Wait, why are there ashes falling on my head? I was hanging up the laundry when bits of burning paper came soaring out of the sky. I could hear the faint laughter of 12 year old boys and looked up to my son's room... Elias?

The little fire-starters, invited for a sleepover, were lighting paper and throwing it out the window to see what they would see. But they didn't reckon on me seeing.

The wrath that followed is hard to describe, and I was of two minds about serving them the oreo and cream cheese birthday cake I had made and chilled earlier in the day - and believe me when I say that dirt cake is no easy task. Have you ever put oreos in a blender? Have you witnessed first-hand the onslaught of powdered cookie in flight? When asked individually (my own son included) how their dads would react if they started a fire in their own bedrooms at home, each said unassumingly and fully subdued, "He would punish me". Hmmm. Really!

The upside to this gripping novella is that the shed is completely cleaned and swept out now thanks to my three repentant charges, and the outdoor spring cleaning I was so dreading has done itself up!