Timeline: Tuesday . . . early evening.
As long as there are children there will be mischief, but to see your mischief on the front page of a newspaper, well, that is something special indeed.
PRANKSTERS HIT LOCAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
That is what the headline reads, and it is accompanied by a photo of the giant bunny.
Dad: Putting it on the front page is a compliment.
Mom: An A plus.
Dad: Yepper.
Mom clips out the photo and adds it to the other five incriminating pictures in the photo album.
Tammy: Good thing mom bought five extra copies.
Dad: At five different places.
Erin: How long do we have to wait before we can tell someone?
Dad: Seven years.
Erin: Oh . . . bum.
But it was like a balloon that had too much air in it. Holding in a secret is hard enough, but a secret this big and this good, well, it is perhaps asking too much of the children. So Mom and Dad decide to let out a little of the air and they make arrangements to drop by Caitlin, Jen, and Willie’s house to tell them some “big news.”
Mom: We have to make them promise . . .
Dad: Pinkie promise.
Mom: We have to make them pinkie promise to never tell anybody else.
They arrive at their cousins’ house with the newspaper, the photo album, and four large pepperoni pizzas. Everyone is ushered inside and Aunt Sarah, Uncle Eric, Caitlin, Jen, and Willie all gather round to hear the big news.
Tammy shows them the newspaper. Uncle Eric laughs. “That’s pretty funny.” he says, “I wonder who did it?” Well, he could not have asked a more appropriate question.
Tammy: We did it.
Ashley: Yep.
Caitlin, Jen, and Willie light up at the news, but Aunt Sarah and Uncle Eric are . . . disbelieving. So Erin says, “Mom, the book.” and she shows them the photos. They eye the pictures, and then look up at Mom and Dad as if they had, perhaps, lost their marbles.
Erin: It was a family project.
Uncle Eric: A mustache?
Dad: Yeah. For the yard sale. To get it.
Ashley: It’s Barbie’s hair.
Erin: We had to be careful . . .
Tammy: . . . that nobody found out.
Ashley: We did it at night . . . really late.
Erin: We wore dark clothes.
Tammy: And had walkie-talkies.
Ashley: And we didn’t get caught.
Mom: It was pretty scary though.
Dad: Yeah.
The pizza boxes are opened and slices are handed out. The pinkie promises, forgotten in all the excitement, are now administered. And as they are eating the pizza, a deep sense of satisfaction fills the air of that home, and Dad reflects on the events of the past few days, the close family relations he enjoys, and the good fortune that has came his way, and, in his thoughts, he says, “Thanks God. Thanks.” And Mom hears it.
THE END