Walking Off with Things

4^th April 2012

Dear Cassi,

If there is one thing I have always disliked it is folks walking off with things without asking. In this case there was an old gray jacket and a few bits of clothing. I had this jacket that my mother had given me and she had found one that was too big so that it would last longer.

My teachers, as I recall, had gone to call it my safety blanket because I always had it rain or shine. This was a fact I learned one day when I went to give a presentation and without thinking put my jacket over one arm. I was inside a classroom with no need for the jacket but it was just natural.

I recall taking this garment off in the heat only after suffering for a time because it had become so much a part of my skin that I forgot that I had it own. I wore it so long as it was mine. One of the front pocket tor out and the lining had gone thin but these were things I had no notion of at that age.

Then one day I went to visit a cousin and found him wearing my jacket. I had worn it the Friday before and it was now a Sunday. I knew it was mine because of the torn pocket. Then I noticed he had by blue Snoopy shirt and a few other things from my closet.

At the time I wasn’t angry, just puzzled, but as soon as I got home I looked to see what else was missing. Who goes into a boy’s room and walks off with things without a word? We had gone to the store that week and I had gotten a week’s worth of clothing. Now that was all I had to my name. To be honest I’ve kept a week’s worth of summer and a week’s worth of winter clothes ever since.

Remember to be upfront and true, little sister

Richard Leland Neal