“Thanks for that wonderful meal!” Uncle Mel tipped his hat off to Charlie’s mom and opened the door for Charlie. Even though he didn’t get along much with her, he continued to be cordial and pleasant to her – for Charlie’s sake. After all, Charlie was the boy he never had. He was so fond of the boy ever since he was born.

Uncle Mel never got married. He came close once into marrying Ellen. He was so in love with her. But someone told her that she was too good for him and that she looked too pretty that should go to Hollywood to be a famous star. So after five years of courtship, she left Mel and went off to California. He never heard from her ever since. Ellen’s mother told him once that her daughter was still a waitress just waiting for that big break.

“So Uncle Mel, what’s your plan? You told me you have a plan!” Charlie was excited to hear about his Uncle’s solution to his very grave problem.
“You’ll see son. You’ll see.” He started up the parking meter cart and went off.
At 5 miles per hour, they didn’t get very far. He parked on a sidewalk by the gas station and told Charlie to wait.

Few minutes later, out from the gas station’s restroom, came out a man wearing a security guard uniform, all decked out with the jacket, hat and the badge. Charlie seemed amused. He had to be. The man was his Uncle Mel. He looked at him closely as he opened the passenger door of his cart.
“C’mon Charlie, we’re going for a ride in a bigger car.” Uncle Mel smiled at him and walked on over to a close-by parking lot of a discount supermarket. He walked over to an actual security patrol car and opened the passenger door for Charlie. Charlie was amazed. He couldn’t believe he was in a security patrol car! It was almost like a cop car. Almost.

“Wow! Uncle Mel! How did you pull this off?” Charlie’s eyes widened with excitement as his uncle started the engine.
“Gotta have connections, Charlie. Gotta have connections.” Uncle Mel swerved down from the lot to merge onto the main road.
“Just don’t touch anything, okay? My friend let me borrow this for a favor I gave him not too long ago. I don’t want him to get in trouble if you started messing up some of these buttons.”
“No problem Uncle Mel. What’s your plan?”
Uncle Mel just snickered. He didn’t say anything for a long time and Charlie didn’t ask anymore. He trusted his uncle.

They drove in a nice neighborhood of the town. Charlie was familiar with the place. He got a bit nervous. The beefsteak in his full stomach started to turn cartwheels and suddenly he felt dizzy. Seeing that the kid was troubled, Uncle Mel started to calm his nerves. “Don’t worry. You don’t even have to see them at all. I’ll take care of everything, alright?”
“I don’t know about this Uncle Mel, I don’t know about this.” Charlie’s eyes started to squint. He was dead scared.

“Yes? Can I help you?” The house help answered the door.
“Yes hi, my name is Officer Schlepkingster and I am the chief security officer at Lanes Department store. There was a minor incident at the store today, nothing major and I just need Mr. Brian Woods to corroborate on something. Would Eddie Whitaker happen to be in the house too?” Uncle Mel’s authoritative voice and posture scared the maid. She was a little woman who had been in the Woods family for years. She opened the door wider and let him in.

“The two boys are in the den playing video games. I will call them right now sir.”

“Thank you!” Uncle Mel tipped his hat off and gave her a wink. She smiled so sweetly at him. She wasn’t scared anymore. She turned around and smiled. She smiled because she had never met such a gallant man in all of her life. She also smiled because she had been watching those two boys do such devious things and perhaps, just perhaps this was the time she had been waiting for. Her eyes were filled with excitement as she went into the den.

Charlie’s heart was beating so fast. He didn’t know if he should just take off and run towards his neighborhood. The neighborhood kids outside seemed to be staring at him and he didn’t know exactly why. They skateboarded up and down the street, passing right by him, looking right into the patrol car’s window. Charlie felt intimidated.

“Yeah, what do you want?” Brian walked in the entry hall with Eddie, like twins stuck on each other’s shoulders.
“What’s up old man?” Eddie was just as rude.
“Hey fellows. I know that you were at Lanes today. I also know that you tried to cover the surveillance camera. But guess what, there’s another one that you didn’t see that got the whole thing. I can show it to your parents and to the whole population of Woonsocket and to CNN and MSNBC and Fox News. Or you can admit the whole situation right now and promise to hand in the stolen property in the store to the manager tomorrow, right when they open. What do you say?”

The two boys looked at each other and whispered to one another. The maid just watched the two with a slight grin on her face. The grin was for the boys but the sweet smile was for Uncle Mel.

“Alright, alright, that’s all we need to do, man?” Brian’s glassy eyes looked right at Uncle Mel’s.

“First of all, it’s sir to you. You call me sir.” Uncle Mel looked at them and fear subsided in them.
“Yes sir.” They chanted together. The maid snickered but stopped as soon as the boys heard her.
“Second of all, see this?” Uncle Mel pulled out a mini cassette recorder. “I want both of you to take turns and speak into my recorder. State your name, address, your parents’ complete names and how sorry you are for stealing the bracelet.”
“Yes, sir. Okay sir.” The boys obeyed. Uncle Mel got both statements. He couldn’t believe he pulled it off. For the first time in his life, he felt liberated and he couldn’t wait to tell his favorite boy.

“Well, what happened? Did you get in trouble? Are they taking your parking meter license away?” Charlie’s questions boggled down Uncle Mel.
“Oh you with little faith.” Uncle Mel pulled out his cassette recorder. He played it for Charlie and Charlie was filled with excitement. He patted his Uncle’s shoulders and felt good.
“You did the right thing about reporting it to me. So it’s only right that you take this to Lanes right now and have those stuffy store managers and clerks and security officers listen to this. I’ll wait for you outside.”

Charlie did exactly what he was told. He was even impressed with himself for not stuttering which usually happens when he’s nervous. He did everything right and the store manager was very thankful for what he did. He went over to one of the clerks and talked to the young lady briefly. Then he walked over to Charlie and handed him a $50 gift certificate.
“Here’s a little something for helping us recover a $250 bracelet. Good job, kid.”

Charlie went home. He was content. He went to bed so pleased with himself and slept like a baby.