They are nice girls, these sisters . . . ages six, nine, and twelve . . . but they do have a little mischief in them . . . and this makes them fun.
In almost any home there is a spot . . . a special spot . . . where the informal family conversations most often take place. Sometimes it is the dining room table. Often it is the kitchen. Here, in this household, it is the opening in the wall that separates the dining room from the kitchen. It’s set up like a diner, with this “portal” allowing for quick service to the people waiting for the food, but here it also is a place where meals come to a stop . . . and are eaten.
It (the opening) is about six feet long . . . with a nice counter top running the full length of it . . . and has a curved dome-like shape that is about three feet high in the middle. Mom and Dad are always on the kitchen side and the three girls are always on the dining room side . . . sitting on stools.
Off to the far end of this counter top sits a sign . . . one those small sign boards restaurants use to advertise daily specials . . . and it reads:
Scrambled Eggs and Bacon
Or
Waffle
(with whipped cream & strawberries)
Choice of juice included
Toast, hash browns optional
As the breakfast is being eaten, the conversation on this Saturday morning is about . . . pranks. The morning newspaper has, on page five, a photo of a prank that was engineered by some high school seniors two days earlier. The school year is just about over and this is their way of saying good-bye. The seniors stacked fifteen old car tires over and then down onto the flag pole that stands out in front of the high school, and Dad is showing the picture to the girls.
Erin (the nine-year old): How in the world did they do it?
Mom: I don’t know. They must’ve used a big ladder.
Dad: One time the seniors took a car apart and put it back together right in the middle of the cafeteria.
Tammy (the twelve-year old): No way!
Mom: Way!
Dad: The principal saw it, and in his morning announcements over the school speaker system he said, “There are several announcements this morning . . . the first concerns parking.”
Tammy: (laughs) He wasn’t mad?
Dad:
Nope. He’s a good guy.
Pranks, generally speaking, are a lost art. There are some, like our intrepid high school seniors, who keep the tradition going, but it is like the old professional baseball player. He still swings the bat pretty well but, ah, do you remember when. And so it is with pranks.
Erin: Has anyone ever done a prank at Holmes School (the local elementary school)?
Dad: Um . . .
Mom: Not that we know of.
Tammy: We could do one.
Ashley (the six-year old): Yeah.
Erin: It’d be fun.
And that is how the idea has its genesis. Each member of the family would, from that moment on, try to think up a good prank, and these ideas would be evaluated. The best prank idea would then be chosen, and the family, it was decided, would do it . . . together.
The first brainstorm session produces a few possibilities. They could spray paint the message of “Holmes School is the best” on the grass in front of the school, or they could make a giant smiley face flag and run it up the flag pole, or they could spread little yellow rubber duckies all over the school’s front lawn. But none of these ideas seem to ring a bell . . . the bell that tells them that “This is the one.” . . . and life goes on for our family.