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It was just before 8:00 p.m. at my friend Ned's house in a small neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. Ned's four kids, who are all in their teens, all descend upon the house at the same time every night. As they all come into the living room, it is evident that they have been running around outside, with mud all over their shoes, legs and shirts.



Much to Ned's annoyance, this is the norm and nothing unusual. He has tried numerous times to get his kids to clean up the mud, or at least, not track mud all over the floors, but in all the years that he's tried, he has never had any success.



Even though he has tried to do what he can to help, he is more than a little annoyed that his kids consistently create a great mess at his house. On this particular night, he was also annoyed that his kids were also using his living room furniture as cover while they were outside in the open grass.



Things got really bad one night, when Ned’s daughter, Lindsay, jumped up on the couch and tried to dance on top of the coffee table. He decided that enough was enough and tried to get her off of the table. He actually thought that she would jump off the table and land on her feet. But, she landed not feet but face first on the coffee table and split her face open.



After the incident, she had to go to her grandmother’s house for a few days. The wound was deep, and she needed a lot of stitches. After several stitches, it still did not heal completely and she suffered from a depressed gash for the rest of the summer.



While I was visiting Ned's home with my girlfriend, Anya, and some of the other neighborhood kids, we began to play games. The kids, who grew up with your son, always talked and acted rudely around you and the rest of the neighbors.



They seemed to hate you and thought that you were the ones who pick on their brother and sister.



Anya and I were at their home, visiting before their annual yard sale, when they decided to play a loud game of basketball with their dog and balls in the back yard. As the kids played, you and Mel, the neighbor, sat in lawn chairs on the lawn, talking about how bad Ned was for not mowing his grass and for letting the kids play with his dog in his backyard. It was pretty rude. Anya and I also chatted with Mel and you a little to, and when we started to play with the rest of the kids.



That night, after dinner, Ned decided to take everyone out to dinner at the local pizza place. All the kids ended up going, except my little kid brother, Chris, who had to stay at home to finish his homework. As dinner ended, the kids had already decided that they wanted to play in the parking lot next to their restaurant.



While they were playing tag and other games, Ned pulled out a football and started tossing it around. The kids, with their shirt off, decided that they wanted to play catch with Ned and tossed the football back and forth.



The kids were all noticed at different cars, running, screaming and shouting at each other. As they ran and shouted, they took turns striking each other with their bare hands and hands. Before Ned could get the ball away from Chris for the second time, he ended up scaring him by striking him with his arm.



After the second strike, Chris ran off with the ball, making it out of the parking lot before Ned could catch him. They were all laughing and playing tag the rest of the night.



For some reason, you didn't come back to their house the night that the kids were playing catch, leaving you, Mel and Anya out to sit in lawn chairs. The kids didn't mind at all, however, and continued playing in the open space.



On this day, however, instead of playing catch out in the parking lot, the kids went outside Ned's house and began to play touch football instead. As they played football, they continued to use Ned's muscle bound dog as a running back.



They were having a great time to and after several hours of playing touch football, Ned and his kids gathered back in his living room for a snack and a handful of drinks.



Anya, who recently suffered from a head trauma from your son, was looking to use a bit of pain medicine to help. When she went upstairs to the medicine cabinet, she discovered a strange map that seemed to describe the layout of the world.



It appeared to have cities and boundaries laid out in a way that a person would not be able to make it back to the other side. The boundaries appeared to be arranged in a way similar to my favorite location--the Bermuda Triangle.



Anya was a little concerned about the map and wondered what made you feel the need to make a copy of this thing and keep it in your medicine cabinet. It was a strange map, but she decided to continue with her medications.



After she came back downstairs with her prescription in hand, you suggested that you and Mel should retire early. Anya agreed with you, so you both decided to go to bed early.



Anya went to bed, but you were still wide awake, thinking about the kids’ fun the night before and how they were hard to control. You also noticed a large run down house that belonged to your next-door neighbor. You could see that from his carport and you could tell it wasn't being taken care of. You were finally getting tired of his nonsense.