A trip to the Bijou theater and a Lesson Learned

Spring and Summer of 1961 was good to be a kid. Movies at the Theater, trips to the museum, picnics and trips to the lake. This was the year I started formal music lessons also. It cost 5$ an hour, every Thursday after school. Mrs. Wolf was my first music teacher. A young mother. I never did see her husband. She had a Daughter my age Becky, and Mrs. Wolf would drop her off at my house from time to time. My dad had put boards in the attic over the garage. I went up there and made kind of a hangout there. Becky loved to go up there too. She was a bit of a tomboy but played the piano beautifully. One day Becky was dropped off and Mom took us to the Movies Downtown Battle Creek, to see a Disney Movie. It is very special, as this was the first outing where one of my parents did not go with me. I felt very grown up! I paid, and got 2 tickets for the movie, and Becky and I went to the vending machines to get a snack. One quarter would go a long way in those days. I had a change purse stuffed with quarters, saved up from my weekly allowances. I got Becky what she wanted, and what I wanted from the machines. As we were heading back to our seats a man leaped out of nowhere and grabbed my change purse, and ran! We went and told the management what had happened, but there was nothing they could do about it. That day I learned a valuable lesson. To keep my money hidden, and out of sight until needed!