When we were kids, my brother had several different kinds of cap guns. Most of them used caps that came in a paper roll so one could fire off many shots without reloading. One of his cap guns was a shotgun and it used caps that stuck on a spot opposite the hammer. When the gun was cocked and fired, a single shot would fire as the cap was struck. That gun wasn’t one of his favorites, due to the notable lack of speed and firing ease. We quickly learned that those stick on caps were a lot more fun if you stuck them to the driveway and hit them with a rock. It usually took several whacks, but we were always rewarded for our efforts with that telltale pop.

Eventually, the sticky caps weren’t even much fun to smack with a rock, as we realized that you could also whack the rolls of caps with a rock and get a lot more bang in a hurry. So my brother thought up a new use for the sticky caps. While we were out at a discount store with our mom. We were all bored, as children often are, and were starting to get a little crazy as we waited for Mom to check out. My brother decided it was a good time to stick caps all over the heels of my mom’s shoes. She, of course, didn’t pay any attention to the child playing with her feet, because he was being quiet. Then we stepped outside. My mother always walked heavily on her heels, and when her heels hit the pavement, the caps started to go off. She thought someone was shooting at us, and started screaming and trying to gather us all together as she tried to run with us to the car. Of course, the faster she ran, the faster the caps went off and the more freaked out my mom became.

As she was running, screaming and trying to herd four unruly children to the safety of our car, Mom realized that my brother was not only being extremely uncooperative, but was laughing so hard he appeared ready to wet himself. Then she stopped running. The caps stopped firing. My brother kept laughing. Mom realized what had happened. She was not amused. The problem of what to do with sticky caps became nonexistent as the remainder of his stash was confiscated.

What did you and your siblings do to freak out your mom?