It may surprise you to find out that I have somewhat of a criminal background. During the summer of 1979, I somehow started shoplifting. It was kind of stupid, because I always had money on me to pay for the items I stole.
It started with fireworks. I went into the convenience store just a couple of blocks away and would walk out with a few rockets. At first, in order to avoid suspicion, I would buy some candy so it look like I was an average customer. After awhile, I just took what I wanted and left the store.
This continued for six months. Mostly, I stole candy and snacks. At one point, I stole some 8mm film from Gibson's. That was the same place I had the film developed. I wondered if they ever figured out that I was the one who stole a few boxes from them, because I know I was just about the only person in town who had 8mm film developed there.
During that six months, it seemed like no one had any indication that I was stealing from them. It made me realize that there are a lot of people out there who commit crime and it takes them a long time to get caught. When somebody is on trial for a car theft or something, I can see that this was probably not the first time they had stolen a car. If everybody got caught the first time they committed a crime, there would be a lot less crime. However, achieving that is impossible, so people get used to stealing things without having to look over their shoulders all the time.
This all changed for me one day. I was at the Bulldog Superette, which was right next to the auditorium. Late one afternoon after Drama class, I was about to shoplift some candy. However, I looked at the front counter and saw one of the cashiers staring right at me. I wondered if she had seen me take something before. She kept keeping her eye on me. I figured I'd better not shoplift anything and bought some candy.
Later, I figured out what had happened. The day before, I stuffed a candy bar in my pocket. All of a sudden, I saw Roz leaving the store. Since I was still in stalker mode at that time, I bolted out the door so I could catch up with her and try to talk her into getting back together with me. The bolt out the door probably aroused suspicion.
The next day turned out to be a big day for me. When I went to choir class, I found out I had made the All-State choir. This was exciting. Rod had also made it, along with about five other people. I was the only sophomore who made the cut. I wasn't expecting to qualify, but it was great. After Drama class, we were preparing to start rehearsing for our Evening of One Acts. I ran to the Bulldog Superette to get a snack while we were waiting for rehearsal to start.
At the store, I saw the woman who had been staring at me the day before walk toward the back. I figured the heat was off. I took a candy bar and put it in my pocket. As I started toward the door, the other cashier told me to stop, that she needed to talk to me. She was in the middle of ringing up a customer. I quickly tried to ditch the candy nearby, but she finished before I could do anything. I attempted to charm my way out of it and offered to pay for the candy. The other woman came from the back and said she saw me take it.
They said they were going to call the cops. I had to wait there until they arrived. During the 10 minutes it took for someone to get there, a couple of people I knew from school came in. They managed to find out that I had been busted for shoplifting. I knew this was going to get all over school the next day.
Finally, the officer showed up, took the cashier's statement and took me out to the police car. He allowed me to ride in the front seat, which was worse than riding in the caged backseat. I felt like everyone could see me and know that I was under arrest for stealing.
We got to the station. The first thing they tried to do was call my parents. They weren't home yet. I was afraid they were going to throw me in juvenile detention while I waited for them to pick me up. Make no mistake, I did not want to be locked up in there. I knew there were some guys in there who liked to act all scary. I know I would have ended up peeing my pants before my parents came to pick me up.
While I was waiting for them to figure out what to do, I saw my ninth grade choir teacher, Ms. F, sitting at the dispatch switchboard. I had heard she had gotten a job with the police department. As I mentioned in the earlier post about my experiences with her, I would have just loved to have walked up to her and shoved my All-State victory in her face, since she had denied me my opportunity to audition for All-State the year before. It just didn't look good that I was in police custody.
They decided to just take me back to the auditorium, where my car was. (Thank goodness! I guess they knew I wouldn't survive 30 minutes in there.) They told me I had to tell my parents and gave me a copy of the police report. They also said that they would have to call the juvenile officer to set up a meeting with him.
The officer drove me back to the auditorium. Fortunately, everyone was inside. I ran in and grabbed my stuff. The others asked, "Hey, Fayd! Where have you been?" I muttered something about getting caught up in something and ran out of the auditorium. I did not feel like hanging around and rehearsing.
When I got home, Mom and Dad were there. Mom was in the bathroom fixing her hair. I told her I had some good news and bad news. She asked for the bad news. I told her I got arrested for shoplifting. She started to cry and scream at me. Dad didn't really say anything. After about an hour of crying and lecturing, Mom finally asked, "So, what's the good news?" I told her about All-State. She was still upset.
I thought I could cover this all in one post. I was wrong. I will cover what happened at school the next day tomorrow.
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