Trick or treat?

Or maybe both.

When I was in high school, there was a conference of sorts that my local youth group hosted. For one weekend in the Fall of my Freshman year, all of the Jewish kids from the south congregated (good word, huh?) in my hometown. I knew a bunch of the kids coming from camp and was psyched to get to see them in a non camp setting (a showered, non-BO type setting).

My mom volunteered to help at the welcome event and, with some of the other parents, was given the assignment of putting the food (snacks) out and making sure the teenage slobs didn't make too much of a mess.

While my mom was keeping us well fed, we were screaming hellos and hugging each other like long lost siblings. We were fourteen and our forty eight hours together were jam packed with an abundance of emotions.

During the reunion, I took a break from screaming "OH MY GOOOODDD" and running to hug a friend I had not seen in TWO MONTHS (soooooooo lonnnnggg) to get a snack. I perused the options: chips, candy, cookies (the main teenager food groups) and opted for a few individually wrapped pieces of candy and a handful of M and Ms and made my way back over to my posse.

As I walked up to my group of friends, I put the M and M's in my mouth, and started to talk when a terrible taste interrupted my train of thought. "BLEUGHHHHCHHH." My friends stopped talking and looked at me. "SOMEONE MIXED THE M AND MS WITH SKITTLES. THIS IS SOOOO NASTY." I found the nearest trash can and dramatically spit out a wad of chocolaty rainbow. Even if you removed the layer of teen drama from my reaction, you would have still gotten a "NASTY." It really was gross.

At the end of the event, my mom rounded up me and the two girls who were staying with us and headed home. As we drove home, we recapped the last two hours: who talked to who, who was wearing what, and WHO MIXED THE M AND MS AND SKITTLES!? Apparently I was not the only one to fall for it.

My mom looked at me and confessed. It was her.

I was mortified.

She is not a candy lover and didn't think the mix would be that bad. She was consolidating bowls and keeping the snack area tidy, after all.

OH.MY.GOD.

I just prayed that no one was able to see who did that and then track them back to me. That would just be Jewish skittle social suicide.