Crime Prevention By Patsy Fagin Vincent was in a quandary. He had just been about to go Above and visit Catherine, when a sudden thought hit him. He had totally forgotten that it was her birthday. He couldn’t believe that he had, because normally he was so meticulous remembering birthdays and anniversaries, especially Catherine’s birthday. He knew of course that she wouldn’t mind, but that didn’t excuse his forgetting it. Thinking back over the past few days, he realised what had happened. It was because things had been so chaotic, with one crisis following another that he had hardly had any time to think about anything else but getting things sorted out.

Sighing deeply, he set off again, and then stopped, wondering if he could possibly find anything for her in one of the storage chambers, knowing that whatever he took her, no matter how small, would be appreciated. He headed towards them feeling marginally better, but after he had been in several, and found nothing, his spirits began to sink again. Finally he reached the last one, not expecting to find anything, and was astounded to see, on a table, a bunch of red roses in a bucket of water. He never even stopped to think where they had come from; he just picked them up and headed Above. Of course she was delighted, and they spent a wonderful evening together on her balcony.

The next morning after breakfast, Father said to Vincent, “Vincent, if you have time, would you come to my chamber with me, I must talk to you.”
“Of course I can Father, but why do we need to go to your chamber?”
“Because it is rather delicate,” he replied.
On the way to Father’s chamber Vincent wondered what was wrong. As soon as they had entered, Vincent asked, “Father what’s wrong?”
He took a deep breath and said, “Vincent, I’m afraid we have a thief in the Tunnels.”
Vincent was astounded. “Are you sure Father, what has been stolen?”
“A bunch of roses that was for Mary, as a thank you for the new blanket she knitted for me.”
Vincent had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, as he realised that that must have been the bunch he took for Catherine.
“We must call a council meeting…” Father started to say, when Vincent interrupted him.
“That won’t be necessary Father, I know who the thief is.”
“You know, who is it?”
“Yes, it was me.”
Father was astounded. “You Vincent, why ever did you take them?”
“Because it was Catherine’s birthday, and I totally forgot. I don’t know how I did.”
“Vincent, I never thought the day would come when you forgot something as important as that. But that doesn’t excuse you taking something that didn’t belong to you.”
“I know, and I am truly sorry Father.”
“I’m sure you are, but you can tell Mary.”
“Do I have to?” he asked looking worried, “after all she didn’t know about them.”
“That’s beside the point. You can count it as punishment,” Father said with a smile on his face.
Then Vincent had a thought. “I will Father, but in one way I stopped Catherine from committing a crime.”
“Catherine … committing a crime, what do you mean?” Father queried.
“ She would have killed me if I hadn’t taken anything for her birthday!”