"Bad Boys Bad Boys"
By Vicki Nowak

My husband was out of town, and it was a hot summer day. My friend Beth stopped by for a visit. While Beth and I were sitting around talking, my son Keith brought his friend Tony home for me to meet. Later on in the evening Keith came out of his bedroom to ask if he could use his dads tools. Keith was always making things with tools, inventing, and taking things apart. I never gave it a second thought to ask what he wanted the tools for.

My visit with Beth turned into a noisy one. Buzz, bing, bang. Keith had the drill going, hammering, and banging. Buster and Nitta stopped in to say hi. Nitta sat down and talked to Beth and I. Buster went in Keith’s bedroom to visit him. When Buster came back out, I cracked a remark about what in the heck is that kid up to. Buster assured me all was ok and Keith was just messing around with stuff like he always did.

About an hour later my company left. Everyone was quiet in the house. Keith and Tony were sleeping. All I wanted to do was lay down on the couch and enjoy the sound of silence. I had fallen asleep and was awakened by the sound of voices and car doors slamming outside.
 
  Imagine falling asleep and waking up to noises like that late at night. I stood up and looked out the window, holy cow there were lights flashing in the yard, and cop cars out by the street. A police officer and his K-9 dog came to patio door. Not a nice way to be woken up. I opened the door and ask the officer what was going on? Mrs. Nowak you have some illegal activity going on in your house, the officer said. Talk about just slap me silly along side of the head, am I dreaming this or what? I was shocked and not even wide-awake yet.

 Did I take a stupid pill or something? This just was not registering in my head. I had no idea what the officer was talking about. My reaction was duh, I asked what he was talking about? The cops wanted to search the spare room in the garage. I told them no one was in there, but they insisted. I had to run across the bridge and get my little terrier dog sohe was attacked by the K-9. That was scary, cops giving orders not to attack my little dog or me. At that point, my brain was starting to register things.

 The police searched the garage and didn't find what they were looking for. They thought I was hiding someone in my house. My eyeballs almost popped right out of their sockets. What? I'm doing no such thing. Then a stream of questions were asked, which I had no answers for. Yikes! Mom was in a jam, how do I tell the cops what they wanted to know, when I didn't know who in the heck they are talking about?

I explained to the police that my son Keith introduced me to his friend Tony earlier in the evening and were sleeping. As soon as I said they were sleeping in the house, the officers surrounded the house and secured the area. They went in Keith’s room. The officers’ walk around the room, they asked me who Keith was and who Tony was, I told them. The officers didn't even have a description of Tony can you believe that? They had to use their cell phones to call in for information to identify him.

After ten minutes of making calls, the police woke Keith and Tony up. Then all three of us were separated and asked questions. Of course, my answers made me look guilty. Not knowing anything was making things worse. Low and behold, Keith did the unthinkable! He brought Tony home because he was hungry and needed a place to sleep. Tony had escaped from the police before they managed to cuff both of his wrists. My husband and I always taught our kids, never turn anyone away who is hungry and needs help. Yep! My kid did just that. Gee, I was just the proud parent sinking inches as I was being told.

  All that drilling, and hammering made sense. Buster never told me Keith was trying to get handcuffs off Tony’s wrist or that he helped get the cuffs off. I didn't see the handcuffs because they were only attached to one arm, and Tony stuffed the other under his shirtsleeve. Tony was arrested and Keith was told to hand over the cuffs. If Keith didn't then mom was going to jail.

Oh pooh, is exactly what I was thinking only in another word. I told Keith to give the cuffs to the officer. OOPS, major problem, Keith couldn't find the cuffs in his room where he put them. Looking at the expression on Keith face, I could see he was a bit stunned and knew he was telling the truth. The police searched Keith room and couldn't find the cuffs. The only thing left to do was to arrest mom for withholding evidence. That's what the officers thought mom was doing. Now mom, Me2funny was thinking not 2 funny at the time. Nope, not nuttin funny about that at all. I asked the officers if I could please have a moment with my Keith alone. They agreed.

  Only having a few moments to talk with Keith I wasn't able to get all the details of what went on. Keith thought maybe Buster would know where the handcuffs were. Yep, Buster helped my kid get the handcuffs off Tony. Oh goody I thought, now my friend is helping my kid do wrong. The police wanted a name and address of every person who was at my house that day. Keith was arrested along with Tony, and put in the squad car.

  Great, I didn't have a street address for anyone. I only knew how to drive to there house. This created a bigger problem for me yet. I don't do directions, I find places by eyesight and markings. Everyone who was at my house was about to face a police raid for the missing handcuffs. Mrs. Nowak, you either give us the address to everyone’s house or the handcuffs. If you don't do one of these your going to jail.

 My response, I'm trying I don't have the handcuffs or know anything about them. My directions only made sense to me. Pooh, what to do, I couldn't think clearly. I sounded like a liar, friends are going to be mad at me. Oh man, not a good thing. All these thoughts were replaying in my mind. Keith was in the squad car along with Tony. The police told them, moms going to jail if someone doesn't produce the handcuffs. Since none of us were magicians we were all out of luck.

Tony spoke up and told them he saw Buster pick up the handcuffs. I knew nothing about that and neither did Keith. Oh, great! Try explaining how I didn't know my friend took the cuffs. Thank goodness one of the officers believed me, and excepted my directions on how to get to Busters house. The police went to Busters house. They asked him to hand over the handcuffs. Buster had put the handcuffs into Nittas purse without her knowing it. That's another story.

Anyhow, the police got the handcuffs from Buster. I wasn't arrested and Keith was released. He had to go to court and face charges against him. Talk about a nightmare. Now I had some explaining to do when my husband returned home. Waiting to tell my husband was stressing me out big time.

 I was so stressed that I was constipated for days. The saying your full of pooh took on a real meaning. I was thinking maybe Keith and I would of been better off in jail. When his dad returned home we were going to be in big trouble. How in the heck was I going to explain what our son did while I was home Need I say, we were not happy campers for awhile.

  I will forever have the memory of these words. Bad boys bad boys, what-cha gonna do when they come for you? A lesson to be learned from this. Don't judge parents so hard. Things can happen even if a parent is home. My husband and I taught our kids to help someone out, always. I think we went a little overboard on that one. Make sure you tell your kids not to bring someone home if they are in trouble with the law. It's a funny story to share with others now and we all learned something from it.