Skinflint Master Mind

One such episode I am deeply ashamed of and tell it first: the only such incident where I feel I was a scoundrel. I was maybe ten, hanging around with a kid from school who lived up the block, but far enough up the block that we'd never run back and forth to each other's house: Pete. We're talking about this and that and I realized that Pete's experience didn't match mine: he hadn't spent much time with pussy, he hadn't spent any. You mean you have? he's startled and doubtful. Sure, I say, it's easy. I look up and a young girl from halfway up the block is walking toward her house. She's maybe seven or so. I've never spoken to her, don't even know her name. Watch this, I tell Pete. I go up to the girl. Hi. You're the girl who lives in that house up the block, over there, right? Hi. I'm SybaRight. This is Pete. We're medical students, studying anatomy. We need a model. Would you model for us? We'll give you a nickel.

I imagine plenty of kids have done as bad or far worse. Why am I so ashamed of it? Because it's the first time (and I believe the only time) I ever told lies to get the girl's clothes off. But that's still not the worst of it: we never gave her the nickel! It's also the only time I've ever offered money for anything sex-related (that wasn't simple merchandise to start with: like condoms, and precious few of those). Therefore, it's the only time I welched. It's possible I forgot my promise. More likely I decided it wasn't necessary and was a young skinflint. I shouldn't have offered the money if I wasn't going to pay: still haunts me more than half a century later.