The White Lilly

One Saturday night Howie was out on the town with three friends of his from the movie theater. They walked about town where the stores were, looked in display windows, ate at a hotdog hamburger place, sat on a rock wall, and just talked. The night air felt good. One of them, Jack Sullivan kinda was a leader. Roger Hunt and Fred Jackson were the other fellows. Jack had this idea that they might steal a car in the movie theater parking lot by hotwiring the ignition, drive it to a nearby drug store with a soda shop, wearing masks, rob the counter, an ride away safely into the night. They were to ditch the car and the masks and walk back to their neighborhood. Then each would have some extra money in their pockets. Jack thought each of them might have three to five hundred dollars. No one was likely to get hurt. He had a small pistol that would do for a persuader. They planned how they were to do this. At about eleven at night the store would not have many customers there and the evening’s sales would have left plenty of cash in the register. The cash register was on the counter near the outside door. A woman of about 25 years age ran the counter and store then most nights. So she would not give them much trouble. Each found a colorful large handkerchief to wear. Friday night would be the best time to pull the job.