Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

If there have been people losing their hats to snatchers, there have been some too who have been able to  escape the snatchers’ hands.  In both occasions, they were commuters inside a public utility vehicle.

Just when a few people inside a jeepney exclaimed “ayyy!!”

I asked “what happened?”

“That kid—was trying to grab my hat” said the wearer who was quick enough to move away.

“Kid?”

I looked out the open window and there, the kid was—mischievous. shameless and acted like nothing happened.  Questions ran in my mind:  Are hats that hot items? Are they easier to sell? Is snatching hats part of a training towards snatching jewelry later?  Is the kid on his own?  Is an adult behind this?

So that one happened in uptown while this second was on a downtown road by the pier:

Good thing, a nursing student inside a jeepney shouted “Watch it” so that an irritated kid missed an endeared hat by an inch.

Then the same student shouted again “There he is!” which drew our attention towards the hat thief.

For a couple of seconds, the kid, less than 12, was making faces at us. The next second, he was holding a stone between his clenched fist. Thanks to the wearer who coaxed him to come closer; that stone was hurled towards our vehicle. What was he thinking– a heart-to-heart talk about good manners and right conduct to a kid who felt ridiculed by the judgmental eyes that looked towards his direction?  I felt like it was our fault that he missed that worn out hat as we all bowed down to avoid getting hurt by the first stone.

The kid picked another stone again so that the conductor uttered but to deaf ears “Ipa-police ta ka ron!” meaning “I am going to report you to the police!”

Apparently, no police was visible in the area. What saved us from the next stone was the traffic light.  The vehicle had to go because the green light was on.