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500 ish Word [of the day] Story

March 5, 2020

FILCH | verb

: to steal secretly or casually


The hallway was barely lit at this time of the evening as the sun made its fast decent towards the horizon. A man peers his head around the corner, scanning his surroundings, before gesturing to his partner to move ahead. In response, she steps out from behind him and boldly walks down the center of the hallway, not taking care to be silent or hidden. The man throws his hands in the air in exasperation but follows her as they make their way down the hall towards a frosted glass door. There are muffled voices, jazz music and a soft yellow light leaking through the crack at the bottom of the door. She takes hold of the handle and slowly, quietly turns it, opens the door just enough for the two of them to slip through and quickly shuts the door behind them once again.


Another hallway stretches out before them, the voices and music are slightly louder now that they are on the other side of the door. Men and women in white button ups, black vest and black pants enter the hallway through two double doors every once in a while, replacing an empty tray with another that is piled high with cocktail snacks or precariously balanced with champagne glasses. Looking down at themselves, the man and woman assess the attire they themselves are wearing to see if they made the right selections that would allow them to blend in alongside the other servers. Aside from the addition of a small black bow tie, they both match the uniform flawlessly. Together, the man and woman match the stride and speed of the next cycle of servers swapping trays and each pick up a tray of their own. They follow the flow out of the kitchen hallway area and into a space that could only be described as a grand ballroom. Everything in the room glittered and shone like it was made out of pure gold and the chandeliers and center pieces appeared to be made out of the highest quality crystal. The walls were lined with dozens of tables displaying unique and expensive looking art pieces just asking to be filched.


Taking in their surroundings, the man and woman were so astounding by what they saw that it stopped them in their tracks. Servers entering the ballroom behind them quickly dart around them, struggling to keep their trays balanced, to avoid a collision. The man and woman quickly compose themselves and strategically begin to make their way towards the display table, only stopping every so often to make a show of offering gala attendees something from the tray of food in their hands. With practiced ease, the woman approaches a guest standing in front of a small item on one of the tables. Before she could reach them however, she is intercepted by an older gentleman wearing a very well tailored and expensive looking suit.


"What on earth do you think you are doing? A bow tie? This is unacceptable, I specifically requested for there to be no bow ties present at this gala. It upsets the guest of honor who donated all these pieces of art for auction. See?" He gestures towards an older lady sitting at a round table. She is fanning herself and being offered multiple glasses of water from the entourage of concerned guests that have gathered around her. The woman looks around the ballroom and sees that her partner has also been cornered by a man who appears to be accosting him for the same offense given how angrily he is gesturing towards the bow tie. The man and woman make eye contact and non verbally agree that their infiltration into this gala was without a doubt unsuccessful and they need to make a hasty retreat. Both the man and woman emphatically apologize for their lapse in judgement as they make their way back towards the hallway they entered in.


Once they made it past the double doors and back to the safety of the kitchen hallway the woman turns to the man, "I told you the bow ties were one step to far."


He gives her a look of indignation, "This is what they wear in the movies?"

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