Mystery Solved

The other day I told Tate we had to make a quick run to Target.

"Can I spend one of my dollars?" was the first question out of his mouth.

"Sure", I said.

So off he ran to grab his little black wallet with some Christmas money inside. He couldn't find it anywhere, and we were in a bit of time crunch to make it back in time to pick up Drue, so I told him I would loan him one of my dollars and when he found his wallet he could pay me back.

We were off.

Not long after we returned home, he found his wallet. I was in the shower and he burst in to tell me the good news.

"That's great honey. Remember you have to give me one of your dollars," I hollered through the shower door.

"Ok. Are you going to give it back to me?" he asked.

I reminded him of our earlier agreement. I looked on my dresser when I got out of the shower to see if he had left one for me. I knew I had left a $20 bill on it. I found neither my $20 or $1.

Later that day we were building lego ships in his room and I saw his wallet lying on the floor. Curious how much of his $25 worth of Christmas money was left, I opened it up. Inside were two $20 bills.

Huh?

"Tate, did you take one of these from my dresser?" I asked casually.

"No", he said, shaking his head. Looking at his face I could instantly tell he was being truthful. This puzzled me.

I let a little time go by then asked the same question. He gave the same answer, again appearing totally and completely truthful.

Either he's gotten very good at deceiving me or I've lost my touch, I thought.

I gave it one more try. I said, "When you left me my $1 on my dresser..." (which again, I hadn't seen yet either) "...did you see one of these..." held up $20 bill..."and put it in your wallet?".

He immediately went into my bathroom and retrieved his $1 off my counter and handed it to me. "I didn't put this on your dresser," he said.

Of course. He had come in while I was in the shower and left my money on the bathroom counter instead.

I was beginning to think I must have just misplaced my $20.

That afternoon the kids and I were talking about money and I said I thought it was odd that Tate had two $20 bills in his wallet.

Turns out I'm not losing my touch, because Drue's face immediately read G-U-I-L-T-Y.

"Oh, the other day when Lily was over I paid Tate $20 to let us swing him by his arms and legs", she confessed.

What in the world?

And I knew before I even asked the question, "Drue, where did you get $20?".

"Your dresser."