When Halloween Decorations Cause Drama: My Neighbor’s Egg Toss Reaction!

When sleep-deprived mother Genevieve finds her car covered in eggs, she believes it’s a practical joke. However, her cocky neighbor Brad later confesses that he did it because her car was obstructing his elaborate Halloween display. Genevieve promises to discipline him, but she is too tired to argue.

I was bone-tired, meaning I could hardly recall whether I had fed the dog or brushed my teeth.

The birth of the twins had made my days a blur.

Don’t get me wrong, Lily and Lucas were my darling babies, but managing two newborns on my own was an enormous undertaking. Months had passed since my last full night’s sleep. Though I wasn’t excited, the neighborhood was a hive of activity as Halloween approached.

I barely had the energy to decorate, much less participate in the suburban celebrations.

And then Brad.

You would have thought that the man’s life depended on his taking Halloween very seriously. With gravestones, skeleton dioramas, enormous jack-o’-lanterns, and other decorations, he transformed his home into a haunted carnival each year.

And the arrogant expression he had whenever someone gave him praise? Kindly.

The entire block was captivated by his spectacle. However, me? Brad’s absurd haunted house didn’t matter to me since I was too busy fighting to keep my eyes open.

“Are you kidding me?” I whispered as I gazed at the chaos.

Brad’s residence was where I had parked the previous evening. Not that I had many options. Since it was impossible to push the twins’ stroller all the way from down the street, I parked near our entrance.

Initially, I assumed it was a practical joke. However, I became positive after noticing that the egg splatters extended all the way to Brad’s front porch.

Brad had written all over this.

Brad had no right to the curb for his extravagant Halloween display, but he didn’t care. When Halloween rolled around, the man was as protective as a wolf.

Almost unable to control the anger that was building inside of me, I marched straight to his house. I knocked on his door more forcefully than I probably should have, but I didn’t give a damn. I had had enough of being kind.

“What?” With a more smug expression than normal, Brad opened it. I promise that the haughtiness simply oozed from him as he folded his arms across his chest.

His home was already in full costume for Halloween. A witch was relaxing in one of the Adirondack chairs, a plastic skeleton was waving at me from the porch, and fake cobwebs were hanging from the gutters—the whole ridiculous mess.

I didn’t waste it. “Did you see who egged my car?”

Brad didn’t blinked.

His words, “I did it,” sounded like he was giving me the time of day. “Your car’s blocking the view of my decorations.”

I gaped at him in disbelief. The reason you egged my car was because it was parked in front of your establishment. You simply destroyed it without even asking me to move it.”

Never to be deterred, he shrugged. “How can people appreciate my display if they can’t see it from the road?”

I blinking. I wondered for a moment that I could have misheard him. “Are you for real?”

To his credit, he shrugged.

“The Halloween King is me! Genevieve, this display draws people from all over. All I’m requesting is a little collaboration. It’s where you’re usually parked. The atmosphere is being ruined by this carelessness.

Insensitive? This man, this egomaniac, was talking to me about inconveniences while I was barely holding my sanity while juggling two babies?

“Well, I’m sorry my life gets in the way of your spooky graveyard,” I shouted. Brad, I’ve got twins. twins, newborns.

He responded, “Yeah, I know,” as if we were talking about the weather while he leaned against the doorframe. “Maybe you should park somewhere else.”

“I park there because it’s easier for me to reach my car when I’m carrying two babies and hauling a stroller!”

Brad shrugged. I don’t have that issue, Genevieve. “Hey, after Halloween is over, you can park there again.”

I was so furious that I stood there unable to speak. However, it’s funny how fatigue puts out anger before it can burn too brightly.

“Fine,” I said abruptly.

I turned on my heel and went back inside instead of screaming, trembling with a mixture of disbelief and rage.

However, as I later cleaned the egg off my car, something clicked.

Brad was no ordinary over-zealous neighbor. I had had enough of him because he was a bully. He could play dirty if he wanted to. It was time for me to play smarter.

As I rocked Lily to sleep that night in the nursery, I had a brilliant idea. Brad’s pride was a vulnerability. He wanted the town to know about his haunted house. Revenge? I didn’t have the energy for confrontation. That I could manage.

While he was decorating his front porch with even more decorations, I waited a day and then wandered over to his yard.

Saying “Hey, Brad,” I tried to seem upbeat. “I’ve been thinking that blocking your display was pretty rude of me. You work so hard at it every time. Are you considering upgrading it?

Suspicious, he hesitated. “Upgrade?”

Indeed, certain high-tech items. You know, ghost projectors, fog machines. You have a fantastic setup now, but those would make it even better if you wanted to make an impression.

When his eyes brightened, I knew I had him.

Brad wasn’t surprising. He would seize the opportunity to outshine the neighborhood if it presented itself.

I listed a few brands I had looked at. Each of these awful devices has a one-star rating and a reputation for malfunctioning and having odd flaws. But that wasn’t necessary for him to know.

With his Halloween masterpiece all planned in his mind, he asked, “You think so?”

Oh, of course. People in the neighborhood would talk about you.

I was satisfied and turned to leave. All I could do now was wait.

When Halloween night finally arrived, Brad’s house appeared to be from a horror film. Of course he’d gone all out.

Parents and children were gathered on the sidewalk, taking in the fog as it spread across his lawn. Brad stood in the center of it all, enjoying their praise.

Feeling like a villain in a low-budget drama, I watched from my porch while holding Lily and Lucas in my lap. His arrangement was excellent, I had to concede, until it wasn’t.

Just as it was supposed to, the fog machine sputtered and began spraying water like a garden hose instead of that creepy, atmospheric mist. Kids giggled, Brad panicked, and the crowd gasped.

Trying to halt it, he hurried to the machine and tinkled with the buttons.

However, it wasn’t finished yet. A twitchy, cartoonish ghoul that resembled a crazed blob more than a ghost was cast by the ghost projector, his prized centerpiece, flickering on and off. The children were laughing now, and the parents were laughing too.

And then the last blow. One of his inflatables, a gigantic Frankenstein, rolled hilariously around the yard as it deflated in slow motion.

Some adolescent lads found it amusing, so with Halloween nefariousness in the air, they snatched up a carton of eggs and threw them with joyous accuracy at Brad’s house.

In an attempt to preserve his remaining dignity, Brad was losing it and frantically sprinting back and forth, but it was too late. There was no turning back from the fact that his haunted home of horrors had become a haunted house of comedy.

I had just finished feeding Lucas in the morning when someone knocked on the door. Brad appeared deflated when I opened it. Like his Frankenstein, really. He wasn’t his typical arrogant self, and I nearly felt sorry for him for a moment.

“I, uh, wanted to apologize,” he said, avoiding eye contact. “For causing your vehicle to be egged.” I reacted too strongly.”

I waited, crossing my arms, before answering. “Yeah, you did.”

“I simply… You know, I had no idea how difficult it must be with the twins and everything.” He scratched his neck, obviously in discomfort. “I’m sorry.”

I remained silent for a little more while seeing his wriggling. “I appreciate your apology, Brad. I’m positive it won’t occur once again.

Eager to get away from the unpleasantness, he nodded rapidly. “No, it won’t.”

I couldn’t resist saying, “Funny how things have a way of balancing out, huh?” as he turned to go.