#sparksposts

imagine you, despite having zero evidence, are certain you know what happened and you present your conclusion to the owner: that his sixteen year-old son, who has worked in the store since he was nine, is fully responsible. that his sixteen year-old son has single-handedly stolen $82,000 in cash from his own father over time

imagine you feel only frustration and pity, no doubt and no willingness to consider other factors - like the owner's known penchant for charity and believing the sob stories of customers who 'can't pay' - when he insists that his son is innocent. imagine you tell this story to someone else decades later and you make sure to mention that the owner ended up having to sell his business and then died a mere six months later, and that at his funeral "nobody cried harder" than his son, a fact you relate with a sigh and head-shake of disappointment because you still insist that he was solely to blame for the missing money and by extension the owner's early passing

because if you think that a kid started stealing from his family's business when he was nine years old, and racked up $82,000 in cash without ever getting caught doing it or buying things he shouldn't have had the money for, without coming clean even after his father's financial ruin and death, then obviously he did. you know you're right. as if you could ever make a mistake

Leonel when his legs got crushed: makes no sound, tells Marco to finish the job