. He still hoped that no one was sleeping in the house, but he now knew that a new future and a bunch of idea worlds awaited both his mind and his soul. He started to feel the ideas of the past and to think about the ideas of the future. Again, his mind felt the need for searching the important ideas of life, instead of searching for physical items in people’s homes.

He started to softly slide his feet forward and his hands rubbed against each book cover on one bookshelf. His eyes glances at titles he could never have imagined existed. ‘Why oh why did not anyone tell me that there was more to life than material junk? Why oh why?’ thought Tony.

Along the way, some unseen force bumped into Tony. Or Tony bumped into it? An unseen wall or obstacle. Tony felt the two invisible hands on his head, as they forced his head to turn towards one specific book. "Some Metaphysical Laws Of The Divine Life and The Life of A Metaphysics." By: an unknown author. He pulled the book from the bookshelf. He causality, but cautiously sat down on the cool wooden floor. After he sat down, Tony opened the book to the table of contents.

1. Why life is grand.

2. What you need to succeed as a human being.

3. The path to eternal life.

4. The universe is not what it appears to be.

5. "With all thy getting, get understanding."

6. Books are a good place to start.

7. Why your mind is more important than your body.

8. The laws of transforming your mind and consciousness from being trapped in the darkness of ignorance to the infinite possibilities of knowledge; the knowledge of the Infinite Intelligence called God, and its spiritual laws.

Tony stood up and put the book into his now official backpack book bag. As he felt the crowbar, he took it out and placed it on the bookshelf to replace the book. He quickly walked to the rear door. Tony grandly smiled as the saw the DOUBLE SIDE BOLTED LOCKS on the rear door. He simply turned the key to open the rear door to freedom. Tony walked out of the book house knowing that the gang would never obtain his last stolen item as he gained his freedom from ignorance and gangs.

* I posted this story on Sunday. On Tuesday, this story was posted.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21213352/