The Made-For-TV Robbery (part 5)

The detectives met at Ben's house the next morning to shoot the credits. Everyone got one, even John's mother for the stocking. By lunch they had it all on tape so they packed up the machine and went down to Joe's. Joe was ready for them. He had on his best suit and his shoes were shined. Even his hair was combed carefully in place.

"Hey, I had a great idea for the show," he told them as they came in the door. "Why don't I hide some extra money somewhere and the robber can find it just as he's going."

"Excellent!" said John. "We'll do it."

"How much money have you got?" asked Mike.

"It should be at least ten dollars," Sally advised.

"Twenty'd be better," said Ben.

Joe smiled and took out his wallet. "I thought we could use a fifty-dollar bill," he said. "It'd be more dramatic, don't you think?"

The detectives crowded around to look at the money. None of them had ever seen a fifty-dollar bill before. They decided to hide it behind the soup cans with just the corner sticking out.

When that was ready they set up the videotape recorder and monitor behind the curtains. Then Ben made them do a test shot to make sure there was enough light for the camera. Joe got a little nervous.

"Do I look all right?" he kept asking.

"You look fine," John told him. "Except for the suit."

"My suit? What's wrong with my suit?" asked Joe. "It's my best one and I just got it pressed."

"That's what's wrong," said Ben. "It looks too good. You never wear a suit when you're working, Joe."

"Ben's right," agreed Mike. "You'd better take off the jacket."

"And the tie," added Sally.

Joe grumbled but he did what they said. Then John stepped back and looked him up and down. He shook his head.

"Nope, still not good enough. Too neat. Mike, go over and mess him up a bit." Mike did. He pulled out Joe's shirttails and rolled up his sleeves. He messed up his hair a little too.

"Much better," said John. Everyone agreed except Joe.

"I look terrible," he groaned when he saw himself in the mirror.

"You've got to look like that," said John. "Even though we're just pretending, it has to be like the real thing."

"Turn this way so I can do the test shot, Joe," called Ben from behind the curtain. Joe turned and smiled his biggest smile for the camera.

"Are you shooting yet?" he asked, still holding the smile.

"Not yet," Ben called. "I'm just focusing the lens. See that red light on top of the camera?" Joe frowned and squinted at it. "When the light goes on that means I'm shooting."

The red light flashed on and caught Joe still frowning. He blinked and smiled again as quickly as he could but the light winked off before he could get his teeth set.

"Got it," called Ben from behind the curtain. Then he ran the tape back to see how it looked.

"This is hard work," said Joe, flashing his smile a few more times. "It's not easy acting natural."