Read Scenes From the City: A Knitting in the City Wintertime Surprise for Free Online

ended up running after Alex. Apparently, his definition of jogging was a sprint.
    We dashed into the museum, raced through the lobby, and didn’t pause to pay.
    “Wait, what about-” I sputtered in protest.
    “Already done, hurry.”
    We climbed the stairs two at a time, and Alex pulled out his cell phone. While mounting the steps, he touched out a message then stuffed the cell back in his pocket.
    I was breathing heavily and definitely sweating when we stopped just inside a gallery that looked very much like all the others. Alex spun suddenly, and I collided with his chest. He reached for my arms to steady me, his eyes studying my face.
    “Are you okay?”
    I nodded. “Yeah. Fine. Water.”
    “What?”
    “Need water.” I fanned myself, unable to manage long sentences.
    He grinned. “We’ll have time for that later; come stand over here.”
    Alex reached for my hand again and pulled me to a bench in the middle of the room. I thought he wanted me to sit on it, so I moved to do just that.
    “No, no, no—you can’t sit yet. Stand here, like this.” He positioned me next to the bench, angling my shoulders very precisely toward the open doors we’d just entered.
    I glared at him because, though the wheels were sometimes slow, the gears in my head just clicked, and I caught on that he was definitely up to something. I glanced down at my T-shirt and read the white lettering. It said, Tasered Anyone Today?
    Oh shizterhosen.
    “What’s going on?”
    Alex lifted his eyebrows, gave me another grin. This time I could see his excitement; it was a living, palpable thing.
    “Well, you said-”
    “Alex! There you are.”
    Alex turned, and I leaned to one side to look around my husband to see who had just entered the room. It was Dan the security man with his stripper eyes.
    “Dan…?” I said.
    “Sandra. Hey.” He lifted his chin in greeting, then turned his attention to Alex. “You’re late. If we’re going to do this, then you need to get into position.”
    “Okay, we got it.” Alex nodded.
    “Is she wearing the vest?” Dan pointed to me.
    “The vest?” I asked them both; neither answered.
    “I was just about to do that.” Alex reached under the bench and pulled out two items: a bag and a bulletproof vest. The first he handed to Dan. The vest he hoisted around my shoulders and helped me slip my arms through.
    “What…wait…what is going on?” I knew my eyes were huge as they moved between Alex and Dan.
    Dan briefly dug around in the bag, then handed Alex an odd-looking black rectangle, which he took with care, then turned to me.
    “We have just enough time to go over the basics. Don’t worry; they shouldn’t be armed, and the rest of Dan’s team will either be chasing them in here or are on the other side of that door. I wouldn’t put you in a situation where there was a chance you’d get hurt. Okay? You’re perfectly safe.”
    “What is going on?” I asked again, this time my voice betraying my panic. My heart was racing, I was hot and sweaty, and everything was happening too fast.
    Dan ignored my question and pointed to the strange rectangle thing Alex was holding. “You will aim like this, and press here, then the dart electrodes will shoot out—but they’ll stay connected via conductors…”
    I blinked at Dan and his calm recitation of how to operate the object, which I’d just realized was a taser. I was so entrenched in my own little world of shock—no pun intended—that I missed most of the demonstration, but I did tune back in just in time to hear the never do’s, aka: never point it like this, and never do that, and never touch here.
    “Oh my God…who, who am I going to taser?”
    “Just some guy who is trying to steal art.” Alex shrugged, he literally shrugged off the fact that I would soon be electrocuting someone. I wasn’t surprised because Alex was a total weirdo, but I was stunned…again, no pun intended.
    “Some guy? Some guy?” My voice cracked.
    “Don’t