Lifes Little Pleasures

I walked through the house with my cup of coffee and went to sit on the deck. It was Sunday, and we would be attending church today. I needed to shower and dress. But that would wait.

Sarah soon joined me on the deck. The neighbor's dog approached us after chasing another neighbor's dog. Another cute shepherd. We knew it was soon time to get ready for the day. We waved goodbye to our neighbor when she called for her shepherd.

We hollered out we will see you at church.

We hurried off, but before we showered and changed clothes we caught a picture of ourselves in our matching pj's. Now isn't that cute I thought to myself. I hope Sarah doesn't put it on Facebook.

After church, we stopped for brunch. Shortly after arriving there a couple came into the restaurant we were eating in. We knew them a little, and they stopped to tell us about what happened at church after we left.

We invited them to join us for brunch.

The minister told the congregation that was still there that he was so upset that the money that had been collected that morning had disappeared. And then he said that it wasn't the first time. They then said that several people were suspect.

He said that this time he had left some possible clues as to who may be taking the money. He didn't say what those clues were but we were to keep our eyes open as we may run into someone that has taken the money and we will know when we see it.

As we sat puzzled, we still had the opportunity to enjoy our brunch. The diner had a cute gift section and my wife excused herself to purchase some goodies to take home. When she returned and we were getting ready to head home, she offered to leave the tip.

Down went five and two one-dollar bills. I noticed that one of the dollar bills had written in black ink St. Andrews Lutheran Church in small letters at the bottom of the bill. At the same time, I noticed, Auggie and Madge looked shocked to see the same thing.

I said, "Honey, did you take the money from the offering this morning?" Sarah looked at me shocked that I would accuse her of taking the money! She swore she did not and said the change she put down she had just received from the gift shop when purchasing the fudge she bought.

The clerk said that just before we came in there was a woman who came in and grabbed some fudge and when she left a German shepherd was looking out the window of her car.

After speaking with the young clerk, we were convinced that our neighbor had taken the money from the church.

The couple we had brunch with were in a hurry to leave. As they were leaving they gave us their phone number and said, we will trust you with what you want to do. It is the holiday season though, so it would be good if your neighbor doesn't have to go to jail.

We trust you to do the right thing. Call us and let us know when it is decided.

Could it possibly be our neighbor? She has no reason to take from the church, does she? My wife then said, "That poor woman! Her husband divorced her for another woman and she has been struggling ever since. Even though she has a good job, it's life's little pleasures she can't afford!"

Then she added, "I don't want to go accusing her though, I know how I felt to be accused!"

"It seems too simple said Sarah. What would Columbo, Perry Mason, or Matlock say or do?" Okay, let's think about this some more. Remember the other neighbor who walked by with their German shepherd?

And what about that young store clerk? He was in church, wasn't he? This is getting to be way too much for us to deal with alone. Let's go to the minister and tell her everything we discovered and maybe together we can decide what to do.

When the minister came to the door, we told her we had something to report about the stolen money from the collection plate. The police were in her office. And what a surprise to see the young clerk we had spoken with a short time before.

He admitted it was for life's little pleasures, but there was too much pressure for the pleasures!