Surprises in the Backpack

The other night I decided to go through The Youngest Boy’s backpack because I didn’t really buy his story that he had no papers, no homework, no nothing to give to me.

What I found in there, aside from a couple of smelly zip-up sweatshirts, were three notes addressed to The Spouse and I, as the parents of The Youngest Boy. The notes told us that we owed the school cafeteria varying amounts of money. The totals in the individual notes never surpassed $10.
And I was dumbfounded. Each morning The Spouse or I ask the kids if they need lunch money. They are quite comfortable with pilfering small bills from my purse or from The Spouse's wallet. Oftentimes, we only have tens or twenties and have to hand them over. (I'm not very good at following up and demanding change, to be honest, though I suppose I should start holding them accountable for said change.)

So how in the world could we have had a deficit with the school cafeteria, which now probably thought we were deadbeats for not responding to three different notes which never made it out of The Youngest Boy’s backpack? (Seriously, trusting a 9-year-old to give us notes telling us we owe money isn't the smoothest of moves.)

The Youngest Boy swore up and down that he was all square with the cafeteria folks. Claimed that he checked today and confirmed that fact.

All of this makes me suspicious as to what’s really going on here. Is the 9-year-old giving money to someone else? Is he buying more food (like extra milks, double lunches) or stupid stuff at the student store, then using his own cash to make up the difference? The answers from the 9-year-old are insufficient to satiate my curiosity.