Rough but Complete: Metro Story

Man have I got some stories for you guys! This past week alone I have visited Granada with my school, Tangier with my family and Barcelona with some friends. I will post more about the first two later but first I MUST tell you all about what just happened to us all on the Barcelona metro....

Around 8 p.m. the four of us decided that we wanted to go see this really cool light show at the old Olympic Stadium/Grand Palace. So, we got our things together and headed out to take the metro to the old end of town. Well, it being Saturday night and all, the metro was absolutely packed. But we managed to huddle into a corner and settled in for the long ride. Well, at the next stop these two blokes got on and stood next to me and my other blonde friend Marissa. They were standing too close. At one point I could have sworn that I felt one of the guys hands in the pocket of my purse but being my Midwestern self I figured that they were only pressing up against us because of the overpopulated metro car. Still, I decided to hug my purse after that. Well, after two more stops the guys were still creepin´ and I was getting a peeved. But my dude finally backed off after some forceful hints.

But then the craziness ensued. Around the third stop my guy got off of the metro as soon as the doors opened. Marissa's pal however, hung around a bit longer and made for the doors just as they started to close. Suddenly, Marissa turned to me panicked and said, "he has my wallet!" In my state of shock I looked over and saw that that guy had gotten caught in the metro door. Without really thinking this through I made my way over to him, tugged on his shirt and in the best Spanish I could muster asked if he had my friend's wallet. [Editor´s note: Ok, yes this was the lamest way to approach a pickpocketer but in my defense this all happened very fast and I had never been pickpocketed before]. The guy didn't answer. Apparently asking for a wallet was not very intimidating. But I guess I looked pathetic enough because suddenly this long-haired, bearded man grabbed the thief by the collar and pulled him back onto the car. Without letting go of the greasy little rat´s shirt, our knight-in-shining-leather (he was wearing a leather coat) started to yell at the thief and kept asking him where he put our wallet. The whole time this was going on the metro was at a standstill (remember this for later).

Another passenger on the metro began to shout and pointed to just outside the car door where the thief´s hands had escaped without the rest of his body. There, lying on the tiled floor of the metro station was Marissa´s leather wallet! The passenger handed me the wallet and I went back to our corner to give it to Marissa. In the mean time, the short rat (the thief) escaped from our knight and lunged for the still-open door. But he was no match for our hero. (I´m just going to name this guy Knight for the rest of the story, ok? And let´s just go ahead and name the thief Sotu [scum of the universe]).

Knight grabbed the rat again and yelled (in Spanish), "No! You are going to the police." Well, suddenly a random man (we will call him Jorge) standing outside of the metro car grabbed Sotu out of the hands of Knight and said that he would take over from there. Knight would not have this. (I think he thought that Jorge was Sotu´s friend and was simply going to help him escape). Yelling, "No! Police!" once again, Knight played tug-of-war with Jorge for the posession of Sotu. Looking back on this moment, I realize just how bizarre of an experience it was. Two grown men were standing on and off of a metro car in Barcelona fighting for the possession of a greasy, little man.

Anyways, Jorge eventually let go and pulled out a police badge! Apparently Barcelona has undercover cops stroll the metro systems looking for pickpocketers. Well, this was good enough for Knight and he let Sotu go. Jorge also wanted to speak with Marissa and the rest of us about the whole incident so the four of us got off of the still-stalled metro car and waited to be questioned. Looking up and down the metro station I could see dozens of Barcelonians peeking their heads out of the other metro car doors, straining to see what had happened and why they had not moved on to their next destination. When the metro finally left, it seemed like everyone was looking at me, the other girls, Jorge and Sotu...so much for a low-key trip.

While Sotu went with Jorge´s partner to sit on a bench with the man who had burst my bubble in the metro ride (I don´t know how he was caught) Marissa searched through her purse to make sure that Sotu hadn´t taken anything else. All of her money and cards were where they should have been. But wait, the cell phone that had been in her zipped up coat pocket was missing. Jorge instructed his partner to search Sotu´s pocket and sure enough the slime ball had used his greasy hands to snatch away Marissa´s phone! Not only that, but Jorge brought over two other cell phones to make sure that they didn´t belong to any of us. They didn´t. I guess Sotu and his pal had been at it for awhile.

In the end, we got to the Grand Palace and the Olympic Stadium (where there was no light show) unharmed and much wiser. I learned that when approaching a pickpocketer it is better to grab him by the scruff and scream in his face than to pull on his shirt and sternly question his motives. Sotu, on the other hand, learned what it was like to be booked for petty theft.

The only thing that I really regret is that I never got a chance to thank Knight. We were all still in shock when we walked off of the metro that I don´t think any of us really got a chance to properly express our gratitude. So Knight, I seriously doubt that you are actually going to read this but, thank you! You saved the day. And while I´m sure that I had the pickpocketer trembling in fear, I don´t think that everything would have worked out quite as well without you.

P.S. Moment of irony. When we got back on the Metro to go to dinner a woman stopped us as we were walking in the station and warned us to watch our bags tonight because they might get stolen. The universe has a very sick sense of humor.