Boredom and Nerf Balls

Kids will get bored when cooped up in the house during cold weather.  Marshall and I had already played Candy Land, Life, checkers, and our version of Scrabble and poker.    Time to find something else to do....

Marshall had a nerf basketball goal attached to his door.  The bedrooms were along a hallway on the north side of the house.  Closing all the doors gave us an "alley" that became our court for playing H-O-R-S-E.  We got creative with our shots and words we were spelling.  Keep in mind, Mama is at work and Daddy is somewhere outside. 

Shooting hoops became boring and we opted for a game of dodge nerf ball in our alley with the doors still closed.  (Um, did I tell you Mama had pictures hanging on the hall wall???)  You can already see what is coming but it never crossed our minds that a nerf ball could cause such chaos.

CRASH!  A picture fell to the floor!  Oh, crap.  What do we do now?  Fortunately the glass remained intact but the nail was bent.  By all means, WE CANNOT LET MAMA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.  She will confiscate our nerf balls and burn them in the trash pile. 

Armed with a stool and hammer, we managed to get the picture back on the wall.  Stepped back and the picture was crooked.  It took several times and each of us taking turns to get that picture straight.  And we swore ourselves to secrecy.  Mama can never, never, ever find out what happened.

Several years later, Mama was rearranging the pictures on the hall wall when she came across several nail holes behind the nerf-ball-picture incident.  I'm sure lots of thoughts crossed her mind.  By this time I am in high school and Marshall is in junior high school.  Mama mentioned her discovery during supper that same night.  Squirming in our chairs, we had to admit what happened when we were mere children.  She simply laughed and told us she would never have known if we would have used the original nail hole to re-hang the picture.  Duh.

We should have stuck to board games and coloring books but what is life without nerf-ball-incidents?  Stay warm, my friends, and be aware that nerf balls aren't as innocent as they appear when in the possession of bored children.