I’ve Been Robbed!

Well, about 36 years ago I was, anyway.  I recently re-lived the experience when I found the evidence tucked away with my scrapbook items.

You know what? I didn’t even know I’d been robbed for a L O N G time after. Not until I found this:

I don’t remember where I found it, but I do remember finding it, and when I decided it was a keepsake, I dated the back of it “late 1974-early 1975”. I apparently found it in “early 1975”.

Puzzled, I peeled the Scotch tape back and unfurled the following note.

A ransom note. Obviously pretty old now, but fairly fresh back in the mid-70’s. My thief was very much into rebus (pictures for words).

D(ear)

Mailbox (obviously…)

Bank (it was a plastic “safe” from Discovery toys and you had to have the combination to open it up)

Someone had stolen my piggy bank and wanted a whopping seventy-five cents to give it back. My piggy bank had been gone for a few months, and I hadn’t noticed. I don’t think it even had 75 cents in it, but don’t remember for sure.

There were directions and a map for me to follow when leaving the ransom, and if I didn’t follow them, my bank was going to burn. Thing is, he gave me until 7:00 p.m. that evening. Which evening?

My thief’s name? The note was signed.

If you’ve known me for very long, you know this came from one of my brothers. The one who acts all innocent and good, then from out of the blue, becomes “the Villan”. Hmmm… you know that wasn’t Randy. He was just villainous all the time. :o)

That means the “other” brother (the one who left me this other note when I borrowed his gloves for like two minutes) was the bank-napper who stole my it and hid it away, then left me this awesome ransom note. Problem was, it took me so long to find the note and realize my bank was missing, he forgot all about his evil plot. (That is why the date on the back of the note is so ambiguous. Neither of us knew for sure when he wrote it.)

You’ll be happy to know that I got my bank back, unharmed, without paying any ransom. I showed him the note when I found it, and he gave a full confession and returned my property unharmed, without my having to pay anything.

I’m pretty sure he “earned” enough $$ a few years later when he was a busboy and I was a waitress and sometimes my tips would “fall” on the floor while the table was being wiped off. Then that money would be free game for anyone who picked it up. 

I told you. He secretly was the Villan.