and you can bet , theyd see me approaching ( half-crushed under the box ; hobbling towards them like a turtle ) but ( and this is key ) i wouldntmeananything to them ; it would never occur to them that i was the one who had absconded with the car ( not hobbling along with the box on my back like that ) , so i would be free to hobble right past them ( coming with yardsthe distance from the sidewalk to the middle of the strip of lawn separating it from the street ) and as i did so , the worst that could happen would be a long embarrassed silence as the woman and i , making eye contact , considered and rejected the only possible basis for saying anything ( mutual pleas for help ; but , of course , help was impossible ; how could i help them ?