P stayed at his grandma’s house, he liked it there. There was a big yard and they had chicken coops and a small enclosure with pigs and a garden with all kind of vegetables that his grandma planted. He would stay at his grandma’s most of the time and sometimes he would go to his parent’s apartment in visits. His parents were English and French teachers at the high school close to the building. P didn’t know it then but their salary was two thousand lei per month. One hundred lei was equal to a dollar in the late eighties, so when his parents both worked, they made forty dollars a month combined.
His parents lived in a building area so there were always many kids outside along with P. One day some kids got roller skates and P asked them how much they cost since he wanted some as well. The kids told him they were sixty lei and they told him from what store they bought them. P went upstairs and asked his mother if she could buy him some as well and she told him no so P went to his dad and asked him if he could buy them for him. His dad snapped at him and told him that his mother already said no so that meant no. P knew there was no point of arguing and begging with his dad because he knew if he did, not only would he not get the roller skates he would also get a beating and he just wanted roller skates not a beating. That’s when he learned his second life lesson: If he didn’t get what he wanted himself, he would never have it.
P sat and thought to himself, how can I get the roller skates? If my parents don’t buy them for me I will never have them and they already said no when I asked. If I ask again I will just get a beating so there is no point to ask again. “Fuck that” he thought, “I want them, and I’m going to get them, but how?” he asked himself.
I can’t steal them from the store because they are too big and they will catch me, I can steal something and sell it and buy them with the money or I can steal some money and buy them, he reasoned. He decided stealing the money directly would save him some time and trouble so now he was on the hunt to rob someone.
The next day he was at his grandma’s house, she had a bunch of guests over and they had their purses on a couch. P went and started looking through them and he found one with money. He didn’t know who it belonged to and he didn’t care because he wanted the roller skates and he knew if he didn’t get them himself he’d never have them. He took a hundred lei from one of the purses and since the roller skates were only sixty lei he had enough. P was happy he had the money but he knew he couldn’t just show up home with roller skates or the money for them because his parents weren’t stupid and they’d ask him where he got the money and he couldn’t tell them he stole it, so he had to find a way to justify the money. He thought about it and he knew whoever he stole from would realize it sooner or later and if he popped up with the same amount the next day everyone would know he was the one that stole it so he knew he had to justify the money somehow without getting discovered.
The next day his grandma, along with a friend and her teenage son, took him back to his parent’s building. He and P walked up ahead and not far from their destination, P saw a stand, or “kiosk”, that sold smokes, candies, lottery tickets and small things. That’s when he had an idea. He told the teen he’d give him ten lei if he bought him a lottery ticket which was one leu. He had to buy it from the ten P would give him. The teen said okay sure since he was getting nine lei for himself. They were about fifty meters ahead of his grandma and her friend and they got to the kiosk much before them. P told the man at the counter that his friend was going to buy him a single ticket and he’d pay him ten lei to say that he won and that the winnings were eighty lei. The man at the kiosk agreed so P gave him the hundred lei and the man handed P a ticket. The ticket wasn’t a winner but P jumped for joy and started yelling, “I won, I won!”
The man at the stand gave P eighty lei from the hundred P snuck him when they made the deal and also nine lei to the teen. P was all excited and happy. His grandma and her friend approached and asked P what all the commotion was about. P told her he just won eighty lei with a single ticket that her friend’s son bought him. Since his grandma saw the man hand P the money, she believed it.
P was happy and he knew that now he could show up with the money with a concrete explanation and he’d be able to get the roller skates. They got to the corner of the street which led to his parents building and P walked the rest of the way himself since his grandma was in a hurry to get home.
He walked into the apartment happy and he told his mom he just won the lottery and he had eighty lei so she could buy him the roller skates with his money he just won. His mom didn’t believe him so P told her how grandma’s friend’s son bought him a one-leu ticket and he won. His mom called his dad and told him but his dad didn’t believe him either and he told P, “You’re lying, I’m going to catch you in your lie and then you’re going to get it!”
P told him it wasn’t a lie and he told him how he won and his dad said to him, “You think you’re smart? Yesterday you wanted roller skates and today you won the lotto. Okay, I’m going to catch you.”
“I’m not lying, grandma was there when I won, ask her.” P told him.
He picked up the phone to call his grandma and he asked P if he was sure.
P knew his story checked out and he said, “Call her.”
His dad called his grandma and told her that P just came home with money for roller skates that he won at the lotto. His grandma assured him that he did but his dad still didn’t believe the story and he told his grandma that there is no way P wanted the roller skates the previous day and today he magically won the lotto.
P’s grandma explained him that she saw it with her own eyes and that it was true because she was right there when it happened so P’s dad had no choice but to believe it.
He looked at P and hung up the phone and P told him, “I told you.”
P could see that his dad was suspicious but since his story checked out he couldn’t do anything. P was happy about it and thought he did good and he gave his mom the money for the roller skates so she could buy them for him. She took the money and told P she’ll buy them for him and that’s when P learned his third lesson.Never give your money to someone if you expect to see it again. He never got the roller skates as promised and he never saw the money again either.
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EVIDENCE
Non-Fiction---------“Pride comes before the fall, and then comes wisdom”----------- The son of anti-Communist dissidents in Romania, his first memory as a child was surviving an assassination attempt by Ceausescu's secret police, the Securitate. This grim intr...
