Justin and the antique table

This particular day, my Mom had to substitute teach at the middle school and wasn't home yet. I had once again lost my house key. However, instead of just sitting on the porch waiting for my Mom to come to unlock the door. I decided to go in through the window on the porch. It was easy, I just used the top of the porch section by the window to easy up onto the window and hop in. The window lock hadn't worked in years so it was no problem getting the window open. We lived on a dead-end street close to the woods in a little bitty town. No one came down to our end of the street unless they were coming to see us or our neighbors. We knew all of our neighbors and most of the people that would come see them. We were always aware if a strange car came down to our section of the street. 

Anyway, I hopped into the house and used my Mom's antique table to help me get down to the ground. Unfortunately, the table didn't fare so well. I had managed to break the table leg. It split in two. I knew my Mom was going to be really mad at me. It was her favorite table. She told me once that it belonged to her grandmother and it was one of only a couple of things she had left of hers. I needed to think fast as to what to tell my parents when they get home. As I was contemplating my story, my Mom came in from work. Ooh boy, here we go. "Hey Mom, how was your day?"

 "Justin, what happened to my antique table?"

 "Well Mom, As I was coming inside someone had come into the house and went straight out of the door in the kitchen."

 "Did they take anything?" 

"No, I don't think they had a chance except for breaking your antique table, I am sorry Mom." 

" Ok honey, we will talk about this later. Go on and go do your homework." That was close. I went and got my homework and was doing it at the kitchen table when I heard my Mom on the phone. She was talking to my Dad. I heard her say, "Yes, I know it is rather strange that nothing was taken. Do you want to do an inventory of everything electronic tonight? Ok, I will help you. See you in a bit." She hung up the phone and looked at me. It was like she knew something just wasn't right about my story. My Dad had been in law enforcement years ago and was very security conscience. So I knew he would be suspicious of what I told my Mom. When my Dad came home, he did an inventory of everything we had that was electronic. He announced, "Well, nothing was taken." 

He turned to me and asked me to sit down. I sat down by him on the couch. He said, "Justin, I want to know what happened and I want to know the truth. You will never get into trouble if you just tell the truth."

 So I took a deep breath and told him. "I was trying to come in through the window after school cause I lost my key and I broke the table." He looked at me and said, " Now wasn't that easier to tell than to make up a story? Go give your Mom a hug and tell her you are sorry about the table. That was her favorite thing from her grandmother."

 So I did just what my Dad told me to do and gave my Mom a hug.

 It is much better, to tell the truth than to lie.

(Justin was about 8 or 9 when this happened.)