*Flash Fiction* “Crime n’ Punishment”
I was in trouble…again.
The Old Man had been notified of my crime and I was waiting for him to come home from work.
I never sensed he enjoyed being the executioner, my personal Torquemada of the Holy Inquisition. A few times I had caught a tear in the Old Man’s eye as he told me to bend over.
And to be honest the spanking was far less painful than the waiting. That awful waiting.
I suspected my recent offense had to do with a new house being constructed a block away from our Summer cottage.
Howie, a neighborhood kid, and notorious troublemaker had found a couple of hammers left by workers and suggested we might do a little “remodeling” to the unfinished structure.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” went our hammers sending wood chips flying indiscriminately all over the freshly poured cement foundation.
About two hundred dollars worth of damage later we hightailed it out of there like desperadoes leaving a scene of a crime.
Later that afternoon my Mom got a very angry phone call from the neighbor next door.
“Go to your room, Charlie and wait till your father gets home, ” said my Mom.
When the Old Man entered my room I had my version of the “story” ready.
“It wasn’t my fault, Dad! Howie thought it would be fun to play in the new house!!!”
“Your Mom said the neighbor was complaining about you throwing a dirt clod at her cat.”
‘But I thought…?”
Ohhh, shit.
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HaHaHa … I’ll bet You learned to wait to hear what the offense was before giving Your side.
My Dad was pretty forgiving, I was only spanked one time and it made My Dad tear up because
He hated to have to do that. He was quick to accept whatever I said as a fact too, even when I found an artillery shell in someones Barn and caught Me trying t “open” it with a hammer.
The Police were involved and I lied My way out of it claiming the shell was OUTSIDE the Barn.
The Barn owner gruffly told Me to stay out of His barn and that was the end of it.
OMG open a shell with a hammer?! Thank God he caught you. It’s a miracle we survived our childhood, David. Thank you for sharing your story, Friend.
Yeah it was probably 2 feet long and around 4 inches in diameter, but the razzers had their “special division” check it out and it had been disarmed so it wouldn’t have gone off. I was almost ready to enter 4th grade.