If it's not yours and you take it, that's stealing. Thou shalt not steal. One of God's big ten and one of society's premises.
Once a year the town has "junk day" when anything you do not want can be left at the curb and the garbage men will haul it away. It can be old appliances, furniture, a broken toilet. You name it and they will remove it.
Junk Day was a few days away. They had started a pile at the end of the drive with scrap wood and discarded planters. Some "pickers" had been by checking out the goodies and John knew there would be others looking for treasures among the trash before pick up day.
He had finished mowing the yard across the street for an elderly neighbor. John headed inside for a glass of water but noticed Sam next door was out so he engaged him in an over-the-fence chat as he walked around to the back.
In those few minutes John spent with Sam and getting refreshed for the task of mowing his own yard, the mower disappeared. Gone. Certainly a picker hadn't thought it was trash. It was up at the north end of the front yard. Half way between their drive and the neighbor's.
John's bewilderment turned to anger. After reporting the theft to the police he headed to the scrap metal recycler in town. He talked with one of the crane operators he knew who promised to let him know if a new lawn mower showed up there.
Frustrated and mad, John and his wife decided to write a letter to the editor of the small town's newspaper. They wrote it addressing the thief telling him he could have the owners manual and clippings catch bag if he returned to the scene of the crime.
They figured they had done all they could. They were going to wait until mowers went on sale in the fall and get by borrowing a friend's machine.
Two weeks later the police notified them that their mower had been located. It seems their letter in the local rag was noticed by the office manager at the mobile park. She recalled seeing several old mowers and equipment parked in the side yard of one of the trailers near the back. She figured old Fred was either repairing them on the side or collecting them for a big scrap metal pay off some day.
She called the police after reading the paper. The police recovered John's mower and half a dozen others. They even found a large professional trimmer that belonged to the landscaper who maintained the grounds at the park.
The thief said he figured if things were laying around he could take them. Fred did admit the shiny red mower was hot when he tried to pick it up so he pushed it around the corner to his truck. It was in the junk day pile.
The police informed him and the town through the news article the paper ran as follow up to the story, if it's not yours and it's in the junk day pile, it is against the law to take anything without the owner's permission. If it's not yours, it's called stealing.
'til later
Once a year the town has "junk day" when anything you do not want can be left at the curb and the garbage men will haul it away. It can be old appliances, furniture, a broken toilet. You name it and they will remove it.
Junk Day was a few days away. They had started a pile at the end of the drive with scrap wood and discarded planters. Some "pickers" had been by checking out the goodies and John knew there would be others looking for treasures among the trash before pick up day.
He had finished mowing the yard across the street for an elderly neighbor. John headed inside for a glass of water but noticed Sam next door was out so he engaged him in an over-the-fence chat as he walked around to the back.
In those few minutes John spent with Sam and getting refreshed for the task of mowing his own yard, the mower disappeared. Gone. Certainly a picker hadn't thought it was trash. It was up at the north end of the front yard. Half way between their drive and the neighbor's.
John's bewilderment turned to anger. After reporting the theft to the police he headed to the scrap metal recycler in town. He talked with one of the crane operators he knew who promised to let him know if a new lawn mower showed up there.
Frustrated and mad, John and his wife decided to write a letter to the editor of the small town's newspaper. They wrote it addressing the thief telling him he could have the owners manual and clippings catch bag if he returned to the scene of the crime.
They figured they had done all they could. They were going to wait until mowers went on sale in the fall and get by borrowing a friend's machine.
Two weeks later the police notified them that their mower had been located. It seems their letter in the local rag was noticed by the office manager at the mobile park. She recalled seeing several old mowers and equipment parked in the side yard of one of the trailers near the back. She figured old Fred was either repairing them on the side or collecting them for a big scrap metal pay off some day.
She called the police after reading the paper. The police recovered John's mower and half a dozen others. They even found a large professional trimmer that belonged to the landscaper who maintained the grounds at the park.
The thief said he figured if things were laying around he could take them. Fred did admit the shiny red mower was hot when he tried to pick it up so he pushed it around the corner to his truck. It was in the junk day pile.
The police informed him and the town through the news article the paper ran as follow up to the story, if it's not yours and it's in the junk day pile, it is against the law to take anything without the owner's permission. If it's not yours, it's called stealing.
'til later
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