When Mom Rescheduled a Thanksgiving Heist

Today would have been my mother’s 90th birthday. In her honor, I am remembering that she once had the audacity to reschedule a Thanksgiving heist.

It was the day before the holiday when a stranger rang the doorbell at my parents’ home in Pepper Pike. We always celebrated Thanksgiving the day before the holiday (it’s a long story), and a lot was going on.

Mom looking like a boss

My mother, Merle, who was nothing if not full of chutzpah, told the intruder to come back the day after Thanksgiving. With that, she thanked him and shut the door. (She may have assumed he was a service person.)

Two days later, my dad answered the doorbell, but the interloper was more forceful this time. Once inside, he put poor Dad in a half-Nelson and demanded cash. There was even a gun—or a finger pretending to be one—inside the fiend’s jacket.

Dad parting with cash
on another occasion

Vic, my dad, always kept cash at home. It was one of his habits. He would have been about seventy at the time, and the robber forced him into his downstairs office, where he kept the money.

In true Merle fashion, my mom slept through the robbery and asked Vic to tell her about it over her usual morning orange juice, coffee, and bagel.

Looking back, my parents had recently moved into their new home, and many strangers had been in the house as subcontractors. One of them likely had the idea to rob my folks.

When I learned of the incident, I rushed over from my downtown apartment to make sure Mom and Dad were okay. Dad stayed brave about it, and although he filed a police report, there was little hope of an arrest.

I was so upset that I found myself compulsively eating grapes and kumquats from the Thanksgiving centerpiece that had been left on the dining room buffet.

One would think that after being robbed, my parents would become more cautious. However, even after this ordeal, they never locked the garage door.

I suppose that if any tormentor had found his way there, Mom would have demanded that they return at a more convenient time.

--
Don't go anonymous: Please type your name after your comments. It's as simple as that.