Jack, "Geerhard, let's see if we can get a sugar beet off that truck when it slows down."
"What! You're crazy! What do you want with a sugar beet?"
"Just for the fun, that's all. Come on, let's go!"
They wait until a truck slows at the corner without any traffic following, and Jack runs right up to the side of it and jumps up, grabbing one of the cherished beets by the tip. It comes out, bringing two other ones with it! All three fall on the road, and two of them break in several chunks. The boys gather up the pieces and quickly take them to the vacant lot, where they hide the incriminating roots under some bushes.
Geerhard, "Oh boy! That was exciting. Now, what are we going to do with them?"
"Have you got any rabbits, or guinea pigs?"
"No, have you?"
"No. Do you know anybody who does?"
"Must be somebody. Can't think of anyone right now."
The two scallywags try in vain to come up with some use for the sugar beets, but cannot think of any. Suddenly their musing is interrupted by a voice, a voice of authority.
"What are you boys doing?" A policeman is standing by the side of the road, looking down at them. Geerhard takes to his heels, off and down the main road! Jack crouches down and makes his way through the stinging nettles into some denser bushes. But the policeman, better dressed for such hazards, follows him easily.
"Okay, young man. Were you taking beets off that truck?"
Contritely, "Yessir."
"Don't you know you're breaking the law when you do that? And what do you think would happen if the driver suddenly had to stop, or swing out to avoid hitting something? You could really get hurt, even killed!"
"Yessir."
"Okay. I'm just warning you this time. If I catch you doing that again I'm going to take you right down to the station. Do you understand?"
"Yessir."
The officer disappears up the road, and Jack, leaving the spoils in the undergrowth, wanders off to find Geerhard.
What a drag. How can I have any fun? Wonder what it's like at the station. What would they do with me. Make out some sort of report? And keep me there, while they send for Mom or Dad?
At suppertime Mom says to Dad, "Some boys have been chasing those sugar beet trucks again, did you hear about that? A customer was telling me one of them actually ran right up beside the truck and pulled some off. I can't imagine why they want to do that."
Dad, "Uh huh."
Mom, to Jack, "You wouldn't do that, would you?"
Jack, shifting his gaze down to his plate, wonders if she suspects. "No, Mom."
No, she doesn't suspect. She knows.
