when i was 7 or 8 years old and was molding my mindset on the direction my life would take,
i got a hard lesson.
somehow by watching what my cousins would do, i got it into my head that "if i didn't have
one of those (whatever "those" were.) ...that i'd just steal one," ... then i would have one.
we had show and tell at my school one day. for me it was a balsa model airplane i made.
really it was ****. mostly it was 2 wings ,a tail and a fuselage crudely glued together the night before.
but during the show and tell part of the day...a kid had a display box of 4 indian artifact stone points ...arrows i assumed at the time. i thought they were cool.
later that day by coincidence i missed the bus home, so i went back to my home room to tell my teacher, but she wasn't there ...or so i thought.
i saw the arrow heads there and quickly pocketed them.
only the teacher who was in the closet SAW ME ....but she kept quiet and stayed hid.
after i left for the long walk home, she called my mom and informed her of the theft.
after i got home i announced to mom..."hey mom, look what found at school!" (i didn't lie.)
she said ..."yup! and i know EXACTLY WHERE YOU FOUND THEM!...you stole them from billy barns!....now get over here!"
she beat my hind end raw!.... and now i was grounded for life!...just wait til dad gets home!
6 months of time lapsed in the next 2 hours when i heard him come home.
the anxiety was unbearable. all was quiet for the time it took for mom to lay it out for him.
my bedroom door nearly flew out of the frame. in comes dad madder than i had ever seen
anybody....with belt in hand.
i got the striping of a lifetime!.....dang!...2 whoopin's in one day!
i was to go to school...arrive home go to my room til dinner...eat and go back to my room
til bath & bedtime. for 3 months. no friends, no playtime, no t.v.
no cell phones or internet (well they wern't invented back in the dark ages.) so i felt like a monk in seclusion.
what a way to start december....*sigh*.
the next day i had to wait down at the bus stop in a group of 5 or 6 other kids.
also at our stop was a new telephone pole that was put in on the day of my theft.
where they back filled the pole and packed dirt around the base was a fresh layer of mud.
and the mud was rained on during the night and it got really cold, freezing cold.
and a few inches from the base of the pole, frozen in the mud was 3" arrow head ....white flint surrounded perfectly by brown mud.
and i took my house key and pried on the flint , and it popped out leaving a hole in the mud in the exact shape of the arrow head.
i yelled out "i found an arrow head!...naturally every one wanted to see it... they did.
i put it in my pocket not even thinking about what had transpired the day before.
when i got home i showed my mom and said "found it at the bus stop this morning."
she said....:" i guess you are a hard head that just won't learn!"
my hiney was still sore from the day before ....but now with belt whoopin i was gettin' today, things back there kinda took on a certain glow in a uncomfortable way.
i was puzzled as to why she didn't believe me. (took years to figure that one out.)
back to my room i went.
and the wait for dad....and thinking what could i stuff down the back of my pants to absorb some of the punishment that was on the way home.
didn't know what to do...i just kept proclaiming my innocence! (to no avail.)
dad got home and when i saw the anger in his face ready to explode...my mouth flew
open and i said "i didn't steal it!...and i can prove it!."
dad hesitated....and said "you better be able to!"
when i told him about the arrow shaped frozen mud at the phone pole. he said bring the
arrow head and get in the car.
he personally plugged it back into the mud socket from where it came.
he said "looks like you really did find one".
told mom as much....she felt bad about the 2nd whoopin' but she never admitted to feeling bad til i was an adult.
i stayed grounded for the duration but was allowed in our yard only.
and we didn't have grass yet as the house was a newly built house and we didn't grow any yet...(not sure if they had sod back then...if so, we couldn't afford it anyways.
so while i couldn't leave the yard i did get to search it and i found 3 more arrow heads on
our own property!
i have never even stolen anything ever since... as i'm sure dad will rise from his grave
and give me a whoopin' never before heard of in the HERE or the HEREAFTER!