The Daily Mail [UK]
14 March 2014
By Tom Utley
[…] It was on that same holiday that one of our sons,
then 11, lost his mobile phone and Game Boy, telling me he thought the Jamaican
chambermaid who had just cleaned his room had stolen them.
I knew this was impossible, because she was such a
patently trustworthy woman. The day before, she had caught my wife tidying up
the chaos in the boys’ room and commanded her: ‘Don’t touch anything! That’s my
job. You’re on your holiday. Enjoy it.’
I gave my son the rocket of his life and told him the
story (I hope an urban myth) of the British pilot overnighting in Saudi Arabia,
who accused the hotel bellboy of stealing his Rolex. The boy had form for theft
— and when he was convicted, he had his hand chopped off, according to Saudi
law. Two weeks later, the pilot found his Rolex in his spare uniform.
My son was suitably chastened and, sure enough, his
mobile phone and Game Boy turned up tidied away in a drawer by that
irreproachable chambermaid. […]