John sees a light at the end of the tunnel



When I was in the hospital ,waiting for the doctors to remove that damn B.B. pellet that Steve lodged in my back, my parents would visit as often as they could. The hospital was over 40 minutes away from my home so most visits were on the weekend. When Dad had his vacation he parked his car outside my window and would sleep in it at nights. He told me if I got lonely or sad I could look out the window at his shiny red roof and know he was there. ( As I get older I suspect he was either kicked out by Mom or bar hopping with one of his brothers. But either way it was a nice gesture.) When he would visit with Mom he usually only brought one of the kids,and that would be Rose.( my joy knew no bounds.)
He didn't want to bring all the kids along because he really enjoyed his time driving the new car he had bought. This meant that during the weekends he left Steve Geno and John home alone. A lot. In retrospect this wasn't good. Leaving these three alone with nothing to do was simply asking for something bad to happen. The moment Mom and Dad and Rose would pull away they'd either start fighting each other or ride their bikes a few blocks away and fight whomever they could find. John figured out how to rig up a makeshift slingshot device with tree branches and rubberbands. They would pretend they were guns and would run around shooting each other. ( because Lord knows there simply wasn't enough shooting in my family.) In these war games they would end up just as bruised as if they had been fighting.
During one of these matches John decided to hide in a culvert under the road by our house. Above him he could hear Steve catch up with Geno and start shooting at him. Geno began to whine about getting his cub scout uniform dirty. This just made Steve more determined, so John knew he was out of immediate danger. John decided to explore the culvert a little more.
About halfway into it he found another little drain leading off to parts unknown. It was much smaller then the main culvert and much darker . John knew he'd need a flashlight to see where it went. He came out of the culvert only to be hit with rocks by Steve and Geno. When they were done pelting each other with small rocks John explained what he had found. All three went back into the culvert and looked at the smaller drain. They came back out and stood by the road looking to see where the smaller drain came out. It didn't take them long to figure out it headed straight for the gas station across the street. A gas station that closed at 5 on Sundays.
Steve ran in the house and grabbed a flashlight. They all ran back down under the road and shined a light down the little drain. Steve tried to fit in it and found he was too big. John being small for 9 years old was chosen to go. Geno ,no giant himself, said he couldn't go because he had his cub scout uniform on. Steve and John just rolled their eyes.
A little over an hour later when the gas station attendant closed up he probably didn't notice the three boys across the street, sitting on a picnic table, watching him with vulture like stares.
A little less then two hours from that Mom and Dad came home to find their three oldest boys sitting on the picnic table with Cheshire Cat grins on their faces. Mom became very angry.They were all filthy. Especially John. Why he even looked like he was rolling around in mud. They all lowered their heads and mumbled apologies while at the same time looking very pleased with themselves. Mom made them go in and take baths.
The next day when Dad came home from work he saw John outside playing with some new toy and munching on candy. Dad was tired from a long days work so he didn't pay too much attention to John. He came in the house grabbed a beer and the newspaper and promptly headed to the bathroom. On the way there he passed Steve and Geno's room and barely noticed out of the corner of his eye that they were both building new model cars and eating candy. Before he got to the bathroom door he stopped and a puzzled look came over his face. He walked back and looked at Steve and Geno happily working on their new models.
"HELEN!" he shouted.
Mom came running in from the kitchen.
" What are you doing buying these kids toys and candy when we barely have enough money for rent?"
Mom looked puzzled "I didn't buy them anything. "
Dad went into Steve's room "Where did you get those ?"
Steve and Geno both said " We found some money in that drain in the road." Dad stared at them a moment and turned around and went outside. He walked up to John and said "Steve and Geno just told me everything. Tell me the truth and I won't punish you. Where did you get the money for the toys and candy?"
John looking very scared, pointed over to the culvert "We found it over there by the road."
Dad looked very unhappy. He turned around and walked back in the house. He went to the living room and called for Steve. Steve came running in. "John just told me everything. Tell me the truth and I won't punish you. Where'd the money come from."
Steve looked a little afraid. "I told you Dad. We found it by the road."
Dad looked very mad at this point. "Stay here " he told Steve.
He walked into Steve and Geno's bedroom and shut the door. Geno looked at Dad like he didn't have a care in the world. "Geno , I know the truth .John and Steve told me. I won't punish you if you tell me the truth. Where did the money come from?"
Geno very innocently said "We found it by the road. Near the drain pipe."
Dad gave a little frown and turned around to walk out of the room. He stopped at the door. "Scouts honor?" he asked.
Geno stood there for a second his eyes growing large.The only thing Geno took seriously was being in the scouts. Tears welled up in his eyes and he broke down crying . "They made me do it. I didn't want to keep any of the money or candy." Geno spilled everything. He told Dad how John had followed the pipe up into the gas station and took all the money out of the cash register. (Just about 10 dollars in change) He also took much of the candy bars that the gas station had.
Dad was so mad he took away their bikes for over a month, and grounded them. He also made them smash their new toys. All the while Geno sobbed like a baby. For final punishment, after the gas station had closed for the evening, he made John crawl back though the pipe and return all the uneaten candy bars. Mom had to stop dad from calling the police at this time.
From then on when I had my weekend visits the whole family came.
Geno and John told me this story many times. (Geno always left out the part about him ratting everyone out) They always said I wasn't like them. That I'd never have the guts to do anything they had done as kids.
They were half right. I wasn't like them.
I would never have gotten caught