It started as a lunch date and ended as a rescue mission

Raising children is a dicey endeavor at best. You teach them manners and teach them to stand up for themselves without becoming bullies. You teach them that lying has bad consequences but little white lies spoken to spare some one's feelings is allowable. Cheating and stealing is an easy one. Only one side to these need to be taught.

 

After all the years of training, there comes a time when they wander afar and  you hope all those teachings stuck; you pray they will make the right choices. A wrong choice will require a payment; a right choice won't. That wrong choice might require jail time or hurt time. It's all about choices. 

 

The daughter worries though the lessons were taught. Peer pressure once the child leaves home will test those lessons taught.

 

Today while the daughter and I were heading to an Indian restaurant for the daughter's first experience with Indian food, her phone rang. Ted, her 19 yr old was on the line. "Mom", he said, "I'm at Walmart with a guy from school. We had 1  1/2 hrs before the next class so we came here to look at speakers. He is talking about stealing some muscle builders and I told him I wanted no part of it. I walked away and went to play the XBox and he went to the bathroom. Now the Walmart people have him and he is in the office waiting on the police to come!"

 

When the daughter told me what was going on and that Ted was going to call her back when he found out what was happening, I immediately said "No lunch; we are going to get Ted."

 

Of course I'm in the roadster and both seats are occupied but we had a plan. I would leave April at the store, while Ted collected his book bag from the guy's car and I would take him back to the college for his next class.

 

When we arrived, a police cruiser was parked beside one of the doors to the store and the blue lights were flashing. Sitting in the back of the cruiser, the guy was handcuffed and waiting. We entered the store and went directly to the manager's office. Ted was not a suspect; he wasn't being detained. Three men were in the office with the manager. One was a young white  man in his early 20's casually dressed, the second, a black male   was in his early 30's and casually dressed also and the third was a white male in his early to mid 40's. These  men are store employees that are paid to walk around the store and pretend to be shopping. I had NO idea this was done in all the Walmart stores.  These three men were the ones that followed the guy into the bathroom and then out of the store where he was accosted and held until the police officer appeared.

 

We went to the cruiser to talk to the policeman  to  ask him about getting the keys to the car so Ted could get his book bag. The police office rolled down his window and when we told him who we were he looked at Ted and said "this guy says you coerced him into stealing those things." Ted was stunned and denied it was his idea. We requested the guy's car keys so we could get Ted's things and the officer said "What car?" This "guy" said he didn't drive here."  Why would he say this?"

 

It was at this time that I said "How many more lies do you think he is telling?"  The daughter said "Looks like he doesn't want to go down alone huh?"

 

Poor Ted was dumb struck that the guy was trying to blame this on him. The officer said he was writing " the guy" a ticket and would be releasing him and we could get Ted's stuff at that time. '

 

 

Eventually Ted got his stuff and got to school while I looped back around and picked April up and finally our lunch date was consummated.

 

I thought I would head home after lunch and indulge in a nice little nap. Elise appeared. She and Kristen were going to Kristen's mom's house. Elise loves the roadster and jokingly said "We came to get the Solstice. No pressure Nana if you don't want to share." I grinned and we traded keys. I wanted to check over my old Toyota that was now Elise's car. As they drove away, I began checking all the fluids and the air pressure in the tires. I scrubbed the inside and outside of that little Toyota that I had bathed for 20 plus years. My next stop was Walmart to fill the gas tank and get a quart of oil and an air freshener for the inside. I'm too busy today it seems.

 

Driving through town, the little Toyota with it's 156,000 miles on the odometer clipped right along with nary a sputter. The little car still has a lot of spunk left in her. Elise and I traded keys once again and on the way home  I phoned April to see if Carrie wanted to spend the night.

 

As Carrie came plunging through the door announcing loudly she was here, April was begging the keys to the Solstice to make a trip to the little berg of Lydia. I tossed her the set of keys and went to bath Carrie. It's late and Carrie is going to miss her bedtime if we don't get to movin here.

 

Carrie is now in bed and my Solstice is parked beneath the carport and I'm one tired human. I'm going to get a quick shower and into my pj's. I'm suddenly and overwhelmingly exhausted but I know that shower will feel too good to miss tonight.

 

I'm done here and tomorrow I plan on staying home and doing some much needed housework. The husband is only a day away from returning from his job in Texas. It's time to do some housework!