Matt was full of himself. He swaggered to and fro as he walked along while showing off whenever and wherever he could by nonchalantly sticking his head high as if to say, “look at me, I’m The Bees Knees!”
Looking down on people he had created the nickname, ‘The Bees Knees’ which went along with his cocky personality. His crew were hand-picked and were often stolen from other gangs. Matt and his team were a bunch of crooks. Petty theft was their main income stream, and they thought nothing of beating up on their prey.
A couple of years down the road when Matt had a brilliant idea to rob a bank on the River Thames embankment, he called his crew in for a cream of the crop meeting to discuss how it was going to be done. His best gang members were prepared to take risks, take out guards when necessary, and take a good beating from them when duty called. Killing, wasn’t a problem!
After months of preparation to get everything in place, train team members for their role in the robbery, and synchronize timing, the plan to go in was ready to roll. That evening each member participated in the heist of the decade and got away with millions. Matt never doubted pulling it off for a second.
In order to avoid disappointment, Matt set the agenda on splitting up the takings. He wanted all of the crew members to lay low and not spend any of the money until he gave the go ahead one day in the future. When news about the bank robbery had quietened down he would give the go ahead to start spending.
Written by Carl Boniface
Vocabulary Builder:
To and fro = Fro is an antiquated word that means from or away. We don't use this word in Modern English, unless we are saying the phrase to and fro. This means back and forth. This is the only time that we use fro in Modern English.
Nonchalantly (adv) = casually, coolly, disinterestedly, negligently
The bee’s knees = When you refer to something as 'the bee's knees', (idiom) it means that it is of excellent or very high quality. In other words, Matt stood out from the crowd. The origin of this expression is largely unknown, although there are a number of theories.
Cream of the crop (idiom) = THE BEST, superior, first-rate, topnotch, topdrawer. Individuals carefully selected as being the best of a class. “He was certain that the selected team players would deliver outstanding results because they were the cream of the crop.”
Look down (phrasal verb) = verb + proposition = to think of or treat (someone or something) as unimportant or not worthy of respect, “The other children looked down on her because her parents were poor.”
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