a fortuitous mugging

An otherwise uneventful visit to Los Angeles by the Jianus family was interrupted recently by armed robbery. “Can you imagine!?” said Hulfu, at 14 years the youngest child and only boy. “All the movies I have ever seen were coming true. There was the man standing with the knife and asking for our wallets. So cool!” The Jianus', a Finnish family, had traveled to America's West Coast to go to Disneyland and learn how to surf, and up until the time of the mugging everything had been running smoothly. “Then, though, Dad decided to save some money by traveling to Venice boardwalk by bus instead of by cab,” said Estra, the middle child, a maiden of 16 years. “We find ourselves deep in East Los Angeles, and as soon as we get off the bus, a dirty man jumps up from where he was lying in a pile of trash. He rips the map from my father's hands and puts a weapon in my mother's face, saying he wants money. My father throws his wallet at him and we all run the other way. Wow. I can't wait to tell my friends back in Oulu.“

“Because none of us were injured, my husband refused to call the police,” said Tilda, the family's matriarch, a lithe woman of 37 years. “I mentioned to the hotel concierge what had happened, and she made the call. I don't think they found the poor man, and I don't expect to recover what money was lost, but I hope our experience will cause other people to be more careful than we were.” The Jianus' have been staying at a hotel in Downtown L.A., the nexus for most city bus lines. “On every block of Broadway, there seem to be three different buses going in six different directions,” said 19 year old Xantha, the eldest daughter. “I feel bad that my father threw his wallet at the man, whose feet were swollen and covered with large blisters and who was obviously a little crazy in the head. Maybe before we leave I go back and give him some hot food and more money.”

Violent crime is relatively rare in Finland; the Jianus' story has been taken up by that country's press corps and reprinted by all of its major news outlets. “Lots of people praise me for relinquishing my wallet and then running, instead of just running,” said Ervost Jianus, age 40. “And anyway, as a seasoned world traveler, I never leave my hotel room with important documents on my person, so the wallet contained only a few hundred dollars in cash. I shall likely be made to sleep on the couch for a few weeks, but that is a price I accept for giving my children an experience they will never forget.” In the week after this story first hit Finnish shores, travel bookings from Helsinki to Los Angeles increased fivefold.

mentiri factorem fecit – 場黑麥