The Comic Thief

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with reading. It didn’t matter what I was reading, my life revolved around story book characters and their lives. I even got my light bulb taken away from my lamp when I was younger because I couldn’t put down my book. I remember when my comic book phase started; whenever my family got the newspaper, I would rip through the other pages just to find the comic section. I also spent entire class periods reading the “BONE” comic book in the library in elementary school.

When I was in kindergarten, I went into Hannaford with my mom and sister. My sister is two years younger than me and as a child, she was quite the handful. So as we were walking through the grocery store, my sister was desperately trying to get out of the built in seat in the shopping cart. My mom was flustered and clearly exhausted, but as children we never see when our parents are struggling. So as we were walking through the grocery store, we came across the bakery. I asked my mom to stop for a free sugar cookie, which were the absolute bomb, and she said no. I began to pout and was pretty sad about it, but we kept walking. We then came across the deli. Back in the day we would go grocery shopping, my mom would always give me a little piece of cheese when we would buy Munster sandwich slices. So I jumped up and down with glee knowing what was to come. But when I asked her for some, she refused. I could not believe it. This had never happened before. Normally she was always excited to do it, but that day, mom was tired. Clearly, I did not see that at the time. No cookie and no cheese? I was getting hangry, and I was fuming. Still, I kept my cool as we approached checkout. Then, I saw it; a vintage “Betty and Veronica” Archie comic. On the cover, Betty and Veronica were wearing sunglasses and held beach balls in their hands as they buried Archie in the sand. I had to have it. I asked her for it, and much to my surprise, she said no and to put it back. This was the last straw for me. My sister started to cry as my mom took the bag of apples away from her and gave it to the check out lady. My mom then desperately tried to get her to stop crying, and I decided this was my time to strike. I grabbed the comic book, and the funny thing about this story is that I walked out of there and nobody noticed I had just shop lifted.

When we left, my mom was almost in tears, feeling overwhelmed and embarrassed by the events that had taken place. When we got to the car, she buckled my sister in and gave her back the fruit as something to play with. Then my mom made her way around to my side and buckled me in. Even though I was just a kid, I could see the exhaustion she carried under her sunken eyes. She then gave me a box of cheez-its and kissed my forehead. She knew my ques. That was when the guilt settled in. When we got home, I ran up to my bedroom and could feel my ears and face getting hot. I started to freak out, I had just stolen something! I am a criminal! I couldn’t believe what I did, but I never told anyone. I read the book over and over, crying each time. I wanted to make sure I didn’t put what I stole to waste but I felt horrible. I cried for days and never told anyone until a few years later. What I learned from this was to always be patient and appreciate the things around you. And never steal! Although it’s funny to look back at now, always be kind to your parents because they do a lot for you.

Photo by arbyreed on Trend hype / CC BY-NC-SA