Priceless Indeed: Texans Visit Rome

My brother John and his lovely wife Pam visited Italy last week in celebration of their 25th anniversary.  I received this email yesterday from him and laughed uncontrollably:

“First, let me say you would never hear of this story if it did not have a happy ending!

Pam and I were setting out to explore Rome on foot. About a block from the hotel a Frenchman called to us from his car while holding a map and asked us if we could help him. When I approached the car and before I had said a word, he asked if we were Americans, I said yes, and wondered how he knew we were Americans…DUH! I was in my cowboy boots and Texas A&M baseball hat, Well, he proceeded to tell us how much he loved Americans, in my mind I was thinking Normandy, WWII, etc… I was oozing with American pride even though I had nothing to do with it!

He thought Pam was beautiful and stated he was a distributor for Armani and handed her a garment bag with a leather coat inside, he said it was worth 900 euros and he wanted her to have it. WOW, I was almost ashamed of how I viewed the French, he just asked us not to sell it… I thought, DUH… OK! The guy tells us he cannot find the French embassy and said he was running out of petrol and would surely run out because of the traffic. He wondered if we would be so kind to give him a little cash to help him. Heck, we had a 900 euros Armani leather coat!!! I said sure while leaning over the driver’s window, I open my billfold to give him a little cash and he snatched 50 euros and took off! We ripped the bag open and it was a pleather coat worth nothing, made in Turkmenistan. 

That was it; my day was ruined because of my stupidity. I was sooo teed-off with myself, we walked and walked to the point of being lost, I was unable to enjoy myself because of my unbelief that I had been taken! I made Pam take the pinky oath to never utter a single word of this incident to anybody for fear of embarrassment. We must have walked to the other side of Rome within the walls and found a place to sit and rest for a few minutes. While resting we see a car pull up to the curb and an elderly gentleman is called to the car. I sat and watched for a couple of minutes and all the gestures were the same as I had experienced. As Gomer Pyle would say, “shazam!”

Can you believe in a city of over 3 million inhabitants we see this French scab at it again? I approach the Frenchman’s car and move the elderly gentleman out of the way and jump in the car. Surprise, surprise, surprise!  I convinced him to surrender (and if you know history this was not hard to do) my money, while
Pam had the presence of mind to take a photo.Our day was all better!”

 

Note to Thieves:

Never assume that a Texan can’t run in his boots…

or that his wife would ever wear pleather.

 

~ by Galvanized on March 6, 2007.