I was thirteen years old and we had moved from California to this small town back East. Every September the school and most of the town's businesses closed for the County Fair, and that was because everyone worked there. My new found girlfriends were going to work there too.

"You can work," my mother said, "As long as you get at least 75 cents an hour," my mother told me.

"Okay," I said, knowing that at 13 I would be lucky to get whatever job I could get. A week before the fair when vendors were setting up their booths, my two girlfriends and I found a job with some southerners in an eatery near the corner of the fair. We lied and told them we were 16, because we knew they wouldn't hire us otherwise. They also told us we would be getting only 50 cents an hour.

In my mind, desperate to work like everyone else in the town, I lied to my parents too and told them I was getting paid 75 cents an hour. I figured I would think of something by the end of the week.

Well, my friends and I worked long hours and very hard. I don't know how many hamburg platters we served and how many cups of coke. But we had a ball. First off, we felt grownup, working like everyone else, and second the camaraderie between all the workers was something we would have worked for free to experience.

We did get some time off here and there, and we even got to enjoy the fair itself, going on rides, looking at the 4H booths, seeing friends. But at the end of the week it was over, and we got paid. I got paid $55, which is more money than I had ever earned at once.

When I got home, my mother called and asked how I was. I told her great, and she asked me about the money. Well, I was hoping she would not ask but I had the perfect alibi. "Oh," I said, thinking I was so smart, "I got $55, but he took a little off for social security, Mom."

And there, I thought everything was okay.

The next morning I woke up, and my mother gave me a look, and handed me me $20 in bills.

"What's this?" I asked.

She said, "When your father and I heard they skimmed your salary with a story about social security deductions, we took our friends and left our party, and we went to the fairgrounds to where you worked. Your father went to the owner and he said, 'Shame on you, for taking advantage of a 13-year old girl like that'. He was ready to beat him up if he had to too. But suddenly the owner got red in the face and nervous, and said, 'Thirteen? The girls said they were sixteen.' He gave your father $20 and we left."

My mother stood there staring at me and waited. Suddenly I broke down crying and told her the whole story. I added, "Mom, I have to give the money back." So I wrote a letter to the man, explained how I was so desperate to work like everyone else that I was ready to do anything and that I was sorry for getting him into trouble. I put the money in an envelope, don't ask me how I got his address, but I mailed it and the letter to him.

Needless to say when I dreamed that night I was caught naked in the middle of town, I understood the dream.

The man wrote back, and told me he understood, that he had a daughter himself, and the apology was accepted. I was slightly relieved.

The next year I got a better job with a church booth that paid me decently where I did not have to lie. The hours were better, the work was easier, and I was treated well by the staff and all the patrons.

I believe this was the beginning of growing up for me, because with the first taste of independence I learned there is responsibility, and that what seems like an innocent lie can cause great damage. I was actually lucky, the only thing that got hurt was my parents' pride, my own credibility and the man who owned the booth.

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