A “Brave” Girl

By Yanran Yixiao

A “Brave” Girl

By Yanran Yixiao

A robber managed to rob a bank with a gun. The police arrived when he was about to escape. Soon he was forced into a corner. All at once, he caught a boy as his hostage.

Seeing it, the police immediately tried to calm him, guaranteeing that everything can be settled through negotiation. Then, with his gun pressing against the boy’s head, the robber shouted: “Give me a car, or I will kill him.”

The police replied: “We only have police cars, by which you cannot make your escape. I have to ask for instructions to find a civil car for you. So please give me some time.”

Right this moment a white car made a turn at an intersection in the distance and came over slowly toward them. The robber changed his mind and took the boy to the road. As the car came near, he raised his gun,yelling at the car: “Stop, stop!”

Then something unexpected happened. The car didn’t stop.Moreover, it accelerated suddenly toward the robber. Frightened by this, he threw the gun with a cry and rushed to the roadside, rolling and crawling. Meanwhile, the car swerved to avoid the boy and crashed into a guardrail.

The police came up and subdued the robber instantly. It was not until the robber was caught that the crowd realized what had happened and applauded.

The police picked up the gun only to find it a toy gun. Thanks to the buffering of the guardrail, the car was not badly damaged. Then, the door opened, a young woman stumbled out.

A policeman looked at the brave girl with approval. He gave her a thumb up: “But for your help, we can’t seize him. But...” the policeman added seriously: “It is too dangerous to do so. Fortunately it wasn’t a true gun.”

The girl who had hardly recovered from the shook kept patting her chest until she calmed down. Then she replied with a tremble in her voice: “Sorry, Sir. I…I stepped on the gas by mistake.”

(From Short-short stories Monthly, issue 6, 2017. Translation: Lu Xin)

一個劫匪持槍搶劫銀行得手，倉皇逃命時，被聞訊趕來的警察逼到了街角。情急之下，劫匪劫持了一個男孩。

見此情形，警察忙安撫劫匪，勸他不要沖動，一切好商量。劫匪用槍抵住男孩的頭部，扯著嗓子大叫：“給我一輛車，不然我就殺了他。”

警察答應說：“我們只有警車，給你你也逃不掉。這樣吧，我請示上面給你調一輛民用車，不過你得給我時間……”

正在這時，一輛白色轎車從遠處路口轉過彎，緩緩地朝這邊開來。劫匪眼前一亮，不再理會警察，拖著人質來到路上。等小車開得近了，劫匪猛地抬起槍對著小車聲嘶力竭地大喊：“停車，給我停車！”

令人意想不到的事情發生了。小車非但沒停，反而突然加速，呼嘯著朝劫匪撞過來。劫匪被這突如其來的陣勢嚇蒙了，哀嚎一聲，丟掉手里的槍，連滾帶爬撲倒在路邊。與此同時，小車猛地一個轉向，躲過男孩，撞到交通護欄上停了下來。

警察沖上去，以迅雷不及掩耳之勢制伏了劫匪，圍觀的群眾這才醒悟過來，齊聲鼓掌。

警察撿起那把槍，發現是把仿真玩具手槍；再看那輛車，由于護欄的緩沖，受損并不嚴重。這時，車門打開了，一個年輕女子哆哆嗦嗦地下了車。

警察贊許地看著眼前這位見義勇為的女漢子，沖她豎起大拇指：“姑娘，謝謝你幫我們，才能抓住劫匪。不過……”警察話鋒一轉，說：“你這樣做也太危險了，幸虧只是把玩具手槍。”

姑娘驚魂未定，不住地拍著胸口，待情緒稍稍平復，才顫聲說道：“對不起，警察同志，我……我踩錯油門了。”

（摘自《小小說月刊》2017年第6期）

女漢子撞劫匪

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