Three kids: Two from the family that moved into the apartment downstairs this past summer (grade-school girl in a banana costume leading her toddler brother dressed as Mickey Mouse), and one from the family that moved in across the hall this past spring (a very tired one-year-old "bumblebee" carried in her mommy's arms).

Thankfully, the gang of 10 or so destructive kids (five of whom live in other parts of the apartment building, plus their friends) did not come knocking at the door on Saturday. However, they did come banging against the outer wall of the building, below my window and next to my car, early in the day. They had two toy guitars with them (the playable kind from WalMart) and one kid was smashing a guitar against the wall while another kid was swinging the second guitar around by the neck in pre-smashing mode. I opened my window and yelled at them before the second guitar was broken, and the gang moved away from my wall... but the pieces of the first guitar are still on the sidewalk beside the wall.

Fortunately they didn't dent my car, but they gave me a scare at first because I was preparing to go to a mid-day gig and had just put two of MY guitars in my car. For one heart-stopping moment, I thought they'd broken into my car and were smashing my guitars!!!!!

Seeing a musical instrument, even a cheap one, destroyed like that made me a little sad all day (and it still frustrates me). If any of those kids had dared to come trick-or-treating at my door that evening, all they would have gotten from me is an earful about how disrespectful they were to the person or people who had bought those guitars for the kids as gifts. >:-(