It was paid for, thus it was a 1 day loan, not a theft. Besides that she knew that the parents would settle up the next day which they did, because she had known the parents for years.. So no one was cheated out of anything.
You are correct.
Theft is often defined as the unauthorized taking of property from another with the intent to permanently deprive them of it.
...
The offense of larceny is:
The unlawful taking and carrying away of.
Someone else’s property.
Without the consent of the owner and with.
The intent to deprive the owner of the property permanently.
You can find this definition anywhere. It is correct.
The fact that he paid the money the next day is sufficient evidence of lack of intent.
So it wasn’t theft.
Now we may hear some idiot with delusions of cleverness chirping up “Oh, he certainly didn’t mean to return the food, so he did intend to permanently deprive”. But in fact the kid had no intent to permanently deprive the cafeteria of the economic value the cafeteria placed on the food that the cafeteria wanted in exchange for the food, and he did NOT permanently deprive the cafeteria of it.