HALLOWEEN HOUSE EGGING

In October 1967, the Halloween tradition for the neighborhood kids was to do something to the neighbors' houses on the street, especially if they were not well-liked. We would knock on doors and run, toilet paper their house, or if they were not liked, we would egg their house preferably with rotten eggs.

My friend Denny lived about four or five houses down on the opposite side of the street and had an older brother named Tom, and his brother was three years older than us. Tom had a friend named Ray that lived next to them in the rear house. Tom and Ray always hung around together, and so did Denny and me.

Tom and Ray were always pulling pranks on us younger kids, like when they placed a fake arrow on Tom's back that appeared that he was shot with an arrow in the back—laying on the front lawn moaning that Ray had shot him in the back with an arrow. It genuinely looked like he was shot with an arrow, with the fake blood they applied, and us kids, believing it was real, stood there in awe of not knowing what to do or if he was going to die.

Another prank they planned, this time it was getting close to Halloween, and Tom and Ray had plans to egg the house across the street from them. A Puerto Rican man who was always yelling at the kids on the street lived there and was not very well-liked. He did not like us kids playing football in the street in front of his house. Tom and Ray got a dozen eggs to throw at the man's house when it got dark that night. Denny and I were hanging out and heard of the plan that Tom and Ray would egg the house, so we wanted to throw eggs too but not at a house; we wanted to throw them at trees or in empty parking lots to see them splatter when they hit. It seemed like a fun idea at the time.

I said to Denny. "let us go to my house and sneak some eggs from my mom's refrigerator." and Denny said, "OK, let's go," so we walked to my house. When we arrived, we went inside by the side porch door, being quiet and looking around. No one was in the kitchen. Everyone was in the living room watching TV. That was our chance to grab some eggs. Trying to do it quickly so we would not be caught, I accidentally dropped an egg on the floor, SPLAT; looking at each other, we both had panic in our eyes. I pushed the egg under the refrigerator with my shoe. I grabbed three eggs for each of us and left out the same side door. We threw some eggs into the empty parking lot of the beer yard and hit some trees, but that was it. We did not throw them at any houses or have any plans to do so.

After Tom and Ray egged his house, the next day, the man complained to all the neighbors that his house was egged. The man was so angry, and he wanted to find out who had done it. To my mom's surprise, she found the broken egg under the refrigerator and told my dad. The evidence pointed to Denny and me even though we did not do it. My dad was so angry with me and wanted to know why we did it. My dad yelled, "why did you and Denny do that to that man's house?" I told my dad, "me and Denny had nothing to do with it, dad," and he said, "why was the broken egg under the refrigerator." I just kept quiet, not saying a word. Nothing more was said to anyone. My dad told me that I could not play with Denny anymore, which hurt me more than a good paddling. The man never did find out who egged his house. Denny and I still played together after a couple of weeks of not being allowed to hang around together. Tom and Ray continued with their pranks throughout the years, and Denny and I remained good friends.