The PLAN

I had an idea…

My friend (Earnest H.) being only 6 or 7 years old like me, immediately “shook” at the though of my idea… but I was good… and I too immediately calmed him down.

the plan

The plan was simple, first we would make the heist, then meet back under the porch to divide up the purse. And here are my instructions to James. I instructed James to go into the store first, then I would follow just a few seconds behind him… I told him that all he had to do was go into the store and go up to the counter where they kept all of the cookies and penny candy…

…then tell the clerk that he wanted some candy or cookies, pay the clerk and walk out… that’s all, it was just that simple for him… my part would be a little more difficult, where as timing was the key element. First I had to move quickly following James into the store then move quickly to the ice cream freezer section, pick what I wanted, stuff it under my shirt while James had the clerk (Ruben) distracted…

a note here:

I actually don’t blame James for being scared to do this… because “RUBEN” (the store clerk) was a great big ugly dude, he could scare the life out of you just by looking at you.

a reasonable facsimile of “ruben”

(Cont’d…)

…then walk back out of the store as if nothing had happened… YES!!! We got away with it, it went so smoothly that we did it again for a couple more days… however… the last time we did it, on my way out the store I saw a look in Ruben’s eyes as I exited the store… Ruben was a giant of a man, 6′ foot 5″ (at least that’s what he looked like to me at 6 years old, he probably was just about 5′ 8″ or 9), anyway, he was a barrel chested, “red-boned”, mean looking African American dude… and clearly no one to play around with… I saw in his face that he had now realized what was happening and what I was doing… and the “jig was up”… our scheme had been found out, at least for me I had to assume that it had, and no longer take those chances, and I never did again.

Onward

Now it’s off to a new game… and a whole new set of adventures, tortures, and obstacles to climb and overcome… Elementary School… DUNBAR!!!