Over Easy

The kids in my neighborhood are now engaged in an annual ritual known as "egg wars." It's exactly what you imagine it to be. Rival gangs are parked at each corner, in alleys, in flowerbeds, armed with, er, eggs. It happens every year from about mid-October until Halloween. And then it mercifully stops. It's an opportunity, I suppose, for the boys to act powerful, the girls to act bored yet impressed and the neighbors to act outraged. All without the messy aftermath of gunfire with which to contend. Normally, I think this custom is quaint, but since some of these kids are surely allied with the little criminals who broke into my apartment a few weeks ago, I am less than enthused at the hubbub this year. So, counting down ... until Halloween. Scary!