Fence Hopper

have 3 nephews and noticed that boys do the darnest  things when they are little and my son is no exception. I remember that all of my now grown nephews "escaped" from the house when they were little and they all ended up around the corner at the mini market eating ice cream. I remember all the things that their friends told them to do and they did it. Most of those things got them into trouble but nonetheless they did them anyway. I remember my oldest nephews friend grounded from Halloween one year and actually made a "rope" out of sheets and blankets, similar to what you see on an old black and white movie, and climbed out of his bedroom window to go trick or treating when he was 8 years old. Of course, he got caught and got in trouble and couldn't eat any of his Halloween candy that year and was banned from trick or treating for the next year. That next Halloween his parents watched him more closely and there was no sneaking out. Just going to the door to give out candy in his monster costume. 

So, it came as no surprise when yesterday my son did something not so smart. My next door neighbor's house looks like a compound. I kid you not. You can't see his house from the street. It is hidden behind a tall fence and you would have to be a giant to see anything but the few trees that hang over the fence and a couple of flowering plants that hang on the other side. Other then that you can't see anything. From my porch I can see part of his side yard and a sliding glass door and one apple tree. That is it and only because my porch is a little higher then his house. But, just passing by it you might miss it. It reminds me of a house that a celebrity would live in if they lived in this neighborhood. House far from the street  secluded in the back where nobody can see you come and go if you didn't want them too.  I guess he is sort of like a celebrity though since he was on Oprah in the 90's. He wrote some book on diversity or some books on diversity and he gives courses to other people on that subject. One year he had a seminar at this house and passed out flyers that asked the neighbors to be quiet because they were filming it.  So, I guess he is well off, upper middle class and can afford to have a house hidden away from the prying eyes. 

Now, the trouble with that is the neighbor kids, including my son, who like to play ball. Any kind of ball, especially their version of football which involves kicking the ball as well as throwing it. So, you can imagine that the ball has traveled over his fence many times in spite of me telling them to be careful and play not so close to his fence. At first he was nice about getting the balls for them and throwing them over the fence when he was home. I cautioned them, my son and his friends again, and even told them I would take my son's ball away if they couldn't seem to keep the ball on their side of the world. They did good for a while. But, with kids, nothing good lasts for too long especially when you are playing a ball game. 

Yesterday, I heard one of them say, "Oh no." I knew that met only something bad. I went out to see and sure enough not one but two balls had been kicked "accidentally" over the fence and the guy was not home. They agreed to wait until he came home to ask if he could get the balls or if they could get them. That agreement lasted all of ten seconds. I then heard my son's voice calling me. I went to investigate. He was over in the other yard and said he was stuck. I saw him standing up so I said what did he mean stuck. He said he can't get back over the fence. I held back the urge to lecture him on the spot. I said I would save that until we found a way to get him back on the side of fence he was supposed to be on.  It seemed that the way he got over, climbing on top of the garbage can on the other side of the fence was not a good way to get back over because of course the garbage can he used was on the wrong side of the fence. But, he said that his friend who went over in the past said that there was something on that other side that he could climb on to get back.  Of course there wasn't. I told my son to go to the gate in the front of the compound and try to open it. He tried. I tried and neither of us could. I rang the door bell positioned outside of the gate in the hopes that someone might be visiting the man and they might be inside and open the door and the gate. No such luck. 

Then I got the idea of crates. Yes, we had some old crates that my nephew, whom I call, "Fred Sanford" from Sanford and Son the TV show, because he is a junk collector and always has been. If it is at the curb with a free sign he will take it. I went and got the 3 crates and hurled them over the side of the fence where he was stuck and told him to stack them and climb up on them that should give him enough height to hurl his butt back over to the other side. That worked. 

So, when the neighbor got home my son asked him for the crates back. He gave him a puzzled look and my son told him the story. He was nice about it and he asked my son and his friends not to throw or kick any more balls in his yard. I guess he got tired of retrieving them and the crates and being stuck were probably the straw. I figured that much. I gave them all a long talking to about the balls and playing too close to his yard and then told my son to come inside with his balls for the rest of the day because he knew better.  He was not a happy camper and proceeded to wine and beg to go back out and give me and the neighbor an apology but that didn't help his case any and he was grounded for the rest of the day. 

I know that people say that boys will be boys and I guess they are right. But, when I look back when I was his age I hate to admit it but I did almost the same thing. Climbing a fence to get a ball but I didn't get stuck. I guess what they say about apples and trees applies too.