I stole some money and lied about it

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Yep, I did. I stole some money and lied about it.

I was a preschooler, but I knew how to count pennies. My father had a green, "antiqued," velvet-lined, wooden valet box. I used to look in it. It had a couple keys, a police badge (honorary), a chunky silver & turquoise ring, a wooden comb, a constantly used and renewed roll of Tums antacid, one pair of cuff links in the daytime, a two pairs at night, and a couple handfuls of pennies.

One day I took out six pennies, placed them on the front porch when I went out to sweep (my daily chore) and picked them right back up. I went in the house, and told my mother that I had found six pennies on the porch. I kept them. I was sure my mother really knew where they had come from.

Both my parents died in the last two years. I wish I had thought to tell them this story.

[Tabs]

When I was like about 5 years old, a neighbor kid and I would go down to this local convenience store and buy treats with whatever money we can find. One time, the shop keeper took out a huge wad of cash out of the register and gave it to us. We were so confused and declined, but he insisted. We were like wow OK then. Walking home, we were talking about how nice the shop keeper is, and we should keep going back and spend it back at his shop.

Fast forward about a week, the shop keeper phoned our parents and told them that we stole the money. We were both beaten severely by our parents. I kept saying that I was innocent, but they didn't believe me. From then on, that made me not trust people in certain circumstances.

Decades later, I told my mom this, and she said that she doesn't remember any of this.

Anyway, my condolences about your parents.

[bjl584]

When I was like about 5 years old, a neighbor kid and I would go down to this local convenience store and buy treats with whatever money we can find. One time, the shop keeper took out a huge wad of cash out of the register and gave it to us. We were so confused and declined, but he insisted. We were like wow OK then. Walking home, we were talking about how nice the shop keeper is, and we should keep going back and spend it back at his shop.

Fast forward about a week, the shop keeper phoned our parents and told them that we stole the money. We were both beaten severely by our parents. I kept saying that I was innocent, but they didn't believe me. From then on, that made me not trust people in certain circumstances.

Decades later, I told my mom this, and she said that she doesn't remember any of this.

Anyway, my condolences about your parents.

That's twisted.
I'd love to know what was going through the shopkeeper's mind.

[james.hendrickson]

When I was like about 5 years old, a neighbor kid and I would go down to this local convenience store and buy treats with whatever money we can find. One time, the shop keeper took out a huge wad of cash out of the register and gave it to us. We were so confused and declined, but he insisted. We were like wow OK then. Walking home, we were talking about how nice the shop keeper is, and we should keep going back and spend it back at his shop.

Fast forward about a week, the shop keeper phoned our parents and told them that we stole the money. We were both beaten severely by our parents. I kept saying that I was innocent, but they didn't believe me. From then on, that made me not trust people in certain circumstances.

Decades later, I told my mom this, and she said that she doesn't remember any of this.

Anyway, my condolences about your parents.

Its possible this person had a pathological personality, or was attempting to cover up for his own wrongdoing by placing the blame on others.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Tabs, what a sick man he must have been. That makes me angry! I'll go back in time and twist his arm and make him confess, the sicko!

I think James is right, he must have been trying to pin the blame for his bigger theft of money on two innocent little kids. Did your family know the man, that he should know your parents' phone number? Could there have been something else weird going on-- like he wanted to get at your parents (or the other kid's parents?), embarrassing them by pinning something on you?

[Tabs]

Well, I really have no idea why the shopkeeper did what he did. I was way too young back then. As far as I know though, he was not a family friend or anything.

I don't remember too many details about my childhood from back then, but I certainly remember stories like that. Like there was this one time, one of our neighborhood kids got a hold of this giant fireworks wheel. The way they work is you are suppose to stake it to something and watch it spin. We didn't know that, so when we lit it, that thing started flying all over the place! We even got slightly burned by it. Great times.