"Excuse me, can you take a photo of us?"
"Of course," I respond taking the camera. I hold the viewfinder up near my face and watch the last face slide into the camera.
It occurs to me that I can outrun any of these people who I am photographing, especially in a crowd. People stretch out nearly too tightly packed to move for blocks and blocks. There are easily a million people here, and almost no cops. I could take this camera and pawn it for about 100 dollars, and there would be effectively no consequences. There is literally nothing stopping me.
"Say cheese!" I smile and click a picture. "Alright, hold on, let me get a second one for you."
"You're so sweet!" the camera owner grins as I hand it back to him.
***
"Yeah I slept on the grass here my first night here before my dorm opened," he shrugged.
"Yeah, there's like no security here. You want to climb that tower?"
"What?"
"You know," I pointed to the top of the nearest clock tower, "see what's at the top."
"There's something wrong with you."
I laugh and put one hand on the back of my head and laugh, running my fingers through my hair nervously, "Oh, well I wouldn't say..."
"Those people you hang out with have broken your mind. All you see now are ways to break society."
"Yeah, there's like no security here. You want to climb that tower?"
"What?"
"You know," I pointed to the top of the nearest clock tower, "see what's at the top."
"There's something wrong with you."
I laugh and put one hand on the back of my head and laugh, running my fingers through my hair nervously, "Oh, well I wouldn't say..."
"Those people you hang out with have broken your mind. All you see now are ways to break society."
***
When I was 17 I considered retroactively getting myself a second birth certificate under a fake name. I was going to say I was 14 (I looked young enough). With a second certificate I could get a new passport and driver's license, and from there I figured I could get anything else I wanted. I'd take the exam to get a GED, and then I wouldn't need to attend a second high school to be a credible person. It was going to be a whole second me, just in case I screwed up and really wanted to start over.
It was also because I realized how absurdly easy it would be at a young age such as that to legally speaking become two or more people. Until you are 18 there is little to no record of your existence, and few consequences for messing around are fairly small. I knew it was a very bad idea, but I was just itching to do it, just because I knew I could.
It was also because I realized how absurdly easy it would be at a young age such as that to legally speaking become two or more people. Until you are 18 there is little to no record of your existence, and few consequences for messing around are fairly small. I knew it was a very bad idea, but I was just itching to do it, just because I knew I could.
***
$57.67, got one two three of these...
I flip the checks over to sign them, then copy the amounts onto the deposit slip.
Why is a check secure? Does anybody check my handwriting? I have friends who sign their credit card receipts with stick figures and dicks and nobody ever seems to notice that. Does anybody even know what my handwriting or signature even look like? How could somebody tell if I forge it?
This thought brings me to the front of the check. How hard would it be to make a fake birth certificate, show it to the DMV to get them to print you a fake driver's license, use it to open a fake bank account, scan and photoshop the checks, print a whole series of them, and write yourself 100 dollar checks until they start bouncing. There's no real security in checks, and everything I'd need to print fake ones is on a single check.
***
I flip the checks over to sign them, then copy the amounts onto the deposit slip.
Why is a check secure? Does anybody check my handwriting? I have friends who sign their credit card receipts with stick figures and dicks and nobody ever seems to notice that. Does anybody even know what my handwriting or signature even look like? How could somebody tell if I forge it?
This thought brings me to the front of the check. How hard would it be to make a fake birth certificate, show it to the DMV to get them to print you a fake driver's license, use it to open a fake bank account, scan and photoshop the checks, print a whole series of them, and write yourself 100 dollar checks until they start bouncing. There's no real security in checks, and everything I'd need to print fake ones is on a single check.
***
"This country need stricter gun control," she says.
"Why,"
"Because people can't be trusted."
We already trust people on a very basic level. Our society is drastically insecure, and all that really keeps it going is a combination of the ignorance of some and the good faith of others to not dismantle it brick by brick despite the abundant chances around us.
"Why,"
"Because people can't be trusted."
We already trust people on a very basic level. Our society is drastically insecure, and all that really keeps it going is a combination of the ignorance of some and the good faith of others to not dismantle it brick by brick despite the abundant chances around us.
***
I'm holding two silver dentist-tool like implements. The pick has a smooth handle which narrows to bulb out again into a small circle on the end. The torque bar was a thin piece of metal which was twisted into an L.
"These," Colo says, "are what I started with."
"What now?"
"Now you practice."
In the short time between Magpie's graduation and the beginning of my internship that year I learned to melt through a whole stack of masterlocks. I think if people realized how little was put into these locks they would not have such faith in them.
"These," Colo says, "are what I started with."
"What now?"
"Now you practice."
In the short time between Magpie's graduation and the beginning of my internship that year I learned to melt through a whole stack of masterlocks. I think if people realized how little was put into these locks they would not have such faith in them.
***
The crowds of people flow and ebb like an ocean and lap against the stairwells between wharfs. I duck from the crowd and run up a stacked pallet to jump onto the side rail of the stairway, swing over it, and then onto the back of the fence. Somebody shouts "hey" at me but I'm back into the crowd before anybody can catch me.
Funny, that fence is locked with a masterlock.
Funny, that fence is locked with a masterlock.
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