Toward the middle of last week, I got a call from Chance Liberty. Yes, that's his name. And, yes, he was born on the Fourth of July.

He's a student at Moorhead High School, and we wanted to know if we had any volunteer opportunities for him. Evidently, he got detention and needed to burn off some hours with a non-profit organization. He chose ours.

As I was preparing for the marathon and didn't want to sit for 13 hours each day, I invited him to volunteer at the Expo and Saturday's marathon.

He was late Thursday. He blamed it on his inability to find us.

He was late Friday. He said he had trouble finding a place to park.

He didn't show up Saturday. Kaija and I managed the event.

Yesterday, he calls me up around 11 and asks if he can come over to get his volunteer sheet signed.

And then he asks me for directions. 

I tried my best to explain where we were when my KFGO and Village Family Services reference didn't mean anything to him. And, then, 10 or 15 minutes later, he called me back to ask if he should turn on 12th Street.

Err!

Did I mention I'm not good at giving directions. And why can't people navigate by landmarks anymore?

Well, he found the place.

As he sat across from me, he said, "I didn't see you Saturday. I suppose we were just too busy or something." He paused and said, "I was helping in the bowl."

Yeah. Right. 

The kid was a scammer, and I knew it.

There was a time when I was such a rule follower, a bit holier-than-thou about doing things properly, that I would have called him on it.

Now, I guess I've learned to choose my battles more strategically.

He helped. I was grateful for his help.

I gave him credit for the hours he claimed, although my better judgment questioned the call.