Devil's Night

The night before Halloween is a major kid holiday--or at least it was so in my day. We would (theoretically) get up to all sorts of devilry, and try to find clever tricks to play on folks. But, in any event, there were always the old tried and true tricks: soaping windows, toilet papering trees.

Tonight, while the kids were PLAYING OUTSIDE, someone TP'd their house. It was quickly determined it must have been a neighbor, Mary, so revenge was planned. A roll of toilet paper was found, and all NINE cousins set off a bit noisily down the street.

These poor kids were devilry neophytes, we soon discovered. First, the need to keep quiet had to be repeatedly stressed. Once they reached Mary's house, it became evident that they had NO IDEA how to TP a tree; they began tearing off bits of paper and carefully festooning the branches, as though it were Christmas!!!


Due to the noise, they were quickly discovered by Mary's dad. Rather than scolding them, though, he took pity on them. He went into the house, got a fresh roll of paper, and took them across the street to the Smith's' house to show them how to properly TP a tree (throw the entire roll, letting it stream off). They learned quickly, and then had to run just as quickly to escape detection......


Well, they'll be much better prepared next year!