This was Halloween weekend and being short on funds my Daughter and I hit the driveway with a bucket of chalk and a lot of enthusiasm. She bailed-out after a few minutes but I stuck-on and after a couple of hours with the morning sun and a slab of concrete I was feeling the holiday spirit. I was met at the door with my Wife's skepticism, saying it would likely be defaced before any of the trick-or-treaters would witness it, I refused to believe her. After all I had already received a few compliments from passers-by including a young man from across the street. I was especially proud of this one.
I was brought back to reality by my Son's announcement that the driveway had been hit. I walked-out to view the damages and equated the evidence with the boys at the end of the block on their mini motorcycles. I went for it. As they approached I walked in front of them and blocked their progress. I was surprised to see the same boy from earlier among the three. I jumped into my interrogation and he denied all involvement, I chose to believe him. The middle boy slipped-up in his story and I stopped short of venting all of my emotions and told him that I thought it was, "just sorry". The youngest boy whom I have known for years and considered a decent kid was silent. I turned toward my house, they never moved.
Once inside my Wife exposed my deepest fears- that I should expect an act of vandalism on the property within the next 24 hours. I claimed that I didn't believe that. Mentally I reviewed the confrontation and prepared myself to clean-up the drawing. That's when the doorbell rang. The three of them stood before me, and the two youngest confessed to their actions and gave what I felt were sincere apologies. I was flabbergasted. I have pulled far worse stunts in my day and probably wouldn't have been as responsible as they were without heavy parental involvement. I expressed, as best I could, how impressed I was with them, and accepted their apologies. It renewed my faith in this generation and more specifically my neighborhood, perhaps it is just the fear mongering media, and not the degeneration of the human race.
