Drama, trauma, and no honor....

Well, hell, I suppose I should be Happy, and I am, but I am also confused.  See, I posted a LARGE reward for the return of my ipod, I sent out the word among the ne'er do wells of my acquaintance, and I said a few prayers.  So, I shouldn't have been surprised to get some hits, right?  If only it were that easy.  

First, one of my students tells me he knows who stole my ipod; he saw it, held it, and talked to the guy.  Bingo!  But, since we were talking on the d/l and not mentioning any real names, I get confused and think he is talking about another guy......  Then, a girl tells me that while she was working at the local pawn shop, yet another student tried to pawn the ipod but the shop refused cause it was all too shady. (Yeah, I know, who knew that pawn shops took the high ground!) Then, the hall monitor tells me that one of her charges implicated a third suspect.  Frankly, I was back to thinking that the entire school was in cahoots...

Thursday, I have a confrontation with the first student - he denies, denies, denies, and then tells me he knows who took the damn thing.  Friday, the kid comes to my classroom with the ipod and tells me he stole it back from the kid who took it.  I'm thrilled.  I love the irony of the kid stealing from the thief.  I tell him to come back on Tuesday for his reward.

Tuesday, no kid.

Tuesday night, I get a call on my cell phone  from the kid (Yikes!  They have my cell phone number!) and he is agitated and it sounds like he is crying.  "Mrs. Haywood," he yells.  "I can't live with this guilt.  I stole your ipod.  I don't know why I did it.  I don't know what's wrong with me.  I'm sorry."  The kid is a wreck.  He tells me that he stole his sister's ipod and pawned it and now he has been kicked out of his house.  I want to tell him he's a craphead, but I take a deep breath and I tell him, once again, that everything he does is a choice and that he can choose something different whenever he wants.  And because he is calling at night on my cell phone, I tell him that he needs to start listening to God and that God loves him and that he is worthwhile.  Then I offer to help him get into a vocational program.  He tells me he is headed north to live with a friend who can get him a job and hook him up with another alternative program.  I know the friend he is talking about - he's a druggie who never finished high school.

"Okay," I say to the kid.  "You know my number."

I got my ipod touch back, the ipod-stealing kid is out of my hair......so why do I feel so bad?