thou Shalt Not Steal (prologue)

Thou Shalt Not Steal

By W. E. LePire

Prologue:

My name is John Smith. I was born in a small Texas town to a middle class family of 5. My mother was a homemaker and my father was a traveling business man who was never really home. I had a  normal upbringing but as with all highly intelligent boys in small towns I was bored and theft was my answer. My sisters faired much better.

It started small with shoplifting candy and small items from the five and dime. It then moved to bicycles. I was twelve when I made my first set of lock picks out of steak knives I stole from the local thrift store. I took them home and spent hours filing the blades down on the old grinding wheel my father had bolted to the bench in his workshop. I made five rakes all with different heads along with a tension wrench and placed them into a roll up pouch once used to hold a small wrench set but long since added to the multitude of tools scattered upon the same work bench.

The picks came in handy for jimmying the locks on the lockers at school.  I gained a little swag and a lot of knowledge and even more trouble. It was juvenile delinquency, or at least thats what the cops said to my father. He grounded me for a month and wore my ass out with a switch.

Little did they know(or anyone in the family for that matter) that he was one of the most prolific thieves of the time.He was caught when I was fifteen and sentenced to thirty years in Leavenworth. That’s pretty much where my career in crime began.

As you have probably guessed I am a thief. First off, before I tell you my story I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Thieves have rules. RULE 1: Thou shalt not steal. (but if you must, don’t get caught.) Most rules of thievery are self imposed, however mine where passed down to me from my father, found in the back of his desk, in a compartment built behind the lowest drawer.

It was an old journal with a tooled leather cover bearing the image of a skull surrounded by baroque leaf work. It was over two inches thick  and stuffed to overflowing with rules, notes, and plans. At the time I found it I had no idea how profound this book would be. Granted I was only sixteen and very self absorbed.

Inside the front cover was was an inscription:

John,
When you find this (and I know you will) please destroy this book. but if you must use it use it wisely.

Love,
Dad