The Leaf Thief

It all began as a normal day. We were staying home that day to enjoy some rest and relaxation. The day was quiet and peaceful. I decided to go outside to spend some quality time with our dog, Jake. He and I were in the middle of a game of fetch when I noticed that someone had come in our gate and was presently shutting it behind them. He was a young boy, in his teens, and was wearing a dark blue shirt. As he turned from the gate, he saw me and smiled a little bit. A little puzzled by his presence, I merely greeted him with a simple “Sannu” and stood there to see his reaction. He merely returned the greeting and made his way toward our tree.

I must admit, at first, I thought perhaps he was one of our usual visitors who are currently making bricks in our yard. But something in the back of my mind was telling me that he did not seem familiar. So, I opted to covertly observe his actions. I went up to our porch with Jake and sat down, waiting (for what, I didn’t know). I saw him at the tree with something in his hand. In an effort not to be obvious, I tried to give some attention to Jake before looking up again. What I saw astounded me…

He had a plastic bag in one hand and was pulling leaves off of our tree with the other and putting them into the bag. Occasionally he would glance up in my direction but to my annoyance, he didn’t have the slightest look of guilt about him.

Perhaps I was too stunned to react or perhaps I just didn’t have any idea of what to do but regardless, I simply sat there, on our colorful porch chairs, and watched him collect the leaves, walk to the gate, and close the door behind him.

Once I regained my mind, I went to the gate and firmly latched it, hoping to prevent any reoccurrences of this strange event. And then it hit me – I just witnessed the actions of a notoriously disturbing act of thievery. And not just any thievery, leaf thievery. I had just seen the Leaf Thief.