2.1 Close Reading

Citizen's Arrest

Summary

"Citizen's Arrest" by Charles Willeford in Between the Lines 11 on page 159 (2002)

The story begins with the protagonist going to his favourite department store to look at outdoors equipment. He is not there long before he spots a man wearing a green raincoat with deep pockets stealing a pricey lighter from a display. In his desire to be an upstanding citizen, the protagonist finds a store clerk and reports the theft. The manager and store security are summoned quickly, and the narrator is questioned about his certainty of the theft. The manager is quite concerned about blaming a person for the crime because of the reputation of the store.

The protagonist is quite sure of the thief's guilt, and he becomes committed to helping the manager and security in their attempt to try and catch the thief. The thief is apprehended quickly, but to the protagonist's shock, he produces a receipt for the lighter. This makes the manager of the store angry at the protagonist because the "thief" now looks completely innocent. Both the protagonist and the "innocent" thief leave the store shortly after.

The protagonist is quite frustrated and confused while sitting in his car outside when the accused thief walks up and knocks on the window. The man in the green jacket then asks the protagonist if he would like to buy the stolen item he still has in his pocket, prompting the protagonist to ask the thief angrily how he got away with it. The thief explains proudly that he had bought a lighter in the morning, and he used the same receipt to go back and "collect" another one, and that he had even been planning to get one more lighter before the protagonist had interrupted him!

The protagonist is enraged about his own realizations about justice at this point and tells the thief to go away and leave him alone. A few minutes later, a police officer walks up and proceeds to give a ticket to the protagonist because a "good citizen in a green raincoat" had informed the officer that the protagonist's car was illegally parked and that the protagonist had been rude to him (the thief) upon his "gentle warning" about it.