In the October issue of Teen Ink “Lessons in Toilet Paper,” a fascinating story written by Jackson Lloyd, discusses a life lesson learned after attempting to pull a memorable prank. On Halloween night a kid with nothing to do decided to get a group of friends together and make the night one they would never forget. They went and secretly collected fifty roles of toilet paper. Next the kids then consulted one of their uncles who was a master at toilet papering, and he gave them some wise advice. The hardest part was picking a house because they knew everyone in the neighborhood so well. They decided to choose a family with a young child they didn’t know well. They draped the paper over trees, wrapped them around bushes, and then used ketchup as the paint for their large “canvas.” And last they saw a pile of pumpkins and surely could not leave them there to rot. They smashed them all over the drive to finish their masterpiece. The next morning that family did not attend church because they spent all morning cleaning their yard and house, and they then got sick from the cold weather. The kids felt guilty and then realized that maybe the prank didn’t end as well as expected.
Once I read the selection it reminded me of a time my house got toilet papered. Of course, my parents were upset, but I was affected the most because I was the one who got stuck cleaning it up. After all of the cleaning, my friends decided they wanted to do it to someone’s house on a Saturday night, but I thought of the time I got stuck cleaning up the mess and changed my mind. It is always different when you’re the one on the other end. In my hometown Ayersville, it is not a problem, but I am sure some kids have nothing to do during the summers and do it to other houses. Most people pull this prank as a simple joke, but they need to consider what that household has to go through when cleaning up after them.