Fire, fear, and a crappy evening

I always compose witty and well-written blog posts in my mind, late at night, as I am falling asleep. Then I wake up, start my long and hectic day, and forget all about that little gem of a post possibility. This happened late last night (or early this morning, depending on how you look at it). And I cannot for the life of me remember the one ingenious line I had lingering in my mind. Quel dommage. What I DO remember is what the post was going to be about. Which is what this post will be about (see title).

Last night we had the *pleasure* to be on the receiving end of a really unnecessary, and immature prank. It seems that while I was watching General Conference yesterday (not to be confused with General Hospital), some little jerks in the neighborhood were watching Billy Madison and getting outdated prank ideas. At approximately 8 pm, there was a HARD knock on the door. It startled all of us. Wes immediately opened the door to find a flaming bag of you guessed it. Poo (I'm really hoping it was dog poo, because the alternatives...we'll stop there). You know—the old "stomp on the flaming bag of crap" trick. Of course Wes knew what this was, and put it out with the hose. Surprisingly, we didn't see who did it. (They must have been FAST.) We decided they jumped over a wall and headed back towards the alley.

Wes wasn't too upset about it. He insists it's just kids playing dumb pranks (and being pretty mean, in my opinion). But the thing that really chaps my hide, is the fact that it legitimately scared little Finn. He was crying about the fact that Dada was outside with the fire. We could all smell the smoke indoors. And he talked about the "bad guys" and the fire all night long. He couldn't stop talking about it. He tailed me like a shadow the rest of the night, not going to bed until we were all in bed with him. I wished so badly that I could just erase those sad, scared thoughts from his mind.

I glared out the front window last night, watching some teens sitting on the curb across the street, smoking. They kept flicking their lighters in the dark. The mothering instinct in me had visions of marching across the street, yelling at them for scaring my son and daring to burn anything (even in jest) in California. But they might not have been the culprits at all. As unfair as it is for me to judge them, I still couldn't shake it.

As we opened the front door this afternoon, the first thing Finn did was check the spot where Wes tried to wash away all of the ashes from the burned bag. Finn kept asking if I hate those bad guys. I told him it's never good to hate anything. But really super strongly dislike? Um, yeah!!

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Dennis and Cherise said...

Oh how horrible! Wasn't there a talk today about raising teens? Too bad not everyone listens to General Conference, eh? Wish you better luck with your local hoodlums!

A Day That is Dessert said...

I'm so sorry this happened to you Lyndsay. And I know what you mean about how sensitive kids are. We had a car stolen when the kids were maybe one and three, and they BOTH still talk about it from time to time, and ask if the 'bad guy' is still in jail (he got caught) etc.

hello*lucky*holly said...

Stupid pranks!

Beth said...

UGH! I am so sorry that happened to you guys. And I would've reacted the same exact way if someone scared Tyler like that.

embot said...

du-ude! that really sucks. we have so many scary stories from being apartment managers, it crazy. people are seriously lame!

Senja said...

That really is horrible!! Idiots.

We have some teens who like to drive their tuned up vespas really loud late at night. I can't remember how often I have cursed at them in my mind (sorry) and thought that I would like to give them a piece of my mind. But husband reminds me that it might not be a good idea as they know where our car is parked..

Hope Finn is better again!

XO Senja

KatieJ said...

That is terrible! Poor Finn! Hopefully it was just a random thing and they won't do it again!