You un-decorate how you want and I'll un-decorate how I want. |
It was a party.
And all sorts of things happen at a party, right . . .?
Becoming a teenager was a big thing.
Well, it was to me.
And I was having a party to celebrate.
A different party from any I had had before.
This party was going to include *dun-dun-duuuunnnn!* boys!
Yikes.
I had planned carefully. Games of pool and ping-pong. Music.
Dancing.
Food.
I had even decorated with streamers and balloons and invited everyone – jocks. Cool kids. Regular Joes (my
group).
Everyone.
And, wonder of wonders, they were all coming.
It was going to be great.
It was great.
Competitions ongoing in both the ping-pong and pool rooms.
Kids dancing in the family room.
Kids circling the food table.
But nothing is so good that it can’t be made just a bit
better, right?
Wrong.
Toward the end of the evening, I was in the ping-pong room.
A final match had just ended and the champion crowned.
The lights had been dimmed.
Did I mention that I had decorated with balloons?
I did.
That is important here . . .
Suddenly, I had the fun idea of ending the evening by
breaking up the decorations.
And what would I use? My foot.
Okay, I can see the look on your face. But it honestly made
sense at the time.
I chose my target - one of the lower balloons fastened to
the wall. I took aim.
And kicked.
The balloon gave a satisfying ‘pop’ as it expired.
But it remained fastened where it was, making a dark shadow
on the wall.
A large black shadow.
Weird.
Before I could investigate, one of the cool boys I had been
trying to impress all evening decided to take my example and kicked the balloon
next to mine.
His results were even more dramatic. His balloon also perished
on a lively note. But it must have been a vastly larger balloon because it left
a vastly larger shadow.
A foot-shaped shadow.
Oh-oh.
On closer inspection, it turned out that, not only had our
balloons been destroyed.
But the wall behind them had, too.
Yep. My party had just turned a corner. The one wherein property damage is considered in the
cost.
I managed to stop anyone else from following in my footsteps
– so to speak.
But the damage was there for anyone to see.
Anyone.
My dad is in that group.
Shortly after that, the party broke up and peace once more
settled across the Stringam household.
I managed to keep my mom out of that room for the remainder
of the evening by offering to clean it myself. (Yeah, she was surprised, too.) Alone
in there, I turned the lights up and examined the damage.
Yow.
Then I noticed that the drywall (the renovations were
ongoing and the taping and mudding and painting had not yet been completed) was
a yellow colour.
Hmmm . . . almost the exact colour of the pads of yellow, legal-sized
paper on my dad’s desk.
I dashed upstairs and secured two sheets of the stuff and
some glue.
Hurrying back to the scene of the crime, I held one of them
up to the wall. Eureka! (Don’t you just love words?!) It was almost the exact
same colour!
Quickly applying glue, I fastened a sheet of paper over each
gaping hole.
Gone!
I will mention here that my parents never mentioned it
there.
I mean, the person who finally did the finishing on that
wall must have discovered my oh-so-clever camouflage. But my parents sold the
house shortly after my party and the paper was still on the wall the day we
moved out.
To this day, I don’t know if they ever knew.
I was always afraid to ask.
I never would've pegged you for a partier...
ReplyDeleteWow, a party that needed homeowner's insurance? I never would have thought you were so wild? LOL It was the balloon's fault.
ReplyDeleteFirst a party. Then your family had to move. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm seeing a connection here. Tsk, tsk.
ReplyDeleteHee hee! Clever cover-up ...
There may have been a bit of psychology involved in their not mentioning it.
ReplyDeleteOuch. I am very, very glad that you noticed before more people joined the balloon popping party.
ReplyDeleteA juvenile delinquent who would have thought hehehehe!
ReplyDeleteAt least you fixed it, not well but you made the effort. My kids would leave it there and swear it had nothing to do with them (and how dare I blame them. . .).
ReplyDeleteVery handy having paper available in the right colour and very resourceful of you to utilise it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the new buyers thought of the "wallpaper" in that room? :)
ReplyDelete