Loose Ends: A yearly tradition

It appears this year the pranksters are packing. At least that is what their pockets stuffed with clear, plastic tape might indicate. Making midnight visits all over town to darkened doorways and windows, ringing doorbells or knocking on the glass, is the modus operandi for teenagers with too much time on their hands. The variation on this tired old trick is that they are mean-spirited.
One resident opened the front door to confront the late night bell-ringers but didn’t follow them as they obviously anticipated. Someone had stretched heavy-duty packing tape across the bottom of the steps at just the right height to knock someone off their feet. Luckily for that family, no one was hurt.
A concerned grandmother threw up her hands and asked the age-old question, “What were they thinking?” She, like most of us, knows that this particular rite of spring always includes teenagers with a penchant for entertaining themselves with brainless pranks but this one bothered her because the intent wasn’t just to amuse, it was to harm someone.
It is anyone’s guess what a parent or two faced with kids heading out the door for the evening with big rolls of packing type thinks they are going to do but it would help to ask. If it continues and someone is hurt, the ante will be upped from “kids will be kids” to “kids will be felons.”