Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set the example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. I Timothy 4:12
Jul. 26, 2009
The Toothpaste Chronicle
Detailing a game we played at the beach during the reunion.
The Toothpaste Chronicle
Or, The Chronicle of the Toothpaste Wars
By Rachelle and Amanda Jones, and Jessica and Maggie Roberts
Being a capture-the-flag type game with all the characteristics of Calvinball – no rules. It was Maggie, Rachelle, Amanda and Jessica against Jo, Ian and Andrew (the latter later defected to our team).
Our weapons consisted of toothpaste, deodorant, hangers (bows and arrows), sunglasses, and a hairbrush.
Their weapons were handguns, deodorant (copiers!), brochures, stinky socks, remote controllers.
We started by having a secret girl talk on the tree out back about what we should do (we were kind of bored). Then we confiscated all the working walky-talkies but Andrew got mad so we gave ‘em to the boys. That was the beginning.
Our secret names were as follows:
Rachelle: Picasso
Amanda: The Dolphin
Maggie: The Cobra
Jessica: Mirage
We gave names to the boys but never really used them.
Jo: The Giraffe
Ian: The Sneak
Andrew: The Frog
Our password was terrific toenails, and our fake password was oogadaboogadaearailabumshnick. We were trying to get the boys to think that our password was the longer one so we’d say it halfway, whisper terrific toenails in the middle, and finish the longer password. Andrew thought he knew our password but we wouldn’t let him in.
First off, we investigated the boys’ room and, finding it empty, took it over. Shortly afterwards, Rachelle was chased out because she’d neglected to lock the sliding glass door that led into the boys room from the porch.
Then Jessica snooped and was captured very violently. They attempted to rob her of her weapon and gave her Indian burns during the scuffle. She got toothpaste all over her hands but they let her off with a “warning.”
We went outside and the boys were waiting with remote control “Tasers.” They gunned down Maggie and stole her toothpaste, and unfortunately Rachelle quickly followed in this sad fate. There ensued another mad scuffle after Jessica’s toothpaste but right when all hope was lost, her girls came and rescued her. Amanda was standing guard in our fort, but Rachelle and Maggie fought valiantly to save Jessica from the evil boys.
Andrew tried to defect to our side but he was just having an attitude. We told him he would only have fun if he decided to. That’s when Maggie came across the hanger “bow and arrows.” She immediately broke one and Amanda gave the broken part to Andrew to use as a sword.
The whole time we were shouting and chasing and spying and being chased. We would try to get into the room (our fort) yelling, “oogadaboogada-toenails-let me in!!!” because the boys would be right on our tail. The adults were playing Bridge the whole time and watched our antics amusedly.
We were outside when Jessica learned from and inside source (Uncle Scott) that the boys had left for the beach. We immediately took off. However, when we got to the beach, we couldn’t find them, so we walked around and got wet in the surf.
When we got back to our fort, the boys had all the doors locked and had taken over. Thankfully, we’d already got the WTs back from them (under their protest, of course). They said they would only come out if we gave them a walky-talkie. We said no way.
We tried to pick the lock but Ian was holding it and Dad didn’t want us to break anything. We tried to talk to them, but to no avail. We tried mayonnaise, but the lights were off and they couldn’t see it. When they finally did turn the lights off they ignored the mayonnaise shooter. We then decided not to play ‘cause they were being unfair. Then Mom said, “What about this deodorant?” This of course gave us new fervor so we grabbed the deodorant and ran out in the dark to the glass door.
We drew in deodorant on the door but then discovered that the door was unlocked. We went inside real cautiously but the boys weren’t there. Nothing appeared to be taken, so we regrouped.
Amanda, Rachelle and Jessica went on out to look for the boys, while Maggie and Andrew (a true defector by now) guarded the fort. While we searched for the boys, we found Rachelle and Amanda’s backpacks out on the driveway, alone with Maggie’s Nancy Drew book. The boys ran across the front yard but we decided it’d been a successful mission and headed back to HQ, ignoring them.
After a regroup, we all together went to go find the boys (by this time it was more hide-and-seek than anything else). Two clicks with the walky-talkie meant boy sighting, three meant backup. We searched the downstairs thoroughly with lots of yelling and banging ‘cause we were scared. It was dark.
We headed outside and we were all kind of creeped out ‘cause we knew there were rabid boys out there who could jump out at any moment. We scouted around the side of the house, which was brave, considering the situation. Then Jessica saw the shadow.
We ran around the corner of the house yelling and screaming, and caught sight of Ian. He ran off in the distance, making lots of noise, and we immediately suspected a decoy. Turned around and saw Jo running up to the boys’ fort. We knew he’d be back ‘cause he disappeared from the room, so we stood in the middle of the yard yelling at Ian (remember it’s 9:30 at night and we’re in a residential neighborhood) until Jo showed up.
(The whole time the boys didn’t really react to our weapons, which was kind of disappointing.)
Then they ran down the street and Amanda and Jessica followed them as they looped around the neighborhood and back towards the front of the house. Rachelle and Maggie ran around the side of the house to meet them in the front. We all confronted them with much yelling and screaming, while the boys attacked us with stinky socks.
By this time neither of us was really reacting to the other’s weapons ‘cause there was so much shooting going on. We were upset that the boys expected us to react to their weapons while they weren’t reacting to ours, which was probably hypocritical. However, that, and some other unsportsmanlike behavior, caused us to tell the boys we didn’t want to play with them because they weren’t being fair. Then we left.
We went up to our fort and talked out our anger at the boys. Then the boys came to our door and boasted how their “technology” was superior to ours and how they had a walky-talkie to listen to all our conversations! We closed the door in their faces.
After much angry conversation, we eventually decided we should go communicated – apologize and let them know why we were mad. So we did. Not sure if they got it, but at least we did the right thing in the end.
I'll be remembering / The dark night; the hard fight; the long climb up a hill knowing the cost / The brave death, the last breath, the silence whispering all hope is lost / The thunder, the wonder... the power that brings the dead back to life!
Jul. 27, 2009 - Untitled Comment