Belly-crawling

 February 13, 2024

I should have known better, but I was only a dumb, naive kid. 

Today when I interviewed with the Jamestown Striders to become a mentor to an at-risk boy, one of the questions was, “Have you ever been arrested?” I suppose with our current drug epidemic, it’s getting harder to find people who answer in the negative, but I answered that I had not. On the way home however, an incident when I was about eight years old, came to mind; thus the above comment on being a dumb, naive kid.

A friend invited me to go with him to pick strawberries in a field behind our house. Today the area is all suburban tract housing, but back then, the new construction hadn’t extended to behind our own yard. Fields lay beyond. 

I should have suspected things were a bit fishy when my friend told me we would be crawling to the strawberry patch on our bellies, but again, I was a dumb, naive kid. I instantly became a smart, experienced kid when while enjoying a particularly juicy strawberry, a pair of shiny black shoes suddenly appeared in front of me. I looked up into the not-so-smiling face of a member of the local constabulary. I wasn’t arrested, but that might have been easier on me than being taken to my parents. Those strawberries weren’t quite so appealing thereafter.

The good news is, at eight years of age, I was too young to be arrested, even for a misdemeanor. It might not go so well with me if the scenario were repeated today. As I write, I can think of no profound lesson other than be careful who you listen to, and if a friend says you need to crawl on your belly to reach your goal, you might want to find a different friend.