The birthday party this past weekend was themed around the idea of having a comic book adventure. Everybody wore badges identifying them as Heroes, Sidekicks, or Innocent Bystanders.

Periodically during the party, I would shout “alarm” to indicate that some of the people turned evil. They could spot the evildoers because their badges turned green. If you’re wondering how we accomplished this, it was easy. Certain volunteers had little green “Evil” cards. When I shouted alarm, they slid their ”Evil” cards into the front of their badges.

This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. If you want more information about what was going on, read the birthday party write up.

Once the kids figured out what to look for, it became the highlight of the party. I would shout alarm, and the excitement would instantly ramp up, as the kids went into a frenzy of searching for green badges.

The second time I shouted Alarm, however, I noticed an oddity. Some of the kids stopped what they were doing and looked at their own badges before going on to find the bad guys. I didn’t worry about it, but the phenomenon spread. On the third alarm, there was a wave of kids inspecting their own badges before going on to look for the bad guys.

It was weird, but I didn’t worry about it. The kids, after all, were having a great time, and that was the whole point.

The next morning at breakfast, however, my youngest revealed the mystery.

“Daddy, my favorite part was the alarm.”

“Oh yeah? That was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I’m glad my badge didn’t turn green.”

Ah-ha! Mystery solved. I nodded seriously. “Me too.”

“Cause then I would have been evil. I don’t want to be evil.”

“No, me neither.”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “That would be bad.”

Yep. It sure would be.