One afternoon, no doubt after consuming an entire package of soda crackers with a pound of margarine each, Amber and I took to devising some sort of tomfoolery. The planning meetings probably went something like this; "So, what do you wanna do?" "I don't know. What do you wanna a do?" "I don't know. Wanna play Barbies?" "Naw. Wanna eat some more crackers?" "Not really. Wanna chase each other with something sharp?" "Hey! That sounds like a pretty darn good idea!" And so the story goes...
Wrapped in balloons and armed with something sharp (I'm hoping it was a pin but you never know...) Amber and I played a kind of hide and seek tag game where the object was to pop all the balloons on your opponent's ballooned-body-suit.
I must pause here and explain a little something about Amber and I. We had to be twelve or thirteen at the time. Whatever the age, there was a strong possibility we each had a thing for the young missionaries who served in our Ward (if only because they were of the male species and between the ages of 18 and 21 ). Of course, we would never admit how cute we thought they might be. You see, Amber and I prided ourselves on our uncanny aversion to boys. We prided ourselves on our ability to talk about anything but boys (quite a feat for a couple of preteens coming in to teenage-hood). I only mention this because...
As we chased each other through the yard with strings of balloons fastened hodge-podge to our bodies, laughing and screaming savagely, a sleek white car (sleek meaning washed) containing two young missionary men (of the male variety, did I mention?) pulled up. If we hadn't mentioned that we might be interested in 'boys' before our decorum certainly revealed it. Amber and I simultainously shreiked and scattered like a couple of cocroaches when the lights flash on.
The thought that a boy would think we were weird or maybe even laugh at us mattered more at that moment than it ever had previously. We could laugh at ourselves and we could laugh at each other but heaven forbid someone from the opposite sex under the age of 21 find our exploits amusing (even if they happened to be Servants of the Lord).
Once the balloons were discarded and the tribal markings removed, we joined the missionaries for pizza in the house. We were perfect specimens of civilized ladylike - um - ladies. However, the whole time, neither Amber nor I could look at each other without smirking. We knew the truth... ladylike? Indeed.