I watched an episode of All of Us recently where little Bobby prank-called 911 and his dad took him to the police station to teach him a lesson about breaking the law. It took me back to when my parents turned me in.
I was 6 or 7 or however old you are in the second or third grade. We had gone to the grocery store and I stole a pack of Double Mint gum while we waited in line to check out. I couldn’t help it. I was so intrigued by the Double Mint twins in the commercials, being a twin myself. I saw it and I just took it. I could have gotten away with it too, but I couldn't wait to get home before I opened it. My folks heard the wrapper rustling in the back seat and I was found out. They turned the car right back around and took me back into the store first, where I had to return the gum to the manager and apologize. Then, off we went to jail.
My twin brother was bawling when we got there. He thought I was getting locked up for real. Sweet thing--he was clutching at his chest and kept repeating 'My heart hurt! My heart hurt!'. Looking back, I'm guessing he was mimicking Red Foxx from Sanford and Son...you know how he feigns a heart attack every time something bad happens? We loved Sanford and Son--watched it all the time.
Anyway, so my mom dad took me in and told the police I wanted to be a thief and I had to sit in this room (felt like an interrogation room at the time, but it was really just an empty office) for a long time by myself. I was told to think about what I had done. I was crying so hard, partly because I thought I was going to jail, but mostly because I knew I had broken one of the Ten Commandments and was about to get a right-hot azz wuppin'. When we got home, my mom showed me in The Holy Bible where it said 'Thou shalt not steal' and 'Children obey your parents' and 'He who spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him correcteth him betimes' and then proceeded to loveth the hell out’a me.
Good times.