Arrest: William's brush with the gavel and block

With his new wages from his waiting job, William decided to treat himself to a lone shopping trip in Taipei.

In the bustling street - for it was nearing New Year - William passed a shop named "Soap 'n' Dope". It looked like quite a new establishment, and so William was naturally intrigued, since his trade had made him now quite the expert in business prospects. Upon entry, he was confronted by a pungence of cinnamon and oranges, and atmospheric panpipes music. William didn't know where to look, for the whole place was just so vivid, a mêlée of scents, flavours and colours.

What caught his eye was not the stack of beautiful - albeit terrifying - carved bird-shaped soaps, but the abominable price tags on them. Seven hundred Taiwanese dollars, for just one?!

After bumping into a grumbling old woman, hastily apologising, then hearing a clutter from above, he left the shop - but not before security alarms sounded.

William felt a twinge in his stomach when a guard grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "If you'd like to follow me, young man." William didn't like to at all, and he noticed the same old woman scrutinising him, and calling - presumably - the police.

In the small room at the back of the shop, William sat on a cold, hard chair, that reminded him of his changing-room schooldays.

"I hope you're pleased with yourself. What will your parents say?" snapped the old woman.

William's eyes welled up. This was the first time since his father died that his thoughts had even touched on the theme of parents in the conventional sense; it occurred to him that he had never even met his mother. Suddenly these thoughts became too much to bear. "I don't have any, you bitch," he replied spitefully.

The old woman, unmoved, continued, "Even so - it is not exactly a thing to be proud of, having this in your bag, without paying." With that, she pulled out a transparent plastic bag, half-filled with about five grams of pink glitter.

"What," asked William, dumbfounded, "is that?"

"Soapy Dope - the original. A kind of holy grail, if you will."

"Pardon?"

"You know what I mean. Five centuries old, held in the very hands of Da-Xia and Bohai. Why wouldn't a little pilferer like you want it? Its name cheapened, sold on the black market." She shuddered at this thought.

William was about to make another vain attempt at insisting against these accusations, when the door was flung wide open.

Inspector Mike Kevinson.

"What seems to be the problem here, Anming?"

"I've just apprehended a young thief."

When Mike's eyes fell upon William, he took the cigarette out of his mouth, and his eyes appeared to glow. "Hello William. In a spot of a bother yet again?"

Anming frowned. "You mean, he makes a regular habit of this?"

She was ignored.

"It would appear so," said William, shyly. He didn't care about this supposed crime anymore. He was now just very confused as to why Mike Kevinson happened to be in Taiwan, where he was.

"These accusations, Anming... you're absolutely sure it was William?"

"Yes. The scoundrel."

"May I look at your CCTV tapes?"

"Why?"

Mike deliberately breathed smoke into her direction. The smell of it clashed with the sweet overwhelming fumes of the stock. "Evidence..."

"Very well, then."

Mike Kevinson took the tape - recorded from half an hour ago - from the archives, and slotted it into the machine. After some fast-forwarding through a cartoon about what appeared to be green condom-shaped creatures, he found the approximate time. "Right, here we are."

From where he was sitting, William could not really tell what was going on on the tiny screen, so he just remained patiently. What he could see, however, was that Mike was watching it several times over. On the fourth time, he flinched, and just stared blankly at the wall until the tape was finished.

"Is everything okay, sir?" William still felt humbled in Mike Kevinson's presence, even though he himself was a man too, now.

"Yeah..." Mike didn't sound convincing at all. "Well - the good news is this. You're free to go, William. What is shown here, is that your apparent theft was merely an accident. You see, these Soapy Dopes" - he hushed his voice to a whisper - "which, by the way, are not at all authentic, and there is no evidence to prove the Da-Xia and Bohai story is more than a legend. None at all." He scratched his lip, looked away, then got out a cigarette from his leather jacket pocket. William was surprised to see that he was using a match to light it. After taking the first, liberating inhalation, Mike raised his voice to a regular tone again. "Anyway, these Soapy Dopes were hanging from the rafters of this establishment. The footage here indicates that a... a crow flew in here, knocking one of the bags off, and by pure... coincidence, fell into your bag."

William felt somewhat unnerved, that calm and collected Mike Kevinson seemed as if he was losing his cool. He was losing his status as a figurehead of confidence.

"What? The boy goes free?" Anming chirped up suddenly.

"Yes. No charges against him this time."