The Stealer Gets Caught by Officer Spealer
Do not steal.
This is the biggest life lesson I have ever been taught. “Do not steal, you’ll always get caught. Remember, it's impossible to get away with it.” My grandma would always say to me. I'm sure every child has heard this from a parent or grandparent. They have always tried to teach you to do right. That also includes not giving into peer pressure.
We all have had that one bad influence in our lives. Maybe you’ve even had more than one. I had one awful person in my life who persuaded me to do horrible things. Fortunately, my experiences with these kinds of people came early enough in my life that I had been scared into never doing bad things again.
It all started in first grade. That’s the year I met Haley. When you first met her, you would realize how truly beautiful she was, a child barbie at that. Her beautiful blond hair and piercing blue eyes. Everybody wanted to be friends with her, that included me. One day she talked to me. I remember how excited I was, because as a kid I didn’t have many friends, and she was the one everybody wanted to be friends with. She was new and so pretty, yet she chose me. To this day still, I don’t know why, maybe it's because I was vulnerable.
She was bad news, yet nobody but me and Officer Spealer would ever know that.
“Rena, do you like ice cream?” She asked me one day out of the blue.
I responded with, “I love ice cream, who doesn't?” In reality, almost every kid you meet is gonna love ice cream, with the exception of a few here and there that don’t.
“Well I know a way we could get free ice cream everyday!” She squeals. Now this, is pure excitement to any little kids ears.
“Really? How?” I questioned her, already drawn in by my mesmerizing thoughts of eating cold ice cream every day for lunch.
“Well, it depends on how bad you want it.” she responds, in more of a questioning tone.
“I love ice cream, I really do want it!” I squeaked back at her.
From then on, she drew me down the wrong road, having me steal ice cream. We took turns, one day she did it, the next day I did it. We would always get two, one for our self, and one for the other person. It became as normal as waking up for us. we were small, so it was easier because it was hard for other people to notice us. We could crouch, slowly and quietly open the freezer and reach our small hands in to grab two ice creams, and walk away like nothing ever happened.
It was a Wednesday, and it my turn. Something was weird though, a police officer was there, and he was standing right by where the ice cream is. I was scared because I knew not to mess with cops. So I waited for Haley, and told her I didn’t want to do it today because there was a police officer up there. Haley was good at what she did, manipulating people. Ever since knowing her, I have never met a little kid so sick in the mind as she was. It's as if she thought she was unstoppable.
“Oh don’t worry about the cop,” she told me. “My daddy is a policeman and he lets me do these kinds of things all the time.”
The dumbest thing I’ve ever done was to listen to Haley. In the long run though, it made me who I am today. I learnt this lesson from a young age, which is a good thing.
I went on about my business, did what I was so used to dong. The cop had seen it all though. When I sat back down I seen him looking right at me, and I remember my heart starting to race. I told Haley he was looking, and all she could say was “just don’t worry and don’t look at him.” Now she was acting irritated. Just as I finally had started settling down, my teacher comes over to us.
“Rena, can you please come here for a second? Someone wants to talk to you.” She tells me.
Now i’m freaking out. I remember as I followed her my heart began to race, my head felt dizzy and my feet began feeling numb. I have never been one for confrontations, and it didn’t help that I knew I was in deep trouble. Sure enough, once we got out in the hall, the cop was standing there. As he questioned me, I began feeling sick, but was able to overcome it.
“What's your name?”
“Rena” I managed out, though it was quiet.
“You're in first grade right?” I only responded to this by shaking my head yes. “Did you pay for those two ice creams you got?’’
I remember looking at my feet, refusing to make eye contact with him. I did not answer him.
“Sweetheart, you’re not in trouble, but can you please answer me with an honest answer.” I may have been persuaded by Haley to steal, but I always knew better than to lie. Part of why I didn’t like confrontations, because I would never be able to lie.
So I answered him honesty, “No, but Haley said I wouldn't get in trouble.”
“Did your belly tell you it felt wrong?” He questioned.
I thought for a minute, but it never did feel right. There was always something telling me it was wrong, so I told him, “Yes.”
The next thing he said I will never ever forget. “Honey, the world is full of mean people. This Haley sounds like one of those people. It sounds to me deep down you know you shouldn't have done it. You can never get away with stealing, because it always catches up to you. When it does, you’ll be taken away from home and put someplace with very mean people who might try to hurt you. So, you never want to steal, okay?’’ I remember just shaking my head yes. I was really scared, but later on in life I would come to realize that those words are part of what made me the good person I am today.
Today Police Officers are people I respect a whole lot. I know people who are terrified of the Police. I am not one of them, because he also taught me that they leave you alone and you don’t get in trouble, as long as you don’t give them reasons to get you in trouble. As for Haley, her family took her out of our school, and I moved at the end of that year, so I never seen her again. Now I thank Officer Spealer, because I might not be the person I am today if it wasn't for him. All because he has taught me that, you never ever steal. Ever.