WhenIwasapproximately four years old, I went with my daddy to Pete Riskey's grocery store on Azle Ave. There was a metal garbage can full of peanuts in the shell.
I took several and put them in my pocket to take home with me. Daddy didn't know until we got home and asked where I got them and I told him at Pete's.
Hemarchedmebacktothe store and made me apologize for taking them. Pete said it was ok, but Daddy said it wasn't because I stole them.
I don't think I realized at the time that it was stealing.
AgoodmemoryfromPete's store was the large square container of watermelons floating with ice chunks in it. Daddy would buy one and take it home. He would cut a triangular plug out of it to see if it was sweet.
Fast forward twenty-five years later, I took my first born daughter, Jodi to a Minyards grocerystoreinHaltom City after work. I bought her a banana and weighed it so she could eat it because she was hungry.
Then, I told the cashier how much it weighed. Jodi knew this was not stealing, but she saw people eating grapes and not paying for them.
One day, Jodi put a roll of Life Savers in her pocket and I didn't see it. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The next trip back to the store, I had her pay for it.
Now, back up about eighteen years; my brother and I shopped at this same store with my mother.
We had this great idea of opening a package of cookies and eating a couple of them andhidingthembehindother packages. Our thought was the next shopping trip, they would be there for another snack. They weren't.
I think our life of crime ended there.