Chris Donahue was not allowed over our house because my father thought he was stealing quarters from the pinball machines. We had vintage pinball machines in our basement. We had to load and reload the same quarters to play them. My dad suspected Chris Donahue of emptying the coffers.

"He's poor and I was poor and I know how poor people think! That kid is stealing quarters from the pinball machine."

From then on when Chris Donahue came over my Dad used to accuse him of stealing quarters.

"Hey Chris! Your pockets are bulging! Are you stealing any more of my quarters?"

He was actually serious.

That's why I could not relate to the Michael Douglas film "Wonder Boys." In one scene Michael Douglas takes Tobey Maguire's character to his in-law's house. Tobey Maguire quickly lights up a joint and downs their Scotch. The in-laws come home and simply treat Tobey Maguire like an innocent little schoolboy. The grandmother even bakes him cookies.

If anything like this happened in my house it would be:

"Smoking marijuana in my house! Strangers smoking marijuana in my house! They could take everything from us! Everything we own! They can take your house away for having marijuana."

Another time I ground up chalk to look like cocaine, put it in a baggie and left it on a desk in front of the bedroom window.

"GET THAT CHALK OFF THE DESK! Somebody could look in the window and think we have cocaine in here! We could lose everything!"