My mom was rather tiny. Five feet plus ½ inch tall, all 112 pounds of her. Not really the athletic type. In fact, I don’t ever recall seeing her run.

That’s why this story shocked me. It was so out of character for her.

Mom was working as a supervisor at a sewing factory (back in the days when some of our clothes were sewn in North America). She shared an office with another supervisor. I can’t remember the other supervisor’s name, so I’ll call her Tina.

The office was close to the front door, with windows all around so they could see the factory floor from the office. Not one way glass – people on the factory floor could also see into the front office (this tidbit of information will be important later).

Sometimes Mom and Tina would both be on the floor, so the office would be empty. This event took place in a small town, where people don’t tend to think about security.
But one day, when the office was empty, a couple of teenage boys snuck in and stole Mom’s and Tina’s purses from the office. Fortunately, because of the windows in the office, Mom saw them on the way out with the stolen purses.

Here comes the freaky part. Mom and Tina decided to chase the boys. Now, neither of these women was athletic, so they jumped into their cars and chased the boys across town until they ducked into an apartment complex. At this point, my mom called the police. The police went into the building, caught the kids, and retrieved the purses!

The ending of this story, I will warn you, is somewhat anticlimactic. Mom went to the police station to give a statement. When she asked for her purse, they told her that it was evidence in a crime, and had to be held there. They did give her wallet back, but all of the other contents of the purse had to stay in the evidence room.

When Tina went to give her statement and asked to retrieve her belongings, they wouldn’t give her anything, not even her wallet. The police said that the purses would be returned after the case was closed.

I really don’t understand why there had to be a trial. After all, the kids were caught red handed. But, this is a civilized country, and everyone has the right to their day in court. The really unbelievable part was that the courts were so insanely overbooked that it took two years for this case to come up, and then the police made a plea bargain with the kids. They plead guilty to some other charges that they had been arrested for, and the purse snatching charges were dropped.

So – after two years, Mom and Tina finally got their purses back. I warned you that the end of the story was anticlimactic.

I still can’t believe that my mom chased those kids. I’m so proud of her!