After several months of unusually persistent rain in the Santa Clara Valley, the sun was finally shining brightly at Hamilton Middle School. The temperature around noon time had already hit the low 70’s. Jason and Mateo walked out of English class and headed to their lockers to pick up their lunches.
“What do you have today?” Jason asked Mateo.
“My Grandma made some killer chicken burritos last night. There was one extra for my lunch today. How ‘bout you?”
“We didn’t have much in our refrigerator this morning, so Mom stopped at Subway on our way to school. I got a footlong ham with pepper jack cheese,” Jason replied.
“Cool. Let’s hit up the Game Club. It’s Thursday.”
The two boys headed straight for Room H1A. A group of kids met there every Thursday at lunch to play cards or any of the many video or board games available there. The two faculty advisors for the Game Club, Ms. Green, who worked in the library, and Ms. Sharff, one of the teachers, were both well liked by the students. They took turns supervising the room on Thursdays. On any given day, there may be as many as twenty students participating in the club, or as few as three or four. On this day, however, because of the long-awaited Spring weather outside, Mateo was thinking that most kids would probably choose to stay outside.
The door to Room H1A was open when the boys arrived. Much to their surprise, the room was empty. They remembered that Ms. Scharff had supervised the activity last week, so they expected to see Ms. Green. Without giving it too much thought, the boys entered the room and sat at one of the tables to eat their lunch. It didn’t take long for Jason to notice the cash box.
“Dude, check it out!” he said to Mateo in a low voice. Jason’s eyes, and a slight nod of his head, cued Mateo to look at the table next to the teacher’s desk. There, on the table, sat an open cash box filled with bills of various denominations, as well as a fair amount of coins.
“Hmmm…,” Mateo responded. “That’s probably the cash box from the library. Ms. Green is supposed to be here today.”
There was an awkward silence before Jason stood up and walked over to the door. He stepped outside, looked around, and returned to the table.
“Dude, there’s like no one around. Let’s grab some of that cash and get out of here.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Mateo inquired.
“Why not? If we get out of here quickly, no one’s gonna know we took it.”
“We can’t do that!” Mateo protested. “That’s stealing.”
“Like you’ve never stolen anything before? Don’t be such a dweeb.”
Mateo looked directly at Jason. At first, he didn’t say anything. Jason took a bite of his sandwich, then looked nervously toward the door. As he stood up to look around outside again, Mateo asked, “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Hell yeah, I’m serious,” Jason replied. He turned and walked back to the table. “We can split whatever we get fifty-fifty.”
Mateo had not yet taken a bite of his burrito. He was stunned that his good friend would even think of stealing money, much less actually suggest that they do so. He just sat there looking at the burrito in his hands.
“What? Are you afraid we’ll get caught?” Jason asked.
“That’s a possibility, yeah, but it’s not just about getting caught.”
“What do you mean?”
Mateo looked directly into Jason’s eyes. “It’s wrong, Dude. We can’t just go around taking stuff that doesn’t belong to us.”
“Now you sound like my pastor,” Jason replied sarcastically. “What,… like I’m gonna go to hell or something?”
“I don’t know about that, but I do know that taking the money is dishonest, not to mention illegal — and it’s not the right thing to do.”
Jason laughed. “Since when are you such an expert on what’s the right thing to do? Weren’t you the one who found a poem online and turned it in as your own work in English class?”
“Yeah, I did. It was wrong, and I paid the price when I got caught.”
“We’re not gonna get caught,” Jason said assuringly. Again, he got up and walked anxiously over to the door. By now it was clear that no other students would be coming in to play games. The only question in Jason’s mind was where Ms. Green might be — and when she’d return.
“I’m not gonna do it. It’s stealing, and that’s just wrong.”
“Don’t be such a prude,” Jason protested.
“A what?” inquired Mateo.
“A prude. You know,… someone who’s like all perfect and everything and thinks they’re better than everyone else.”
“You know I’m not that way. I’m just not someone who’s gonna take something that isn’t mine. I don’t know why Ms. Green left that box on the table, but it would be wrong for us to take any of it. It’s just wrong!”
Jason took another bite of his sandwich. With his mouth full, he began to speak. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s just that it would be so easy to get away with it. No one would ever suspect us of taking the money.”
“Why do you think that?” Mateo asked.
“We both have like good reputations in this school. No one would ever think that we would steal money from a teacher’s desk.”
“Think about that,” replied Mateo. “Think about what you just said. Yeah, we both have good reputations. Isn’t that important to you? Can you imagine how that would change if we DID get caught? No one would ever look at us the same way again.”
Jason paused before speaking. “Yeah,… I guess you’re right. Remember when Cullen got caught stealing art supplies from Mr. York’s classroom? Since then, no one trusts him.”
“Exactly,” responded Mateo. “I don’t want people to look at us that way. There’s always a price to pay for being dishonest.”
As Mateo finished that last sentence, Ms. Green walked through the door, surprised to see the two boys sitting at the table.
“You’re here!” she said in a startled voice. “It’s so nice outside today. After all those days of rain, I didn’t expect anyone to want to sit inside and play games today. I’m sorry I’m late. I had to make some photocopies for a class coming to the library this afternoon.”
The boys looked at each other.
“No problem, Ms. Green,” Jason exclaimed. “We just wanted a comfortable place to eat, then we’re going outside. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.”
Jason took the last bite of his sandwich, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and stuffed the wrapper and napkins into the Subway bag. Mateo placed his uneaten burrito back into the Tupperware container his Grandmother had given him. Then the two got up to leave.
“Thanks, Ms. Green. Have a nice afternoon,” said Mateo.
“You too, boys. Enjoy the sunshine.”
On his way home after school, Mateo decided to stop by Smashburger, in the Westgate Center, for a vanilla milkshake. Miss Lucy, the manager at Smashburger, put some extra whipped cream on top, just the way she knows Mateo likes it. As he walked away from the counter to look for a place to sit, he noticed Nick sitting alone at a table near the side entrance. Nick was an exceptionally well-educated homeless man who often hung out at the Westgate Center. He knew Mateo, as well as his friends Jason and DeShawn.
“Hey, Nick,” Mateo said enthusiastically. “What’s up?”
“Not much, Dude. How ‘bout you?”
Mateo paused briefly, wondering if he should tell Nick about the situation he experienced at lunch. He didn’t want to rat-out his friend, Jason. Then he realized that they hadn’t actually done anything wrong, so he spoke up.
“Something happened during lunch today. It was really awkward.”
“Tell me about it, Dude.”
Again, Mateo paused, then continued. He explained the entire situation to Nick, who listened attentively without saying anything. When Mateo finished, Nick turned in his chair and faced Mateo directly.
“Dude,… you’ve got integrity. I could be wrong, but I think most kids your age would have taken the money. What you did… that’s awesome.”
“Thanks, Nick. That makes me feel a little better.”
“A LITTLE better?” Nick cried out. “Dude, you’re my hero! I’m proud of you. Your parents would be proud of you. And you should be proud of yourself! You did the right thing.”
Mateo responded, “It was just so hard, because Jason is my friend. I felt like I betrayed him.”
“Dude, you didn’t betray him. You saved him! Can you imagine how he’d be feeling right now if he’d taken the money and been caught? In fact, even if he took the money and didn’t get caught, I think he’d be feeling pretty low right now. He knows it’s the wrong thing to do. Your conscience never lets you off the hook when you make bad choices like that.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“You displayed true integrity today, Dude. You know, doin’ the right thing, even when no one’s looking. That’s integrity. It’s making the right choice, even when there’s no chance of getting caught. When you live with integrity, you can sleep better at night, knowing that you did the right thing.”
“Thanks, Nick. I needed to hear that.”
“Like I said, Dude, I’m proud of you. And maybe, just maybe, Jason will thank you some day.”
Mateo smiled. “Hey, I gotta go,” he said. “Nice talkin’ to you.”
“Catch you later, Dude.”
Mateo started toward the door, then stopped abruptly. Whenever he was with his friends, and they happened to see Nick, Nick would always share a Quote of the Day with them.
“Hey Nick, do you have a Quote of the Day for me today?”
Without hesitation, Nick spoke up with a broad smile on his face. “Oh, yeah, I do. Listen carefully.” He spoke slowly, “Wisdom is knowing the right path to take. Integrity is taking it.”
Mateo understood clearly. “Thanks, Nick. I like that one.”
He walked out the door, stopped briefly, took a deep breath, and continued his walk home, knowing that he’d done something good that day, and confident that he’d get a good night’s sleep.
© 2017
