Article April 29, 1972 Issue

Catch a Thief

FRANCES L. WEST

"Thief." Jim couldn't believe what was happening. It had been a perfectly ordinary evening. He'd practiced in the yard with the baseball for a while. Eaten hamburger for supper. Washed (sort of) and gone to bed later than usual as his folks were out at a meeting. He'd heard them drive quietly into the drive, trying not to waken his younger brother and sister.

Then came the telephone call. Dad had answered and called up to him, and he'd shot out of bed thinking it was his friend Tony in sixth grade. The nut to call at that hour! But it wasn't Tony. And two minutes after, he stood cold in the hall, accused of stealing the purse the babysitter had been unable to find on her return home.

Jim groaned at the injustice of it all. He hadn't done it. He knew the eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not steal,"^{Ex. 20:15;} as well as anyone. And why pick on him? He tried to think where the purse might have been left. No good. He needed help. Mom and Dad? They could talk to the baby-sitter, but it wouldn't do much good. Although Jim was sure his parents believed he was honest, the person at the end of the line had needed more than words to be convinced.

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