Battle Plans

         I always enjoyed when our cousins came over for the 4th of July. The fireworks were good and all, but my siblings and I knew that the best part was by far the prank war.

         This year I was determined that our family was going to win. I had even gotten the parents in on it! The cousins had gotten in from Chicago late at night, but by morning, all the pranks were set.

         It started at breakfast. I couldn’t wait to see the look on Cousin Ted’s face when he found out that his oatmeal was drenched in salt.

         “Good oatmeal,” commented my brother Ben. “How’s yours, Ted?”

         I smiled inwardly as I lifted my spoon towards my mouth.

         “Not bad,” said Ted, taking a bite of his.

         I gawked and shoved my spoon into my mouth. My mouth was instantly filled with salt.

         “Hahaha!” snickered Ted. “I switched our bowls!”

         I grimaced and scolded myself for not seeing that one coming.

         The pranks continued throughout the rest of the day – we got Cousin Jeb with the water balloons, they got Ben and I with the sidewalk trick, Cousin Donald got my brother Marco with his empty apple prank, and I barely avoided getting covered in Mac-n-Cheese.

         That night, while we were watching the fireworks, we decided to call a truce so we could have so prank-less family time.

         “Wow,” said Cousin Jeb. “What a day! Those were some fun pranks!”

         “Yeah,” said Ben. “I can’t wait until you guys come back in November – get ready for the Super-Duper Ice Skate Frog trick!”

         Cousin Ted gulped. “What’s that?”

         “You’ll see,” chuckled Ben. “Just kidding, I made that up just to intimidate you!”

         As we all laughed, a huge firework exploded overhead, showering the sky in bright lime green.