THE SEASON OF GIVING

He was going with his family to Mexico for the holidays. It would be a three day road trip from Milwaukee to southern Mexico and he’d be gone the entire Christmas Break visiting grandma and grandpa. Thursday, the day before he was supposed to leave, I had him stay after school to discuss his make-up work. We talked about the trip and how jealous I was to be stuck in Milwaukee while he was going on a grand adventure. We looked at the big pull down map in our classroom and guessed at all the states he would be seeing. We collected an armful of books and maps to help him pass the time on the long ride. We found Highlites magazines for each of the states he would drive through and found activities he could enjoy with his little sister. We even sent along a disposable camera so that he could record his journey and share the adventure in pictures with his classmates when he returned.
We had accumulated so many treasures for the trip that as he left he half joked that he hoped his parents wouldn’t think he stole everything from school. I told him not to worry and said that if there were any concerns he could just have them call me.
The next morning he was absent just as I’d expected, but when I received a call asking me to come down to the office I couldn't help but wonder if his Spanish speaking parents had come to ask about the book bag full of treasures. I went down to the office and sure enough he was sitting outside. I said good morning to him then walked into the office prepared to resolve the confusion quickly and easily. It turns out that the problem had nothing to do with books, maps and cameras.
His mother was visibly upset, as was his uncle who came along to interpret. The family had been saving money for the Mexico trip for a year and the money was stashed away in the house. According to their estimates there should have been about $1,200 dollars saved but when they opened the jar they discovered that there was only $80 in it. The boy admitted to taking the money but said four kids in his class had threatened him. They told him that if he didn't give them money they'd beat him up.
A group of nine-year-old thugs is doing this in my class right under my nose and I knew nothing about it? I felt shocked, disgusted, betrayed. The police were called and the sensitive crimes division was informed of the incident. The boy sat in the vice-principal’s office looking forlorn, scared, and very small as a roomful of adults tried to decipher the truth through his tangled confession. It made no sense the way he told it but the money was definitely gone. The uncle, who described his own grade school horror stories of abuse, wholeheartedly bought the boy's confession and came to school looking for justice, but all that he heard and said was shot through the prism of his own horrible experiences.
I didn't want to believe any of it. As a classroom teacher, I take the safety and security of my students very seriously. We all like to think we keep a vigilant watch over the children in our charge, so I was naturally defensive at any suggestion that I hadn't done everything in my power to keep my kids safe. That doesn't mean things don't get by us from time to time but how could I have missed the systematic abuse that the uncle was alleging?
I went upstairs and spoke to the accused nine year old extortionists. One by one, I pulled the suspects out into the hall and interrogated them. The police were coming and we had to find out the truth quickly. Within minutes the story unraveled like a cheap sweater. Yes, some of the kids had received money but they hadn't forced it out of the boy. He'd given it willingly - even enthusiastically. One kid owned up to getting $1.75 to buy some candy. Another received $20. Still another had been given $31. One child had over a hundred dollars hidden in his pillow at home and would have had at least $20 more except he started getting nervous and refused to take any more. So it was given to another boy, a cadet, who told his mother the story. That boy's mother, bless her heart, told her son to return the money. He did the next day.
So, was there extortion involved? Maybe, but it didn't happen the way the uncle would like us to believe. Two of the accused extortionists denied receiving any money at all and the boy confirmed that, even though they knew that he was giving it away like a Rockefeller. That must make them the worst extortionists in history. What's more, these two are half the size of the boy they're accused of threatening. It doesn't make sense.
Other classmates told stories about the boy flashing wads of money in the bathroom and in the afternoon recreation program. However, none of that money has been traced. Two of the kids who received money clearly didn't extort him at all. They’re safety cadets, one of whom actually gave the money back. The boy bragged to one of his classmates that he earned $100 per week for allowance. Is it possible that the wrong people heard about all of this big talk and decided to cash in? Possibly, but who can tell?
At one point during the discussion in the vice-principal's office, someone suggested that maybe it would be easier for the boy to talk if some of us left the room. The police would question the boy behind closed doors. I don't know exactly what happened during the interrogation, but as I turned for one last look I caught an image that will stay with me forever; there sat a small, frightened child crying so hysterically his nose bled. The door closed . . .
Christmas is one week away. I should be busy swimming upstream in a mall somewhere finishing my shopping in this season of giving. But my mind is elsewhere. It’s focused on one family's cancelled trip home for the holidays - and on the image of that hysterical, bleeding, crying boy behind the door who took all that money - then gave it away.