Spirit in the Sky

Two nights ago, a bunch of kids from the neighborhood were hanging out in our tent -- best investment ever -- that the hubby put up in the side yard by the fire pit. They had the Coleman lantern in there and were playing Battleship and Stratego. I was relaxing in the house.

At some point, seven panic-stricken kids came flying up to our front porch. "There are noises outside the tent! It sounds like someone knocking all over the tent but when we look out, nothing is there." I, being the awesome parent that I am, ignored them. "I'm sure it's nothing." I assumed that, as kids do through ghost stories and such, they were just freaking each other out.

A few minutes later, Son #1 came home crying. He had run outside, tripped over a tent stake and scraped his elbow. Through his sobs he said, "While I was lying there, it was raining nickels." Huh? "Nickels were coming down from heaven." He opened his fist and, sure enough, there was a nickel nestled in his palm.

Son #2 nodded his confirmation, "It's true."

I gave him a big hug and said, "Well that's pretty cool. Raining nickels!"

What a beautiful vision for a kid to hold onto, I thought to myself, never really thinking more of it. And never, for whatever reason, linking the two episodes together.

The next day, a long poem appeared taped to the tent. It was written by Nicholas (Nick) Nickels who was asking if he could live in the tent and offering his coins as part of the rent.

Last night (and most of the day from what I've been told) was a frenzy of the same kids, back in the tent, trying to figure it out. "I think he's a spirit or an angel." "I ran into my teacher today and she said Nick's probably a leprechaun." "I'm scared, will you come in there with us?"

The mayhem quickly escalated when another little girl came from across the street and scared everyone -- some to tears. Everyone was trying to figure out what clues may have been left in the poem itself. "What's a pun?" "Hey, it says 'set up' for the tent -- I think we're being set up. That's a pun, right?"

This led to some super sleuthing and an attempt at a trial.

"Was it Mr. R?" Answer: No we don't have a) a color printer or b) any money.

"Mr. S, it was you, wasn't it? Your computer has this font on it!" Answer: No, I'm an accountant not a writer. I couldn't have made that poem up.

"An accountant? That means you count nickels!"

And so on and so on . . .

Last night, I fell asleep while Son #1 was still excitedly putting together his court case. "We don't have enough evidence to convict Mr. S. except the laptop."

This morning, Son #1 was up early. "Can I go out to the tent and see if Nick left another note?" Sure enough, there was another poem left on the tent and today's even contained a claim that Nick is, indeed, a spirit.

I must say, it's a pretty exciting end to the summer and one they may never forget.