Retribution, and a little worry.

Friday night at about 11:30, my neighbour heard a bang against his window.  He looked outside and realized that kids were throwing eggs at his house.  He got up, threw on some sweats and hightailed it outside.  Their house is on the corner, and he could see that the kids had egged the front, side and back of the house.

By the time he got out there, they were working their way down along the alley in the back.  Knowing that if they saw him coming down the alley that they'd hightail it out of there, he hopped into the truck he had parked out front, drove down the street in front and around  to park and wait for them at the other end of the alley.

When they arrived, he turned on his truck lights (saw a bunch of eggs magically fall from their pockets) and approached them.  It was a group of four 12 and 13 year olds, if you can believe it.   They were having a sleep over at the one kid's house, and had decided to walk over to the local Macs store to pick up some late night snacks (and apparently some eggs).   He handed the ringleader his cell, and told him two make two calls:  the first to his parents, and the next to the RCMP.

The first call didn't go so well.   The mother denied very strongly that her kid would do anything wrong, let alone egg somebody's house.  She couldn't believe my neighbour's nerve, that he'd accuse her little angel.  She promptly got off the phone and drove down to meet them on the street, where she tore a strip off of him for accosting her child and his friends in the middle of the night.

Luckily, the second call went better.  The little angel had the honor of reporting himself to the RCMP, and then handing the cell phone back to my neighbour.  He's a traffic cop, so when he explained the situation, the RCMP arrived right away.  After they calmed the mother down, the RCMP constable had a chat with the kids and low and behold, got them to confess.  (As if the pile of broken eggs at their feet wasn't enough.)

The police wanted to charge the little buggers, but my neighbour didn't see the benefit to that.  He said that they're young and stupid, but there's no sense in giving them criminal records.  At that age, and fines that they were charged with would have to be paid by their parents.  So, instead he made arrangements for the kids to return in the morning to clean up the mess.

Saturday morning, there was a bit of excitement when a police car, two parents and four kids arrived with scrub brushes, soap and water in hand.  They scrubbed the house front to back.  One mother who was there went to personally apologize to my neighbours.  She explained that her son had only just started to hang out with the other boys this year, and that they'd met through their hockey league... and she said they won't be spending any more time together in the future off the ice.  Her son had apparently sworn up and down that he hadn't thrown any eggs, and although she believed him,  she wanted him involved in the cleanup because he should have spoken up and stopped them.  Then, once her son was finished with his cleaning, she rolled up her sleeves and did it again (saying she wanted the cleanup to be perfect.)

The other mother - the one who tore a strip off of my neighbour, and denied her son's involvement - stood on the sidewalk with her arms crossed the whole time.  She didn't say anything my neighbours (not even to apologize for her own behaviour the the night before) or the kids.   In fact, they almost had the impression that she was there more to protect her child than she was to make sure he cleaned up his mess.   The other two kids showed up without parents...  since charges weren't laid, we don't even know if their parents were informed of their nocturnal activities.

Kids do stupid things... I did my own fair share.  (Although, I never egged or TP'd anybody's house.)   I don't begrudge kids who push their boundaries - in fact, I expect it to a certain level.  I do question a lot of parents out there, though.  Why would anybody think it's OK to let a group of four 12/13 year old boys wander the streets at 11:30 at night?  And when they do go out and do something stupid, why wouldn't you get involved, apologize for your lack of guidance, and then work with your kids to make sure that they learn better?  I've got to say that, except for the kid with the one seemingly involved mother, I don't hold out a lot of hope for the other three.