One, Two, Three Strikes on the Pinata!

A large crowd was forming in the hall for Betsy's Birthday Bash. Turning 39 and holding was the milestone that warranted her celebrating. Almost everyone on her list was in attendance and the small hall was nearly full. Tables lined the sides of the room with well-wisher's personal effects claiming their space for the evening.

Once the music started, the mob followed Betsy and descended on the floor, filling it up with no where left to move. Her party had officially begun. With everyone congratulating her on the dance floor, she became caught up in the moment and started to thoroughly enjoy herself.

Hardly getting a break from the festivities it was a while until Betsy was able to sneak off for a well-deserved moment of quiet time and she had made it outside of the building without too much interference. While outside, Betsy's sisters and friends were busy inside putting up a pinata for the birthday gal, filled with all different types of items. They tied it from the ceiling, and it hung from the center of the room. As soon as she returned, she felt something was different in the air of the room, and soon noticed why. A big horse-like pinata hung just barely out of reach waiting to be manhandled. Her sister approached with a large stick in her hand waving it in front of Betsy. The crowd moved closer, wanting to get a better look at what was to come next.

Handling what looked to be a tree limb, Betsy was a little hesitant to engage in the activity and needed a little time to get her bearings before interacting with the party favor. To regain her composure, she gave a little speech thanking all her attendees for making her night special. It was enough time for her to get herself together for the upcoming slaughter of the pinata. She positioned herself in place for optimum contact, and just as she was about to do so, a very tipsy woman came through the crowd and grabbed the wooden-like stick. Who was this woman, she thought. How did she end up here at the party? Betsy, shocked and in disbelief, let go of the branch and the party crasher held it and started swinging it in the direction of Betsy. Not wanting to look annoyed, the honoree went with it. After realizing this woman was not invited, Betsy grabbed the blindfold that was waiting in her sister's hands, put it around the unwelcome visitor and started spinning the girl around in a tight circle as fast as she possibly could. Round and round Betsy turned the intruder until she ran out of steam. She let the girl go and with stick in hand, the woman lurched into the crowd like a big gust of wind hit her, reeling sideways, running into a group of people, only to have them push her back into the middle of the floor. Betsy grabbed her, got her close to the intended target and let her go.

The crowd started yelling at full pitch to swing, and the trespasser, still unbalanced, lurched forward to abide their commands and swung hard, in an upward motion. All of a sudden a crash was heard. She hit a light fixture instead of the pinata! Thinking she hit the her mark, she hit it again and again until there was nothing left of the fixture. Apparently, she thought the pieces falling around and on her were from inside the pinata! By now, the noise level had hit an all-time high and between everyone laughing and screaming, the voices yelling Stop! were drowned out. If she heard that word, she did not oblige. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally dropped the instrument, lifted off her blindfold and turned to face Betsy with a triumphant victory gaze. The crowd started clapping at the amusing entertainment and the woman's expression was jubilant. All of a sudden, she started focusing on the ground, looking for treasures that surely fell out, only to find herself covered in shards of glass, plastic and metal. This shook her to reality and upon looking up at the still-filled, hanging pinata, she quietly side-stepped the mess and walked off.

The party-goers got the information of the perpetrator, cleaned up the mess and left the party. In the days that followed, Betsy had one more mailing to send out and that was the invitation to pay the bill for the damage done. The woman did eventually pay Betsy and confessed she saw the party in full swing and attended uninvited. Makes a person think crashing a party may not be such a good idea. You may get more out of it then you intended.