Stolen Candy

I must have been four or five years old.  We were in the drug store in the mall.  I think it was a Rite Aid, right across from KB toys.  I had a fetish for jelly beans.  Any color, but the black ones, licorice were my favorite. 

My Mom was busy checking out.  She was paying the cashier, and I saw a bag of jelly beans on the shelf.  A smile spread across my face, as I picked it up, and I carried it with me right out of the store. 

My Mom adjusted her bags, checked to make sure me and my sisters were there, and then she saw the bag of jelly beans.

"Lauren, where did that come from?"

"I don't know."

"Lauren, did you take that bag of jelly beans from the store?" 

A nod in affirmation escaped my tiny blond head.

My Mom's hand gripping my wrist dragged me back into the store unwillingly.  I gripped the bag of jelly beans for dear life. 

"Lauren, tell the cashier that you stole this bag of jelly beans and return it to her now!"

Tears ran down my cheeks at the prospect of losing the jelly beans.  I remember setting the jelly beans on the counter and one word escaping my mouth, "Sorry."

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Yesterday while I was at Tae Kwon Do, Hubby took the boys to Home Depot.  I came home from Tae Kwon Do, soaking wet and ready for a shower. 

Hubby bust into the bathroom and said, "The boys took push pops from Home Depot!" 

"Well take them back," I said.  "Make them apologize."

Hubby had taken the candy from the kids.  They were crying hysterically.  Life was so unfair.  They never get anything, and now their stolen candy had been thrown away!  Oh, the humanity!  And a few expletives were thrown around my Son Number One, but we'll skip that part...

Then the excuses...

Son Number One said, "But I found it on the floor." 

A few minutes later he changed his story, "I had change in my pocket.  I just forgot to pay!" 

Son Number Two just pouted, crossing his arms over his small frame.

The allowance bags were opened, half-sucked push pops tossed in the trash cans, and Hubby trekked back to Home Depot with the boys and made them pay $1.18 for each push pop from their allowance.  Hubby said their faces were miserable the whole time, and the cashier laughed but said, "Yeah my sister made my niece do that too when she stole candy."

Rite of passage...