Last night I went to poetry recitation in which a friend, Ángel, was to take part. After the event I went with V., Ángel and the poetry crew to a Galician restaurant for dinner. After dinner we said farewell and I took the metro home.

On the third stop my phone vibrated, “Mark’s MacBook Air (2)” [work] was left behind. I was standing against the wall of the train and I thought my backpack was right next to me, on the floor. However, I could have left it on the platform of the station where I entered the train. I grabbed the train back to the origin station and found two security guards, they said they had nothing and wished me luck.

The computer was showing jumping between two stations, the one where I was located and the other in Opera. It might be difficult for the beacon to transmit location underground, but by the time I arrived to Opera the computer was already moving. I walked briskly on the tail of the backpack, and when I finally caught up I was at a plaza with many young people drinking. I walked amongst them, looking for my backpack, when the location updated and marked it further down one street.

I ran to the location to find a police car and a man being handcuffed and put inside. The police man opened the driver’s door to leave but I interrupted him: excuse me, was the man carrying a backpack? My laptop was inside and I was tracking it. The policeman was evidently excited “yes yes yes what was inside?” he asked “I have my Canadian passport and a dark MacBook Air”, yes the guy had your stuff he said, tell me what happened.

Well, I was on the train and I noticed my backpack was missing. I thought I might have left it on the platform so I went back to search for it but it wasn’t there, then I started following the location and that’s how I found you. I can’t state for sure that it was stolen, I might have forgotten my backpack” I said. The policeman waved away my concerns “nah I can tell you this guy snatched it from under your feet, he is known to us”.

This story resonated a lot with the time my backpack was stolen in Barcelona and the police enticed me to inculpate a thief, however this time I was giving the odds 10% that I had forgotten it at the platform, 90% that it was snatched under my feet. The last time I forgot a backpack was around ten years ago, and I carry it almost all the time. When I leave home without a backpack I often get mini-heartattacks thinking I lost it until I remember I never left home with it. Leaving it behind was very unlikely.

The police took me to the station to get my declaration. “Will you go to court?” they asked me. “What happens there?” I asked. The judge might ask you some questions, he said. “Is it important?” I asked. Yes, this way the judgement happens immediately, otherwise he might get his judgement postponed and it can take two years to get a sentence. It wasn’t the fact that he would be locked up quickly, but the fact that I might get to hear his side of the story, and if it matched me forgetting my backpack at the specific station, then I would be able to exonerate him.

I went back home relieved that I had recovered my backpack. I have no idea what would have happened at work when I told them my laptop was stolen, and getting my Canadian passport again would have been a tremendous hassle. I was very lucky to have recovered my belongings. Tomorrow I will go to the courthouse at noon, and I hope I can hear his declaration to know if he’s guilty of stealing from me or not.

I’m starting to like Justice.

My duty at the court hearing tomorrow is to listen to his side of the story first. If it matches him finding my backpack next to a bench at the platform of Puerta de Toledo I must exonerate him. He is a petty thief known to the police, but him finding a backpack with a valuable item is not a crime. If this is the case, I would like to have some words with him at the end of the audience.

It is unlikely that he’s innocent, in part becuase he threw away my clothes, which signals no intention of return. If I were him I would have ransomed at the moment as-is, there’s no person in this world to whom that backpack has more value in the world.

It’s strange how quickly we dismiss plausible innocence, and how tempting it is to find a scapegoat for our own misgivings. At the same time, my intuition says this guy stole it and I did not forget it at the platform. Tomorrow I will see that justice is served, whether he is sentenced for stealing, or he is liberated for finding a backpack with a valuable item.

I just realized: either outcome would leave me quite satisfied, I’m glad for this temporary misfortune because it helps me notice things I hadn’t noticed before.