A BAD BUSINESS

A Bad Business

So you're a watchman in a graveyard. Most of the time -- probably all of the time nothing happens. What could happen? The gates are closed. But it's still a graveyard.

So when a stranger appears -- you don't know what to make of  it.

When you work in a graveyard -- you must have entertained ideas of ghosts at some time. An occupational hazard?

And so when the stranger appears you must have your suspicions.  How did the stranger enter? The gate is closed. There has to be something out of the norm.

And when the stranger reveals he is the living dead. You fall for it. Why not? Who would make something like that up?

We all harbor deep seated fears about death and the afterlife and that makes for good business.

Many out there capitalize on this fear -- from a crooked preacher promising you an eternal afterlife for a small donation or a drug company selling you a miracle pill. Not to mention writers and movie producers.

Don't know how much the thieves got -- but somehow it doesn't seem like there would be a whole bunch of treasure in a church inside a cemetery. But maybe there is -- after all they do have three watchmen for a reason. And it seems like an easy mark.

Speaking of easy marks -- just read a story of a thief breaking into a candy store in Coney Island in the middle of the winter. 

I remember a friend telling me he was robbed on a freezing day in January while he worked in an ice cream store. My friend actually asked the robber -- do you realize this is an ice cream store and it's freezing outside?

A thief has his own logic.

So do ghosts.