Ghosts, Goblins, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

It was October 31st, 1991 in Danville, California; I was 11 years old. I had been chosen among the popular crew, who we less fortunate drips kindly referred to as, "The 90210's". It was to be my moment in the sun; the breakthrough to the other side. The 90210's decided that they would dress up at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which consisted of a group of four. Three of the 90210's were on board but they needed a fourth and I was in the right place at the right time; though, I will admit, the idea of being a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was far from my list of costume choices, but, then again, who was I to question the 90210's? Being asked to just do something with them was enough for this insecure 11 year old girl and I knew it was simply a compliment to be considered.

The first sign I should have ran for the hills was when the three girls started choosing who they wanted to be. The choices were Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, or Raphael. It wasn't the actual characters that seemed important but the colors they wore that received attention. Leonardo wore blue, Donatello wore purple, Raphael wore red, and Michelangelo wore orange. Just close your eyes and try to put yourself in the mind-set of an 11 year old girl; which color would you not want to wear? You guessed it: orange; and that was the lucky color I got stuck with.

But, that was nothing; at least that was what I was about to learn! It couldn't be that easy, could it? As I sat with a smile on my face a team member of the 90210's ran over and said she wanted to be part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle posse. All four girls glanced at me and it took me a second to see what was taking place here; I was being edged out. But their sympathy and compassion led the way and they told me they would still let me be part of the experience. Of course, now we were left with an odd man out with no more colors to be chosen. The new girl grabbed my orange mask and said, "Oh, I'll be orange!" I thought to myself, "great, now what?" Again, with the sympathetic looks, one of the girls handed me an extra purple costume they had and said I could be an extra; just what you want to be, a third leg; or in this case, a fifth Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Now that we were all assigned our parts it was time to plan the evening. It was a tradition to head to Blackhawk, a wealthy development known to give out full size candy bars! So, we planned on meeting each other at Lauren's house and we would start our adventure from there. I remember arriving at the house already feeling insecure and a burden, but I forged through and tried to keep a good attitude.

There we were, the five Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, walking down the street as one posse, feeling cool and indestructible; I had arrived.

Then it happened.

A car zoomed by and something was thrown toward us; all I remember is feeling as though I was shot and proceeded to feed into the drama as I slowly lifted my fingers away from the ooze that I figured could only be blood. But, rest assured, it was an egg yolk. I had been hit with an egg. I, out of four other targets had been the lucky recipient of a drive by egging. The girls tried to contain themselves but the laughter roared out of their mouths and I was left with a duplicate costume with egg yolk and egg shell covering my stomach. Once the shock wore off, it was clear there was only one thing to do; I walked away with my tail, err, turtle costume, between my legs and vowed to never try and be a 90210 again.