[widebody911]

So I get home from running some errands this morning, and this one kid in the neighborhood comes over and says "Hey, I need a bolt" Ok, what size, lenghth? I've helped the neighborhood kids on many occasions with their bikes, scooters, go-karts, parent's cars, etc. so this isn't an unusual request in and of itself.

He doesn't know exactly exactly what he needs, so I have him describe it. He's trying to describe it to me, and getting nowhere, so I ask him what he's trying to fix, and if he has the old bolt. He's not trying to fix something, he's trying to make something. Cool! I'm always down for a little backyard engineering. "What are you trying to make?"

A bong.

That's right. 8:00am on a beautiful Saturday morning, and his punk-ass is trying to make a bong. Long story short, his parents live almost directly behind me, but he's staying at this other house with an older (like 60's) woman and 2 other teenagers who are pretty much useless. This lady either lets them do what they want, or doesn't know what they're doing, or is powerless to stop them. I have no idea what the relationship is.

I told him I didn't have anything that would be useful to him, and gave him the standard quasi lecture that he's 13 and shouldn't be doing that stuff, which may as well have been a lecture on quantum physics as applied to the mating habits of garden slugs.

Update: as I was typing this, he came by to show me his creation, proud of the fact that he was able to build it without my help.

Greeaaaat.