Woman Stealing my Purse from Safeway

Jelani rubbs my back as we watch the cashier re-roll the security tape of a blonde, nondescript woman pace slowly past my cart.

We watch as she fingers some bread, some of those sprinkled pink, sugar cookies, then rests her hands back onto her own bag. She is probably studying me through the corner of her eyes, but all I can see is her back. Finally, she turns around so that I may see her face.

The other figure in the video seems to be standing still, but I continue to stare at my fuzzy profile- standing behind that bulging, grocery cart, until I remember that at that moment I must be sorting through eggs, deliberately taking my time to select the smoothest ones. 

A few more tiny figures move in and out of the screen as the me on tape looks over my shoulder to make sure that my purse is still there. I turn back toward the eggs, falsely assured.

Seconds after, the blonde woman swoops toward my cart, grabs my purse and turns to walk out of the screen.

The footage continues to roll as I continue to select a few last things, completely unaware of what has just happened. I won't ask to see the footage of me minutes later, as I burst into curses in the check-out line.

The cashier glances back at me as I take all of this in. 

"There is one more camera." she says.

She moves her mouse around the 9 or so screen options and the footage resumes. 

"There's my bag!" I say, as the woman ducks through the motion sensor doors. She pauses the screen on a still of the woman pressing my purse tightly against her chest like a lifeline. Like a secret about to burst.