I went to Los Angeles this weekend to see a concert.

In the car on the way down, I get a call from my mother. Call me. K. is in trouble.

Why, why, why did I think I could squeak out a night off?

So I call and the story isn't clear. Something about K. and Lauren, the little girl across the street, going door to door to ask the neighbors for money. K. told my mom she was at Lauren's house. Lauren told her father, Joe, that she was at our house. In fact they were apparently panhandling at doorsteps up and down our block.

They got busted when Joe discovered a $5 bill in Lauren's room and asked her where she got the money. Lauren tried to stammer a lie, which didn't fly, so he worked it out of her that she and K. got the money from a man up the street.

Joe was understandably alarmed and came to my mom's house to interrogate K. (Divide and conquer). K., who is only 6, broke down and confessed immediately that they had lied about their whereabouts in some strange scheme to get money.

Now, Joe's reaction is the same as any parent's would be if they learned a grown man had given 7- and 6-year-old girls cash for no apparent reason.  So he angrily marched over to the man's house to return the $5 and asked him not to give his daughter money again.

Through all of this my cell phone is ringing off the hook with my mom offering updates as information trickles in. With each call, the story is getting worse, and I'm freaking out. Is this a pedophile paying my daughter for nude photos or something? How long has this money thing been going on? Who is this mysterious man up the street?

My imagination is running wild, and I can't take it anymore so I tell my mom to go across the street and get Joe's number so I can call him and hear the story first-hand.

Five minutes later I call Joe. The story has changed yet again.

The kids weren't panhandling. They were peddling jewelry. Some plastic bracelets of Lauren's, and K. contributed some hair barretts to the enterprise. Most of the neighbors politely declined the sales pitch.

Only one sucker was stupid enough to pay $5 for a plastic Barbie bracelet and some hair barretts.

I guess he was trying to be nice, Joe offered by way of explanation, since he knows you and apparently has met K. before. Some guy who works with you, I think?

And suddenly it's all clear to me.

A co-worker friend of mine lives three houses down.

I was so mortified I could have crawled under a car and died. I called my friend to beg his forgiveness and he was very gracious.

K. is grounded for a week.