halloween hoodlums

Okay. So, apparently, some drunken hoodlums jumped out of their car on Halloween and chased after my Younger Nephew and his friends with a knife.

Yeah.

My sister told me this yesterday on the phone while I screamed. Literally. She had to time her words in between my outbursts and screams. It’s hard to be the older sister, I imagine.

Seems Nephew and three friends went up the street to check out the neighbor’s haunted house. This was Halloween night around 9. MB and I had just left to drive back home. This is a suburban area, lots of houses, but one section of the road has no houses for quite a long stretch. That’s where the boys were accosted. A car pulls up, overflowing with rowdy dudes. My nephew thought they were drunk (based on his vast experience with drunkenness.) Whatever. That doesn’t matter. Drunk or not does not matter here. They started taunting Nephew and friends, yelling, “We could kick your asses!” etc. The boys walked faster. These are just junior high school boys. My nephew just turned 14 so he’s a little older and bigger for 8th grade, but the other boys are pretty small. They’re in junior high. And I’ve met them. Good kids. Nice boys. Just wanting to stroll up the street to check out the neighborhood haunted house, for God’s sake.

The boys pick up the pace and the car follows them, then pulls over. The dudes pile out of the car, 4 or 5 of them. One of them pulls a knife. It was NOT part of a costume; they weren’t in costumes. Instantly, one of Nephew’s friends tears off up the street, hides quivering behind a bush, apparently, and calls his mom on his cell phone. God bless him. “Mom, are you coming? Mom, are you here yet?” God bless him. Then another kid runs the other way. Do not ask me why Nephew didn’t run instantly. As Sister was telling me this, I was freaking OUT inside, “Run, Nephew! RUNNNN!!!” My God. I’m having palpitations just writing this story.

Now there are just two boys left. Maybe Nephew underestimated the threat. Maybe he didn’t realize how big they were until they got out of the car. Maybe he doesn’t spook all that easily. Actually, I know that’s true. But in this case, he needed to spook and FAST. As the dudes get closer, Nephew turns to the last friend standing and says, ever the dry dry boy, “Well …. I guess we’re outnumbered,” then FINALLY, “Come on!!”

The two shoot on up the street, running, running past the long empty stretch of road. The hoodlums chase them. My God. They are chasing my nephew and his friend WITH A KNIFE up a long empty stretch of road! Nephew heads straight for the nearest house. He told my sister later, “Mom, I tried to make it look like that’s where we were going all along. Like we knew the people who lived there.” Okay. That’s good. Good strategy. As Nephew and friend ran up the walkway of the house to ring the doorbell, the hoodlums finally began to slink off down the road, back to their car.

It was too dark to identify any of them. Too dark for seeing license plates. Nephew and friend went to find their two other friends who had run off. And in typical Nephew fashion, he didn’t even mention this incident to his parents until a couple of days after the fact when his friend brought it up in carpool. “Hey, did you ever tell your mom what happened on Halloween?”

“Oh, yeaaah ….”

Ever the low-key kid. “Oh, yeah ….. drunken hoodlums chased us with a knife …. maybe they could have killed us …. yeah, no biggie ….”

My God. I want to punch him. I want to hug him.

I think next Halloween will involve helping my sister strap Nephew to a chair for the entire night.

Excuse me. I’ll just be over here, hugging myself, trying to calm my hysterical ass down, okay?