Your nimble fingers secrete the stray merchandise at Main Street's Almighty Dollar Store - a place brimming with inanimate objects made in Japan and China, transported into your bulky winter coat's four outside pockets
Hide that pack of gum, those ballpoint pens, mechanical pencils, tiny spiral bound notebooks that fit so easily
Conceal that paperback best seller you were looking through earlier, the one titled "Where is God?" in bold red type superimposed against a threatening gray sky
Grab that bracelet for your wife, that string of pearls too and don't forget a bib for the baby, a knickknack to brighten your mother's dingy living room and remember to take those black leather gloves so perfect for the months ahead
With your heart racing, move toward the exit door, walk - don't run - avoid eye contact - that's it - keep going, but slowly
And then, as you take a few steps forward outside, someone from behind roughly grabs your shoulders
As you turn around, those gloves fall out of a crowded pocket, landing on the snowy sidewalk
The hefty security guy retrieves the gloves and nudges you back into the warmth of the store
Somewhere in the distance, carolers are singing "Silent Night"