The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

The missing money may have gone to a local farmacia to buy medicine for an ailing loved-one, to a salami and provolone cheese sandwich to quiet a cranky stomach, to latte fresco intero to calm that of a baby’s, or for proper back-to-school clothing for the children.

More likely the euros plucked in Venice bought train tickets to Rome where a larger number of jet-lagged and vulnerable turista who, condemned to long lines, serve as studies before being herded into the Colesseum and the Vatican; the cost of entry a small investment for the hungry pickpocket.