He was in town and about to cross the street when he saw the man coming out of a shop.
The man he was looking at was him! The man’s picture was on the news the night before. What was his name? No, he couldn’t remember. Doesn’t matter though, does it? He was looking at the FBI’s most wanted terrorist. He was having a job to take it all in. What did the news report say? Do not approach, as he is considered to be armed and dangerous. What else? Yes, that’s right, there’s a reward of up to five million dollars for information that leads directly to either his apprehension or conviction. That’s a lot of money, but he needs to be very careful about what he does next.
He doesn’t cross over. Instead, he follows the criminal from the other side of the road while hanging back. This gave him time to think. He took out his mobile phone and rang the emergency number. He was put through to the police. After a brief exchange, the detective he’d been patched through to said the man in question was approaching a CCTV camera on the corner of the street.
After a couple of minutes the voice on the phone said, “Yes, we’ve got him. Hang on. Just a minute.” The phone went silent and the caller kept walking. He heard a crackling as his phone came back to life. “Hello. Yes, we’ve identified him.”
“You have? That’s great!”
“He’s a butcher.”
“I know he is.”
“No, no, he’s a real butcher!”
“Oh! I’ve no doubt about that, I saw the media report last night. I assure you I’ll be very careful.”
“Listen, you’re not getting the message. He’s not a terrorist, he’s a butcher. You know, he cuts up meat and poultry and sells it. For goodness sake, the guy makes sausages!”
Supressing both surprise and deep disappointment at the same time, and before ringing off, he managed to murmur, “Oh!”