My older brother Armando was a real character and was always coming up with ways to get something to eat. When I was seven years old and he was eleven, he came up with the idea of going around the city and asking the owners of restaurants for day old bread. It worked and we usually got some for a snack and some to take home.
Other times, we would get turned down and Armando would make up some type of story to make the restaurant owner feel sorry for us. Often, he would use me as a prop. He would have me lay down on a doorstep and pretend I was asleep. Then without me knowing it, he would tell them I was sick. Bingo! We would get some bread.
However, one day he asked the wrong guy. We went to a restaurant and Armando played his trick. The owner came out to see me and asked me if I was sick. When I said no, he chased us away. What we didn’t know was that he knew us and my father. That was the end of that awesome trick! When we got home we both got spanked and sent to bed.