That time we stole the neighbor's pot

"Hello?"

"Yes, Sherilin, I wanted to get in touch with you before the cops get there."

"Umm.... cops?"

"Yeah, the neighbor called and said that they caught you and your mom on the video surveillance. He said you were running away after you stole his pot. You will need to call him to apologize and set up a time to return it."

My face flashed crimson. I started to justify. To explain. I stammered and sputtered, but the truth was, I couldn't deny it. We did take that guy's pot.

Let me back up just a smidge to enlighten you. A week ago, my mom came over so that we could go for a run together. We're training for a couple races that are coming up this spring. The weather was beautiful, there was barely a breath of wind in the air and the sun was so friendly. Nothing like three days earlier when we'd been snowed and iced in for a few days.

We covered a solid 5K and were coming back down my street, the home stretch in front of us. We picked up the pace to finish the run strong. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted it. Just sitting there with the garbage cans and piles of trash that the sanitation workers hadn't picked up due to the snow, was the lovely, appealing pot. I slowed my step for a moment and pointed it out to my mom.

"Ma, that's a nice pot. I wonder why they're throwing it away!"

She looked at it as we ran past, then she stopped, backed up a few steps, reached out and snatched it, then kept running.

We were bolting down the street now, grinning like dopes, but pleased with our find. She held it in her hand as we ran past the last couple houses and down into my driveway where her car was parked. She popped the trunk and tossed it inside, then we did our cool down and stretch.

I didn't think about it again after that. Until I got that phone call.

I dialed my mom. Thankfully she answered.

"Mom, you still have that pot, don't you? You haven't used it yet?"

"Yeah, it's outside. I was waiting to use it til it warmed up some more. Why?"

"We have to give it back to the neighbor. He called and they caught us on their security cameras. They want it, said it was expensive."

"Then why the heck did he throw it out with the trash at the road?!"

That's the real question, isn't it?

I called the neighbor to straighten things out. To smooth any ruffled feathers and avoid a possible warrant for my arrest.

He told me they were cleaning up all the sticks on the ground that fell during the storm. They wanted to keep the pile contained in something while it waited by the road for the garbage men. I guess he set the pot out with the trash, then walked around the back of the house to get the pile of sticks he'd collected. By the time he'd made it back to the front yard, the pot stealers had been by and taken the pot and hidden it in the car.

After spending some time stalking around the yard in frustration, looking for that disappearing pot, he remembered his security cameras out in front of his house. He checked them out and sure enough, the thieves came by, hesitated for a moment, grabbed the pot and sprinted away. He saw them run down into my yard and that's when his camera lost track of the hooligans.

Busted.

The pot has now been returned and I don't think they'll press charges.