Boys will be boys, they say, but that’s not an excuse. I never did get the full story. I
don’t know how it got started or who started it. It must have been really
popular because only 4 boys did not get called out the day the sheriff and his
deputies came to our school.
They took
the boys outside and positioned them a good distance from each other. They were
far enough apart that they could not hear what each was saying to the sheriff
and his deputies. They would talk to one boy for a while then go to the next
one It was around and around but not a merry-go-round. Someone broke and told
the sheriff what he needed to know.
Eventually they all confessed. So they carted them all off
to jail.
Of the 4
boys who did not get called out, the sheriff and his men did not even question
them. Up front they knew all who were involved because every boy who was called
out went to jail. The sheriff was not on a fact finding tour. He knew up front
who he was after; it was just a matter of getting confessions. Someone had been
watching and knew who the guilty parties were and passed the information on to
the sheriff. Who was this person? I never found out.
They had
been stealing gas from the High School supplies. I don’t know if stealing candy
from the school’s candy store was a part of the equation or not. I do know that
that was also happening because I was offered candy that had been stolen. The
boy who offered it to me told me he had taken it from the store. He had broken
into the store on the weekend and had taken boxes of candy, but since he told
me it was stolen I refused it. I felt it was wrong to eat stolen candy; but I did
not think I was obligated to turn him in. That is how we Christians sometimes
get our ethics all mixed up.
None of
them went into a life of crime. They, as group, were basically good boys who
thought they were being cool. My guess is that some of them did not want to
steal but did not want to be seen by their peers as “not cool”’
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