Life in the “hood”

I think I’ve blogged a few times about how popular my house is in the neighborhood even though we are the only white family with teenagers and preteens in the immediate area. We just fit in and now I think it’s as though the rest of the neighborhood just takes it for granted that we’re here.

Despite that, I think my kids and I get a little complacent and too trusting sometimes. Last summer, a young man named J’Vaughn started hanging around. He was polite, articulate and respectful. I liked him right away, and because I liked him, he was eventually able to enter the inner sanctum known as our basement where all the video games are played. He hung around with us most of the summer and I thought it was great Sam had another friend his age.

My illusions were dashed upon the return to school. J’Vaughn quit coming around. Then slowly, every day, I started to get reports from my kids that this or that game was missing. Gabe reported that the gameboy he got for his birthday was also gone. I did the usual “I wish you kids would keep better track of your stuff!” routine and the boys looked perplexed. They thought they had.

Then some of our other friends in the hood started complaining about things they were missing from their homes and the threads started to come together – the common denominator in all of the missing goods was the now strikingly absent J’Vaughn.

Now J’Vaughn proved himself to be a skilled thief. He didn’t just grab what he wanted and run. Instead he cunningly endeared himself to his victims and took his time procuring the things he coveted. Only two things blew his cover. First, his behavior changed. If had kept coming around, I doubt any of the kids would have suspected him. Second, he started bragging about his loot to another kid in the hood. Hood kids don’t keep those kinds of secrets.

When it came back to us via the grapevine what he had, and how he got it, we were surprised, shocked, angered and then resolute in getting it back. My first thought was to just go to his house and talk to his mom, but the kids told me she has two jobs and was never home. Then Sam saw J’Vaughn at the library and confronted him with the missing stuff. J’Vaughn fessed up and said he would bring it all back, but he never did.

Today Sam and his friend Aaron decided enough was enough and they were going to go to school and meet J’Vaughn when he got out to demand the return of their stuff. I stopped Izzy’s math lesson so that I could listen in on their plans.

It’s a long way from school to J’Vaughn’s house. He could make a break for it and disappear until dark, or he could sprint home and lock himself in the house, or he could enlist a friend to help him do battle with Sam and Aaron. I think Sam and Aaron could put up a good fight, but I didn’t really want it to come to blows.

I had a different idea.

After appealing to Calvin, who has all of that authority mojo going for him from working as a lifeguard for over a year, we determined that Calvin, Sam and Aaron would simply wait beside J’Vauhgn’s house to greet him when he came home from school. They would use Calvin’s “influence” to get into the house, get their stuff, and get out.

It worked out better than I had ever dreamed. Not only was J’Vauhgn sufficiently ambushed, but his mama was home too!! The kids were able to plead their case and between Calvin’s imposing presence and his mama’s diatribe, J’vaughn led them to all of his illicit booty. I guess J’Vaughn did make an attempt to try out his con man charms saying, “Calvin! hey man, how’s it going? How’s school?” to which Calvin simply replied in his best lifeguardease, “Don’t talk J’Vaughn.”

Sam and Aaron returned triumphantly with all of their stuff, Gabe is happy to have his Gameboy back, and I think Calvin has earned some deserved respect from all of his underling sibs and their friends.

Well J’Vaughn ever come back to the street? We’ll see.

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