THE BOY WHO MADE A FALSE REPORT

There was once a little boy who was always naughty. He was so naughty that he would always be up to no good on several occasions, with which his parents and neighbors can’t tolerate. So one day, he had pretended to be sick so that he stay at home because he had forgotten to do his school homework. Of course, his parents didn’t know that, so they allowed him to stay at home and stay in his bed until he gets well.

His mother left a written piece of paper with police contact number on it and told him to call the cops just in case there’s an intruder in the house. She kissed him goodbye before leaving for work. However, when the little boy peered through his bedroom to see his mother getting into her car and driving off from the driveway, he jumped out of bed and ran downstairs straight into the living room.

He switched on the television set and took the remote to scroll through all of the channels. When he had finally found the right channel that he was looking for, he went into the kitchen and opened up the cupboards looking for something to eat. He found a large box of corn flakes and a large ceramic bowl from a cupboard high above. Of course, he had to drag a chair towards the cupboard and climbed on it to get them. But then, he walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. He saw a large carton of milk on the door, so he took it and carried it over to his bowl of corn flakes and poured some milk over it until it was full.

He walked back right into the living room and sat down into the sofa, with his bowl of corn flakes with milk and a glassful of orange juice in his little hands. He ate his corn flakes and watched television until he was bored. He went upstairs into his bedroom and sat down on his bed, wondering what he can do today now that he was all completely alone. Then he had remembered that his mother had given him a piece of paper with the cops contact number so that he can call in case of anything happens.

Now that boy was so naughty that he had only one intention, and that’s to call the cops and pull a prank on them. So he ran downstairs back into the living room, and grabbed the telephone receiver. He started dialing the number for the police. When the operator had answered, the boy told the operator that there was someone in the house.

“What’s your name and home address, sir?” enquired the operator.

The naughty boy gave her his name and his home address. The operator told the boy that she will dispatched two police officers to his house, very shortly. The boy hang up the telephone receiver and waited right there in the living room, giggling to himself, apparently pleased with his friends. Wait until my friends heard this, the naughty little boy thought to himself.

Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang. The boy ran to the front door and opened it to find himself with two uniformed police officers. They both looked very serious and they both had their hands on their hips.

“Good morning, son,” said one of the officers. “We’ve just received an emergency call that there was an intruder at this address. Can you confirmed that?”

“Um….I think you’ve got the wrong address, sir,” said the boy. “I believe it’s that house next door.”

“Okay then, son,” said the officer, apologetically. “Thank you very much for your assistance.”

With that, they both walked away from the front porch and leave to go to the other side. The boy closed the door and peered through the window, observing the two police officers walking across to the neighbor’s front yard. He had to stifle his laughter from laughing out loud at his ultimate prank progress.

By lunch time, he had contacted the police once more reporting a burglary in progress. He give the same operator his name and home address. When he had placed the telephone receiver back onto its hook, chuckling to himself. That boy was truly naughty. So by 12:45 pm, the doorbell rang.  When the boy had answered it, he was surprised to see that it was the same two uniformed police officers who had responded earlier on.

“Good afternoon, son,” said one of the officers. “We’ve just received a report that there was a burglary in progress at this location. Is that true?”

“No, officer,” replied the boy.

“Are you really sure?” asked the officer, who was looking at the boy, very doubtfully.

“Yes, sir, I’m sure,” replied the boy, innocently.

“Well, you had be better sure because we’ve received a similar call from this same address reporting at first an intruder, and now a burglary in progress. Are you sure that you’re not pulling a prank on us, kid?”

“No, sir, I’m not,” replied the boy, innocently.

“Good,” said the officer. “If you’re at home, all alone, and you’re making all of those prank calls, then you need to stop because you’re playing with the law. Arrests and charges can be laid if you’re continuing to make false reports. Do you know that, son?”

The boy shook his head.

“Is your name David Schiff?” enquired the second officer, frowning.

“Yes, sir,” replied the boy, nodding his head, now getting scared.

“The operator had given us reports of phone calls coming from this address,” continued the first officer. “But don’t worry, kid. We have records of people calling in and making reports. So don’t we’re stupid and we don’t even know. But my advice to you is to be very careful. Okay?”

“Is your mother at home, son?” enquired the second officer.

“No, sir,” replied the boy, shaking his head.

“Then we’re going to have a word with your mother,” said the officer. “Do you know what time she will be home?”

The boy shook his head again.

“Don’t worry, we shall call her later at seven, probably,” said the officer. “Oh well, we’ve got to go now kid. Be safe and no more prank calls.”

With that, they both walked away from the front porch and walked towards their mobile patrol and got in and then drove off. Those two cops had surely convinced the naughty little boy about not making any more prank calls but they had surely warned him of the consequences.

Shortly before his mother returned home from work, the boy ran back upstairs into his bedroom and crawled back under his covers to pretend to be sick once more before she could discovered his folly. When his mother had entered his bedroom, he pretended to be fast asleep. However, she poked him to wake up.

“I know you’re not really sleeping, David,” she said. “So there’s no need to pretend that you’re sleeping. And I know that you’re not really sick, so you can stop the charade now.”

“What? Oh, hi, mom,” said the boy, pretending to be sleepy. “You’re home already?”

“Oh yes, I am,” she said in a tone which tells him that he’s in serious deep trouble. He sat upright in his bed to face his mother. She was frowning down at him.

“Your teacher, Mrs. Paul, called me at work today,” she said, folding her arms. “She told me that you’ve never surrender any of your school assignments. Is that true?”

“No,” replied the boy.

“So then why did she have to call me at work and told me that you did not give up any of your assignments?”

The boy tried to look innocent. “Maybe she’s lying,” he said.

But his mother didn’t seemed totally convinced though.

“Oh really, David?” said his mother. “Then can you really tell me that you’re really sick and home in your bed? Or were you busy making prank calls to the cops?”

His ears were now pricked up. How did she know that?

“The cops?” said the boy, now totally lost for words to say.

“Yes, the cops, David,” repeated his mother. “They’ve managed to contact me at work also and told me everything about your prank calls. When the cops showed up at our doorsteps, you lied to them, denying any reports of any intruder or a burglary in progress.”

The boy said nothing.

“When your father gets home, he’s going to go ballistics when I told him about you did today,” said his mother. “Those cops have threatened to charge us if you’ve ever done something stupid like that again. They said that you were playing with their jobs. Plus they’ve said that you shouldn’t be left at home all by yourself because who knows how many more mischief you can get up to. If you think that they were your playmates, then you’re so wrong, David.”

The boy didn’t know what to say further but he was totally lost for words.

“But you’re going to take your shower, and then you’re going to do every bit of your untouched school assignments. You’re not going to bed until you’ve completed every assignment that was just recently given to you.” His mother unfolded her arms and walked away from him, totally ashamed of what he had done today. She was really disappointed.

But when his father had come home from work about half an hour later, his mother wasted no time in telling him what had just happened today. He was frowning as he was listening very intently to every word that his mother was telling him. But his father became stern and called his son forward. Slowly, the boy walked towards his father, with his head down, as if he was expecting it. His father scolded him for about almost twenty minutes until he had decided to ground him for about one month.

“One month?!” exclaimed the boy, incredulously.

“Yes, David, one month,” confirmed his father.

Well, after David Schiff’s one month of punishment, he had decided to behave himself and be a good boy. He can remember seeing the disappointments on his parents’ faces while he was grounded for one month. But even though, he had tried to behave himself, and be good, he was still saddened by his parents’ bitter disappointments. Yet, in time, they’ve cooled down their bitter resentment towards their son, and they’ve continued to be one happy family afterwards.

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