Tonight Guy and Xander were at Rocky Rococo's, happily blowing some of their allowance money on some arcade games and pizza. I was sitting next to a napping Zoe while nursing Clementine, when Guy came running over to me, screaming and sobbing.
I thought, Good Heavens! So much for serenity (and why was I expecting to find it in an arcade, anyway?) "What's happening?!"
"I lost my wallet, and someone's using my money to buy pizza!"
Wait a minute...if he LOST his wallet, how could he KNOW that someone is using his money? "Did someone steal your wallet? Do you know WHO has it?"
"Yes!"
At this point, the Mother Hen instinct surged up (not a pleasant feeling), and the red-tinged waves washed over my lenses. I imagined some teenage jerk bullying my sweetie, snatching his wallet and sneering as he took off with the few precious dollars. "Well, let's go quickly! Show me who has it!!" Yes, intimidating mother that I am (with a newborn in my arm), I marched off to fight the bad villains.
"There! In the brown shirt!" Ah. Very next in line and looking anxious to reach the cashier at the concessions counter was....a short six year old girl in a brown shirt.
"Excuse me! Did you find a red wallet?!" I blurted out (eyebrows arched, lips pursed, spit-up-launcher cocked and aimed.)
She nodded and held up the wallet, which I grabbed. (Now who's the snatcher in the story?)
"Well! When you find something that's not yours, you need to turn it in," I lectured with what must have been a frightening and imperious glare...oh good heavens, it was probably at a higher-than-average volume, too, and compounded by my lofty two-foot advantage.
With a nervous look and quiet voice she rebutted, "I was about to....I just stepped on it..."
"Well, Good! He was very sad." I ended, spun on my heel, and quickly retreated to the car with my brood. Why so quickly? My embarrassment was rising and I was just hoping there wasn't another Mother Hen in the room, ready to come pecking at ME for attacking her sweet innocent daughter (remains to be proven...Guy claims she DID buy a $2 pizza), who was trying to take a lost wallet to turn in at the concession stand.
In the car I had to mentally reprimand myself for jumping to conclusions, and give Guy some pointers for future incidents. "When you SAW that you had dropped your wallet, and someone picked it up, did you SAY anything to her?"
Meekly, he answered, "No." (Indeed, he just ran screaming and sobbing out of the room!)
"Aaargh. Guy! You can't be too shy to talk to people!" Gosh, or too shy to stand up for yourself just a bit. I certainly hope the real bullies never get their hands on his wallet.
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