The young lady with shoulder-length black hair appeared to be in her early teens.

From across the Hartselle swimming pool, we spotted her kneeling over our belongings.

She kept her eye out toward people in the pool as her left hand appeared to rifle through our stuff.

I started making my way toward her, but she saw me coming. She stood up and quickly walked toward the exit gate with her arms folded like she was concealing something.

I went to check our belongings, but couldn't find anything missing. At least not at first.

A few minutes later, I realized my son's prescription eyeglasses were missing from inside his sandals.

I went to the exit gate, but couldn't find her.

A police officer who took the report said the pool has had problems this summer with theft, but police didn't have a description of a suspect until now.

The girl was wearing a white T-shirt with red lettering that said, "Why Nut?"

I don't know the meaning behind the message, but I would like to ask this girl, if she took the glasses, why.

Why take something that has no worth to her, but is of immense value to my son?

Why risk so much for nothing?

Maybe she would say, "Why nut?"

It may be a waste of ink to write a newspaper column on a boy's missing glasses.

It may even be a waste of public resources to report it to police.

But most of us work hard for our families. Those of us who have children know how often $250 eyeglasses get lost or broken and we accept it with a weary sigh and chuckle.

But it's tough to stomach a senseless theft.

If you see a girl walking around in a "Why Nut?" T-shirt, squinting through a pair of ill-fitting wire-rimmed glasses, tell her there's a dad out here with a question.

Why?

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