Memoirs, cont'd
If you're just now joining this story, please skip this post and read the previous one to catch up.
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Some time had passed that afternoon as things began to settle down and it was easy to see, at this point, that not too much happened in our house. Maybe the intruder was after something specific and he/she couldn’t find it at this time. No matter what, we were safe and unharmed in this event. If anything I was happy to have my mom home to entertain me or cook a snack for me while I played Lego’s up in my room.
Within an hour or two it was time to pick up my brother and sister from their respective schools as neither one of them rode the big yellow bus. Instead they rode in the big yellow van my parents drove around town. When first bought, this van was charcoal gray. But in the brilliant minds of my parents they had it painted banana yellow for some reason I will never understand. Anyone who knew the Thomas family knew when we were driving down their block. Our bright banana-yellow van always made a statement whether we wanted it to or not.
To this day I don’t necessarily recall picking up my brother, but when it came time to pick up my sister over at the high school campus he and I sat in the front of the van while my mom hurriedly walked into the main hallway. Wanting to tell my brother everything that truly happened in the robbery I decided to keep my mouth shut and silently sat staring out the front windshield. We sat there waiting for my mother and sister to reappear and join us in the yellow van as we would head home for the evening. Over dinner we would possibly discuss the details of the robbery that had happened only hours earlier all the while I would sit pretending I knew nothing. I would work hard at making the perfect shock-face, and offer to double check my room making sure no one had taken any of my belongings. I mean what could they possibly want of mine? My oversized Batman statue I won at the local video-rental store? No, maybe they wanted my large quartz crystal rock that I envisioned was going to make me rich someday. I believed it was worth a lot, so much so that it sat on top of my rabbit skin that I bought somewhere in those years as a child. Expensive things are surrounded by such lush materials such as rabbit fur.
Eventually my sister walked out to the van where my brother and I waited and we wondered why she walked out solo. Something seemed awry if that meant having my mom stay in the hallway. My sister climbed into the yellow van joining me on the front bench seat. Curious to know where our mother was I asked point blank, “Where’s mom?” My sister went on to tell my brother and I that mom was inside talking with the principal. Not waiting any longer I shouted out to my siblings that I in fact was the person who robbed the house. “I wanted mom to come home and so I faked the robbery” I exclaimed. My sister dramatically responded with an “Oh Great!” while I quickly regretted opening my mouth so quickly. My sister proceeded to tell us that she skipped school that afternoon when her boyfriend (whom the parents didn’t like) came to the edge of campus to pick her up. Unfortunately the principal saw my sister in action leaving campus and waited for her to come back when he confronted her that afternoon, that is when she returned for the last hour class.
Inside the locker-filled hallway my mom patiently stood talking with the principal learning that my sister was indeed rebelling against their knowledge and skipping school. Thoughts began to fly in her head as she realized that it must have been my sister and her boyfriend who came home that afternoon and robbed the house. For the security of ‘comfort and love’ my sister let her boyfriend take cherished items from the house, she possibly thought.
Meanwhile inside the yellow van my sister explained her day of skipping school and now that she knows I staged a robbery in the house my mother will instantly put two and two together. My sister began to lose sight at the end of the tunnel. Nothing was going as planned when she woke up that morning. Being the skinny blonde-hair, buck-toothed freckled face boy that I was, I saw the two points match up and began to worry about the huge problem I possibly caused. I would never want to hurt my sister. She was someone I loved and looked up to. When she feathered her hair back in the mirror I would quickly follow suit. When she posted the sign on her bedroom door that read, “Cool Calm and Collected People Only Allowed” I craved to learn what it meant so I could be in her room. Years earlier when she planned to runaway from home and go live with the Puerto Rican boy band ‘Menudo’ I too was going, just to be with her. It was there in the car, on the cold champagne-colored pleather bench seat that I started getting worried for my own sake. I was about to get in trouble and face severe punishment.
The ride home was uneventful as my mother was let down by my sisters actions, my sister was scared for her life, my brother was clueless and I was debating how I would slowly return the stolen items. I began to make a plan to return each item to their proper place without anyone knowing they were misplaced for a few hours. Somehow over the course of that evening my sister ended up talking with my parents for what seemed like forever as she experienced the usual parental discipline for her actions. I never heard another word regarding the robbery and kept it to myself for years. I don’t know what guardian angels were watching over me that night, but they definitely earned their wings…in fact their wings were dipped in gold and outlined with diamonds from Tiffany’s I’m sure.
Several years later on a cold and sunny December afternoon my family gathered at a local favorite restaurant here in Oklahoma City to celebrate my graduation from college the next afternoon. My sister had driven two hours to join us, while my parents and brother had flown in for the festivities. It was over that lunch that I decided to bring up the whole story and find out why I truly never got in trouble for it. To everyone’s amazement my parents never did know it was me that robbed the house that lonely afternoon. It was 10-years later and we sat around this table as I learned that after all these years my sister stood up for me and took the blame. It took some time to settle into their minds, but my parents laughed about it as I went into detail everything I could remember and why I did it.
Over the course of the past 10-years a secret remained among a brother and sister buried deep within our lives. Over the course of the past 10-years my parents would pray that I have a child that is just like me. Over the course of the past 10-years I have prayed I don’t…..and this is my reason why.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Some time had passed that afternoon as things began to settle down and it was easy to see, at this point, that not too much happened in our house. Maybe the intruder was after something specific and he/she couldn’t find it at this time. No matter what, we were safe and unharmed in this event. If anything I was happy to have my mom home to entertain me or cook a snack for me while I played Lego’s up in my room.
Within an hour or two it was time to pick up my brother and sister from their respective schools as neither one of them rode the big yellow bus. Instead they rode in the big yellow van my parents drove around town. When first bought, this van was charcoal gray. But in the brilliant minds of my parents they had it painted banana yellow for some reason I will never understand. Anyone who knew the Thomas family knew when we were driving down their block. Our bright banana-yellow van always made a statement whether we wanted it to or not.
To this day I don’t necessarily recall picking up my brother, but when it came time to pick up my sister over at the high school campus he and I sat in the front of the van while my mom hurriedly walked into the main hallway. Wanting to tell my brother everything that truly happened in the robbery I decided to keep my mouth shut and silently sat staring out the front windshield. We sat there waiting for my mother and sister to reappear and join us in the yellow van as we would head home for the evening. Over dinner we would possibly discuss the details of the robbery that had happened only hours earlier all the while I would sit pretending I knew nothing. I would work hard at making the perfect shock-face, and offer to double check my room making sure no one had taken any of my belongings. I mean what could they possibly want of mine? My oversized Batman statue I won at the local video-rental store? No, maybe they wanted my large quartz crystal rock that I envisioned was going to make me rich someday. I believed it was worth a lot, so much so that it sat on top of my rabbit skin that I bought somewhere in those years as a child. Expensive things are surrounded by such lush materials such as rabbit fur.
Eventually my sister walked out to the van where my brother and I waited and we wondered why she walked out solo. Something seemed awry if that meant having my mom stay in the hallway. My sister climbed into the yellow van joining me on the front bench seat. Curious to know where our mother was I asked point blank, “Where’s mom?” My sister went on to tell my brother and I that mom was inside talking with the principal. Not waiting any longer I shouted out to my siblings that I in fact was the person who robbed the house. “I wanted mom to come home and so I faked the robbery” I exclaimed. My sister dramatically responded with an “Oh Great!” while I quickly regretted opening my mouth so quickly. My sister proceeded to tell us that she skipped school that afternoon when her boyfriend (whom the parents didn’t like) came to the edge of campus to pick her up. Unfortunately the principal saw my sister in action leaving campus and waited for her to come back when he confronted her that afternoon, that is when she returned for the last hour class.
Inside the locker-filled hallway my mom patiently stood talking with the principal learning that my sister was indeed rebelling against their knowledge and skipping school. Thoughts began to fly in her head as she realized that it must have been my sister and her boyfriend who came home that afternoon and robbed the house. For the security of ‘comfort and love’ my sister let her boyfriend take cherished items from the house, she possibly thought.
Meanwhile inside the yellow van my sister explained her day of skipping school and now that she knows I staged a robbery in the house my mother will instantly put two and two together. My sister began to lose sight at the end of the tunnel. Nothing was going as planned when she woke up that morning. Being the skinny blonde-hair, buck-toothed freckled face boy that I was, I saw the two points match up and began to worry about the huge problem I possibly caused. I would never want to hurt my sister. She was someone I loved and looked up to. When she feathered her hair back in the mirror I would quickly follow suit. When she posted the sign on her bedroom door that read, “Cool Calm and Collected People Only Allowed” I craved to learn what it meant so I could be in her room. Years earlier when she planned to runaway from home and go live with the Puerto Rican boy band ‘Menudo’ I too was going, just to be with her. It was there in the car, on the cold champagne-colored pleather bench seat that I started getting worried for my own sake. I was about to get in trouble and face severe punishment.
The ride home was uneventful as my mother was let down by my sisters actions, my sister was scared for her life, my brother was clueless and I was debating how I would slowly return the stolen items. I began to make a plan to return each item to their proper place without anyone knowing they were misplaced for a few hours. Somehow over the course of that evening my sister ended up talking with my parents for what seemed like forever as she experienced the usual parental discipline for her actions. I never heard another word regarding the robbery and kept it to myself for years. I don’t know what guardian angels were watching over me that night, but they definitely earned their wings…in fact their wings were dipped in gold and outlined with diamonds from Tiffany’s I’m sure.
Several years later on a cold and sunny December afternoon my family gathered at a local favorite restaurant here in Oklahoma City to celebrate my graduation from college the next afternoon. My sister had driven two hours to join us, while my parents and brother had flown in for the festivities. It was over that lunch that I decided to bring up the whole story and find out why I truly never got in trouble for it. To everyone’s amazement my parents never did know it was me that robbed the house that lonely afternoon. It was 10-years later and we sat around this table as I learned that after all these years my sister stood up for me and took the blame. It took some time to settle into their minds, but my parents laughed about it as I went into detail everything I could remember and why I did it.
Over the course of the past 10-years a secret remained among a brother and sister buried deep within our lives. Over the course of the past 10-years my parents would pray that I have a child that is just like me. Over the course of the past 10-years I have prayed I don’t…..and this is my reason why.
posted by Mr. T at 2:39 PM
6 Comments:
i see you took my suggestion about making your font smaller. now try 5-10% gray for the color of the type or maybe a typeface that is a little less bold. that should do it.
your sister sounds cool. my little brother copied me and followed me around like you did her, but i would have ratted him out. only because he was a mama's boy and a cry baby and would get us in trouble all the time just because he could. surely you weren't like that to your brother and sister.
I love reminiscing about my childhood with my family. I especially enjoy filling my parents in on things they were unaware of that they can no longer be mad at me about. I can honestly say though, as an older sister, that I was not nice to my brother Bobby when we were little. I probably would have tattled on him and took pleasure in watching his plan unravel. I'm sure he'd agree with me on that.
I can't believe your sister took up for you and your parents never knew. What a good sister. That's a great story. I'm glad you finished it :)
Thanks for finishing the story! I was not happy when you left us hanging after the first post! I'm glad you didn't get punished...sounds like she's a great sister. But...I'm with Krista...I would have told on you, if for no reason than to take the attention off of me!
You should post more of these stories, they are lots of fun to read. Don't worry....your future child will be JUST like you!
Matt, if the only problem you have with your child is that he stages a robbery you will be a lucky father. I've always thought you were a good man. You should hope to have children like yourself someday!
This is very interesting site... » » »
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