This home was to be pre-wired for sound in every room - an emerging concept 25 years ago. So Valeer hired Apple Stereo - the closest thing DeKalb had to a high-end audio store - to do the sound wiring. The guy from Apple brought out a spool of the most beautiful speaker wire we had ever seen. It was certainly the thickest we had ever seen. Being music/stereo infatuated college students we knew that meant better sound. We coveted that wire, knowing that we really couldn't justify such an extravagant purchase. So we thought about it, and wished we could have it, and imagined what it would be like if only our own speakers were connected to an amplifier by such wonderful wire.

The guy from Apple left early, leaving the half-used spool of wire on the job. Jeff, Scott, and I saw an opportunity in this turn of fortune. So we talked about what could be, plotted our little theft, and sent Scott off to do the job. Scott was Jeff's impressionable younger brother. It was easy to get him to do the dirty work.

Some time later, I cannot remember if it was the next day or the day following, the Apple guy returned. Clever man that he was he immediately noticed that his wire was missing. What were we thinking? Did we really think he would assume he had just misplaced a spool of expensive wire. Hhe confronted Valeer about the missing wire. I assume he accused us of stealing it. I don't know because we never saw or heard the confrontation. At lunch that day Valeer lined us up and addressed us. Valeer said something like "boys, that man from Apple Stereo say his wire missing. He say you stole it. I tell him 'no, my boys are honest, they would not do such a thing'. I tell him maybe somebody took it during the night. He should not leave wire on the job. Don't you worry about him." It sounded better with Valeer's Flemish accent, but you get the point. Val's loyalty stunned me. I think it stunned all three of us. That he would trust a bunch of kids, defending our honor and integrity in a situation where his trust could so easily have been misplaced.

I may not remember Val's exact words, but I will never forget that incident. Val's trust in my honesty and integrity burned at my conscience. From that moment forward I was ashamed at what I'd done. I wanted to 'fess up right then and there, but I was afraid and didn't want to rat on my friends. I now realize I should have simply taken responsibility for my own involvement. Val retired to Texas many years ago, but I have seen him two or three times in the years since this theft. Each time I felt a sense of shame, a desire to come clean, a desire to honestly regain his trust in me. I saw a man whose trust I had violated. Fool that I am I've not yet told him the truth. Nevertheless, that incident made an indelible impression on me about trust, about loyalty, and about developing character in youth. It also taught me how the circle of victims for our selfish actions is always far wider than we realize.

9:20:35 AM