Phones, Theft, and a Clever Idea

Have you ever had your phone stolen? I don’t think it’s ever happened to me personally, but I know a few people who’ve been through it, and I’ve had other things stolen from me in the past. It leaves you with a disgusted feeling, doesn’t it?

Today it happened to one of my students. He rode to school on the bus like normal but accidentally left his phone on his seat. By the end of the day, no one had turned it in, and it was gone.

As you’d expect, he wasn’t too happy about it. Still, he seemed to carry on well enough. What caught me off guard was what he said when I asked him about it.

“It’s okay, that was just my decoy phone. It’s a junk one I use when I’m out of the house in case something like this ever happens. Back home I have a Samsung 25 Ultra.”

He smiled and went on his way, leaving me laughing to myself. What a clever kid. Decoy phone. That’s what he called it. I don’t know if he came up with the idea or if his parents did, but I think that’s brilliant.

In my opinion, kids should only have phones for emergencies anyway. The idea of giving them a decoy phone strikes a good balance. They have a nicer one they can use at home and learn to use responsibly, but they also have a decoy phone that does little more than make calls.

For my part, I know I broke a phone or two growing up. It probably would have saved my parents a decent amount of money if I’d had a cheap decoy phone instead.

Of course, that means buying two phones, but I like the idea all the same. I doubt I like it enough to implement it, but the character of the idea captivates me.

These are the kinds of things I talk about when I say my novels are inspired by daily life. I’m not sure how I’ll implement it yet, but I’m already starting to come up with a fantasy-based decoy-phone kind of character.