Nibbling on the Neighbor’s House

When I was a kid, in our neighborhood,
There was a house with a fence ‘round its yard.
We were told, ‘though we never understood,
That with that neighbor, we should be on guard

When parents won’t tell their children the why,
Curiosity will soon make them itch.
So explanation was for us to try --
And we decided, there must live a witch.

We had heard tales how witches lived by tricks
And of the lures which into their traps led.
Her house might look like it was made of bricks,
But we knew it was really gingerbread.

The gumdrop trees grew just beyond our reach
In the lollipop garden inside the fence.
There must be owls guarding, ready to screech,
And lawn gnomes to come alive in defense.

This challenge was in need of a great plan,
One that would require all of our whole squad.
Tom, Pete, Rick, Ashley, I guess even Stan --
A perfect assault, completely unflawed.

We would have to be fast and go at night;
Two to stay behind, protecting our backs,
Two with wiffle bats if there was a fight,
And two to gather treats to fill our sacks.

But Stan had to be home before sunset,
Tom lost his bat and could not think of where,
Rick was unsure of what share he would get,
And Pete was pretty sure he did not dare.

Ashley was still ready and raring to go,
But now that great plan seemed certain to fail.
How good were the treats we would never know,
But the gingerbread was probably stale.