-=> Quoting Jerry Schwartz to Regina Finan <=-
 JS> [May 30, 97 - 14:56] Regina Finan of 1:2410/534 wrote to Jerry
 JS> Schwartz: 
 
 RF>  Its hard sometimes when they come up with such good stories not to 
almost
 RF>  laugh.  And this story was somewhat possible.  Although I think no hole
 RF>  in the money kinda puts a hole in their story. 
 JS> I think I told this one years ago, but shortly after we moved into a
 JS> new house I went down into the basement and discovered that the bottom
 JS> had fallen out of a drawer in a cabinet I used for storage.  When I
 JS> say fallen out, I mean that there were charred bits of wood on the
 JS> floor and the drawer bottom looked as though it had been through a
 JS> fire. 
 JS> As she was describing the fire, I realized that there had in fact not
 JS> been one: fires burn up, not down, and the drawer above was unmarked. 
 JS> There was also no trace of smoke, nor ready source for the water she
 JS> described pouring on the flames.  I realized that moisture in the new
 JS> basement had activated an old spill of some kind of chemical that had
 JS> eaten through the drawer bottom. 
 JS> The moral is that some kids, if pressed, will concoct a tale with
 JS> remarkable skill. 
 Oh yes, Jonathon did that too, concoct a good tale.  He stayed out late
 one nite past dark.  He finally came strolling in crying.  He said him
 and a friend (who was black, this was important) had been kidnapped.  He
 described in detail all the events including the van they were in.  He
 went on to describe how he managed to get away and that his friend was
 shot and killed.  Of course, my first reaction was that he told the truth,
 but my husband and I continued to ask questions and found a receipt from
 a drug store along with me calling the police and finding out the religious
 school this boy supposedly went to did not have any blacks.
 As the story unfolded we found out that the lie was not only to get him out
 of trouble, but the fact that he was lost and scared trying to find his
 way back home.  The drug store was quite a few miles away.  Needless to
 say, this was his first wild and last story ever told.  But his reaction
 and emotional stress really had me there at first. And to think he let
 me call the police.  I did this on purpose because at that point he needed
 a lesson beyond grounding, spankings or time outs.
 Regina
... ARRRRRGGGHHH!!!! ... Tension breaker, had to be done.
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