Here's a little tip for ya, if you want to play innocent games like OP without ever getting in trouble:
1) Adopt a boy of your own. You can make one yourself, but that just takes too long.
2) Buy that boy a jacket of every color. Every color of the rainbow, every color under the sun.
3) Wait outside the bookstore in your car (for as long as it takes) and wait for another boy to appear, around the same age as your boy. Note the color of his jacket.
4) Grab a jacket of the same color out of the previously mentioned jacket collection that you keep in the trunk of your car. Put it on your son.
5) Go in the bookstore, tell your son to go wait in the corner or check out the Children's Bible section or whatever. It doesn't really matter.
6) "Accidentally" grab the wrong boy, whisper "Gotcha" or whatever else you want, exactly like OP did. Do whatever you gotta do to break the ice.
7) But now... when the boy or his parents freak out... just tell them "Oops, I thought your son was my son. My boy. We were just here to pick up some new Bibles for back-to-school time." You point to your own boy in the corner, note that he is wearing the same jacket, and everyone just laughs the whole thing off.
It's a great way to find new friends for your own boy, since it's a little difficult for him to make new friends on his own... being home schooled and all. And who knows, you may even make some adult friends while you're at it!
But it really does work... and by next year... you'll have enough friends in your little blue phonebook to give your boy a proper birthday party... with other people there... so that the two of us aren't eating the whole cake by ourselves again. LOL (laugh out loud)!
PLUS... it makes the whole thing funny and understandable, so you don't get stuck in an awkward situation like poor OP did!
So say I,
Whippledorf Mordecai
