Super Fned to the rescue!!!

Four or five years ago Hubby gave me a pink mini iPod for my b-day. It was one of the very first models that had come out, the cool really pale pink one, and needless to say, I instantly fell in love with the darn gadget. It went with me everywhere and it quickly became my most prized possession.

One day, I was walking to work as usual, listening to music with my iPod fastened to my belt when out of the blue I felt a sudden tug and the music suddenly went dead. I remember screaming and found myself turning around to see a guy running away from me, my sad little pink iPod in his hands. All that I had left were the dangling earphones still suck in my ears and my shaking legs.

The very next day I went to the Fnac and bought myself the same exact model and went back to that street to (symbolically obviously) show that bastard I wasn't afraid of him. Except it wasn't the same exact model. In the time I'd owned mine, Apple had upgraded their mini iPod models and now the pink version came in a much stronger, much fuchsia-er shade.... I still bought it, but it just wasn't the same. I still miss that little pink gadget, even though wherever it is, it's probably too old and too slow, if it still works at all.

I hadn't thought about it in a long time. Until this evening.

My iPhone has currently taken the place of most beloved item in my possession (except over my engagement ring, which still holds the number one slot). So there I was, like any other night on my way home, riding the subway while intently catching up on all the celebrity gossip on my iPhone (this is my way of "winding down" in the evening, so sue me) when out of nowhere a hand flew over my phone and snatched it from my fingers! I remember a half growl/half scream erupted from the deepest part of my throat in the form of a "no!" as I felt my phone slip through my fingers.

Two things happened exactly at the same moment: an instantaneous feeling of immense loss swelled up in my stomach and I heard a soft 'thump' on the floor beside me.

I looked down and saw my iPhone facing down on the floor only a few inches away from my left foot. I immediately looked up and saw the man who'd tried to snatch it from me trying to wiggle his way free from the wagon's doors which had trapped him on his way out. Our eyes met for what surely must have been a nano second but I instantly saw that he was still going to make a plunge for it. And he did. He lunged forward and as his fingers caressed that glossy black case another throaty "no!" rose up from me and I immediately let my foot down over the phone.

It's funny what goes through your mind in moments like this. At that exact moment I remember thinking "crap! now I'm sure I've scratched it!"...

Lucky for me, Apple did a crappy job at making iPhones immune to greasy hands and mine was particularly greasy after a long day of lugging it with me all over the place.

The thief's fingers slipped a second time and this time I simply bent down, picked up my phone from under my shoe where I'd trapped it so he couldn't try a third time and carefully examined it to see if indeed it was damaged.

In retrospect I realize it must have looked really odd to the people sitting in the wagon around us. There he was, a thief caught in between the doors of a metro wagon trying to wiggle his way free seconds after having tried to pry my phone from my hands and there was I, only a few inches away, daintily sitting in my prim suit, with my cute highlights and my pretty ballerina shoes, calmly and carefully examining my precious, retrieved phone.

I didn't give him a second look although I did hear the doors shut behind him as he finally managed to shove his body out of the car and on to the platform.

In all, the whole thing must have lasted no more than 10 seconds and somehow I managed to not freak out while it was happening. I realized later I didn't even move from my sitting position! As soon as the wagon started to move, the woman sitting next to me told me how awed she was at my reflexes while the girl sitting across from me said how it all happened so fast. Incidentally, the guy standing by the pole (and only a few inches from where everything happened) didn't move an inch. Typical!

I admit I did start shaking a little afterward, specially when I saw the red scratch marks on my hands and felt the tingling sensation his sudden snatching maneuver left on my skin. Still, I kept calm and continued to read my gossip tweets as if nothing at all had happened until it was time for me to get off... and I do admit after that, I tucked my phone safely away in my purse and didn't take it out again while I rode the second part of my commute back home.

In any case, it's strange to say this but I actually feel kinda happy.... almost giddy you could say. As if by saving my dear iPhone this time around, I sort of avenged my old pink mini iPod from all those years ago.

Plus, I bet you all those passengers are now sitting down at their dinner table telling their family about that "badass chic in a suit that avoided getting mugged in the subway.... all while not having to move an inch from her seat".

:D
Fned.