Scooter Thievery

I am sometimes a wicked mommy.

Our kids ride their scooters to school and lock them up together, wound tightly with a skinny cable lock. Several of our friends and neighbors have had scooters stolen from the bike cage in the last few months, and because of the others' losses, I'm kind of a Nazi about my kids bringing their lock to school. If they lose it, they walk to school. (We're on our third lock of the year)

Today, they left the lock sitting on the floor of the front room. I noticed it about an hour after they left and, on my way to other errands, I stopped by the school to see if I could lock up their scooters. No luck. Bike cage was, of course, locked. But smart Emma had tied her bright pink sweatshirt around the two unlocked scooters (as if to say, "Hey, I have no lock on me!! Take me first!!).

The last thing I want is to have their scooters stolen, and I wasn't doing anything else anyway, so just before school got out I rode my bike over to the school. Bike cage was open. Their scooters were still there. So I go into the bike cage and take their scooters. I wasn't hiding, really. But I did want to see their reactions when they came out to find their scooters (and Emma's sweatshirt) gone.

It was priceless. I wish I'd had my video camera. They walked confidently to the spot where they'd left them. Then looked at each other. Then started circling the bike cage. Then Fisher spotted me. Caught. Emma was in tears and so mad at me.

I hope the lesson is learned. But even if it's not, I still got a total kick out of watching them look for those scooters.

Wicked mommy indeed. Mwaaa haaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!