Partners in Crime

Today Damon asked if he go see if Caydee could play. I said yes and off he went. I knew they were playing outside because I could hear them from inside the house and I figured everything was fine. As I walked out to get the mail, Damon and Caydee were sitting in our driveway with a 6-pack of bubbles. I asked the kids if they'd gotten the bubbles from Caydee's house. They said yes. For some reason, I was a little suspicious, this pack was obviously brand new, as it still had plastic wrap over the two bottles these stinkers hadn't used yet. Two bottles were completely empty (I wonder if thats good for my grass.) and they were working on the third and fourth bottles. I was curious as to where the bubbles had come from, since I knew they weren't mine and it seemed a little strange that Caydee's mom would give them 6 brand new bottles of bubbles. So I asked the kids if Caydee's mom knew they had these bubbles. Damon told me yes but I was still suspicious. I said, "If I call Caydee's mom ask her if she gave you bubbles, will she tell me 'yes'?" Damon confirmed that she would. Still thinking something wasn't quite right, I said, "Well, I'm going to Caydee's house to talk to her mom." Damon immediately started screaming "No, no!" and went into the house while Caydee ran behind the fence.

I knocked on Emily's (Caydee's mom) door and asked if she was missing some bubbles and explained the situation. She said the bubbles weren't her's, she didn't have any and I already knew they weren't mine. Where did they come from? Upon closer inspection of the neighborhood, we saw that the kids next door to us had left a big box of toys in their driveway. Their dad had just come home so we asked him if he was missing bubbles. He said yes. Mystery solved. Emily and I apologized and he brushed it off saying he had warned his boys about leaving things outside.

I found Damon in the house sitting at the table. I asked him where he got the bubbles. He said, "Caydee's house." I reminded him that wasn't true because I had talked to Caydee's mom. He then told me he couldn't remember where he got them. I sent him to his room to think about it and to try and remember. He surfaced a few minutes later and I repeated my question. His answer, "I don't know, I forgot." Back to his room he went, screaming and crying. He finally came back upstairs and I asked him where he got the bubbles. He told the truth this time and we had a little talk about stealing and lying. Did it do any good? Only time will tell.