The reason I bring the story up is it reminded me of an event from my own life that left an impression I remember to this day. It is one of those events you are not grateful for at the time but look back and say "thank you".
At 9 years old, I lived in a very nice neighborhood in Forrestville, Maryland. Funny as that may be, we lived on the same street as my elementary school, Longfield's Elementary. I could walk out of my front door, down our street, and in about 2 minutes I was at school. It is too bad that in this day and age that little narrative is not as common. Although the neighborhood was typical in size, everything looked huge to me as a kid. I recently drove through the old neighborhood as an adult and it looks so small. It is an interesting choice by our designer that, as a child, our world is seen through those naive and small eyes. So, as big as our neighborhood may have looked to me as a child, it was not too big for a boy, his bicycle, and his friends to conquer. I put many miles on my bike on every street in the neighborhood. Connected to our little "ville" was the commerce center and metropolis of Forrestville, Maryland: Penn Mar shopping center. OK, that makes it sound bigger than it really was but remember I was 9 at the time. It was the "mall" before Forrestville got a mall and ripe with adventures each day. Plus, it was home to the only Video Game Arcade around. I grew up in the age of video games; a part of the video game generation. Kids are spoiled with the visually stunning connected game experiences of today. I'll save that for another post.
On the day of my memorable event, the guys and I traveled to the Penn Mar Arcade with a pocketful of quarters ready to defeat Donkey Kong. After spending hours playing games it was time to depart for home. Just before we mounted our bikes to leave, the collective (not the Borg) had a brilliant idea. Just a few stores down was a local mom and pop style open food market and grocery store. It was very small and always had fresh fruit and veggies outside the store. So, the alpha male of our group whose name escapes me told us that the owner of the store was OK with us riding by on our bikes and grabbing a piece of fruit from one of the stands. Being only 9 years old and completely naive I was completely unaware that our plan was fraught with risk and potential disaster. Be that as it may, we mounted up and began our single file "fly by" the market. I took up the tale end of our little band of travelers and as luck would have it, just as I was making my final approach for my piece of fruit, the owner of the market popped out of the store and grabbed me from my bicycle.
Suffice it to say he was not enthusiastic about our collective brilliant idea.He was so against the idea that he dragged me into the store by my arm, took me behind the counter, and proceeded to call the police. At least, that is what he led me to believe. I don't remember the specifics of his conversation on the phone, my comments to him, or even what he said to me. But I do remember being absolutely terrified that I was going to be in huge trouble with Mom and Dad. The whole police thing was scary too but not as scary as Dad. The details of this little adventure get fuzzy at this point. I don't remember if I ever told my parents what happened. I don't think the police ever showed up. I am pretty sure my brave friends took off without me and never looked back. Thanks guys. Brothers to the end.
So this brings me back to the original story of this mother and her plight. I completely understand the intent of her plan even if the execution of the plan was flawed. My fly-by of the local market to grab some free fruit taught me a lesson that was obviously burned into a part of my brain reserved for lessons that are to not be forgotten. I learned lessons about honesty. I learned a lesson about capitalism even though I didn't know it existed at that time. I learned a lesson that has served me well all these years.
I was caught red handed... thankfully.
