Billy's 16th Birthday Bash

My son who spends most of his life on a farm with his father asked if he could have his 16th birthday party at my house, considering l live in town. Actually l live in the dead centre of Bendigo, in the street opposite the cemetery. Very convenient for teenagers. My son is a quiet boy. Never has alot of friends over. I always have to encourage him to be a bit more social unlike my daughter who is a social animal. Anyway, l agree to have the birthday party at my house. It wasn't held on the weekend of his birthday because a couple of friends couldn't make it on that weekend. I'm still thinking that's ok because it would be good for Billy to have a party and l was hoping all his friends would turn up so he wasn't disappointed.

The Tuesday before the party Billy arrives on my doorstep expelled from school. Hmmm....simply beyond my control to fix that problem. Really, this was the child that was expelled from kinda. He's never really enjoyed school. I can't even begin to explain how upset l get about Billy and school. However, we made an agreement that he could still have his birthday party and that l will not nag him until after the party. This was actually to give me some time to think about a plan of attack for getting this boy into some kind of apprenticeship or course or anything other than sitting in front of the playstation.

The next morning he gets up and tells me that he is going to move all my mother's pot plants into the little back yard and put a lock on the gate because he doesn't want nan's plants to get damaged on the night of the party. I'm thinking that is a clever idea Billy. So he had his mate come over to help him because there are alot of pot plants in the main back yard. Then he tells me that he'll take the plants from the front veranda just in case. Better to be safe then sorry. Smart boy.They worked very hard and without complaint. Silly me, l'm still thinking that Billy is trying to do the right thing. I always like to think the best of him.

Thursday he gets out of bed and says, "Mum l think l'll move all the haning plants into the shade house and then put the swing seat across the opening so that nobody swings on the plants." You'd think that l'd twig about what was going to happen, wouldn't you but no, l'm still thinking that Billy is trying to do the right thing so that none of nan's plants get destoryed. It was all going so well. Again he worked all day without complaint. He even picked up the dog shit. A major accomplishment. It was nice having him around the house because life has been pretty gloomy lately. Later that night we watched some tv and chatted about nothing in particular.

Friday Billy gets up around lunchtime and tells me that he has three locks. One for the garden shed, one for the little back yard and one for the side gate. He tells me that he has invited quiet a few people. I'm still praying that somebody is going to turn up or Billy is going to be very disappointed. Afterall Billy isn't really a very social child, is he ? He asks me if we can lock both the doors of the garage. I'm thinking it would be better for his mates to sit around in the shed. Nope he doesn't even want chairs in the back yard. Again you'd think that an intelligent mother would wonder why. Not me. I'm still thinking that Billy doesn't want his mates to do anything horrid to my good outdoor setting.

Saturday comes around and again Billy picks up the dog shit. Wonders will never cease. Mum and l have got a Christmas break-up party to go to for tea so l realized maybe l should ask my daughter to come over and keep an eye on things till l get home. Now that was the first good idea l'd had all week. As l'm leaving, Billy says that he is going to take the handle off the toilet door so that nobody can get into the house. There is a second door into the toilet from the outside. Hmmm....now l'm thinking. A little bit late but now l'm thinking. We decide to lock Mum's unit up and lock both my front and back security door. Lana hasn't arrived yet but l'm thinking it's all good, there's only Billy and two mates in the backyard. I'm praying as l leave that somebody turns up to this party. I really don't want anything else to go wrong for this poor kid.

Dinner was really nice. We were at a Ten Pin Bowl break-up and just before the trophy presentation my phone rings. It's Lana. Just wondering how long it will be before you get home. It sounds quiet enough. I ask if everything is ok. Smart girl Lana ! Everything is fine, she says. Just wondering how long it will be before you get home. I still have no idea. We didn't rush home but it was lucky that l decided we probably should get home and share Billy's party with him. Afterall, it sounded really quiet and l thought Billy might be sad because not many people had turned up.

As l drive into our street l realise that there are a few cars doing burnouts. Then l see probably 50 kids drinking in the street. Girls sitting in the gutter. I'm thinking, wow isn't that great, Billy's friends have all turned up. How wrong was l ? When l got out of the car l realized the reason why they were out in the street was because there was no room left in the backyard. Not a small backyard. Probably 200+ kids in the backyard. It gets worse. I find Billy. He is well on the way to being drunk. Very proud of himself. Great party ! Ok, so at this point l realise that l have really underestimated my son but there is no time to talk to him because 3 police cars have just pulled into my driveway. ARE YOU THE ADULT IN CONTROL OF THIS PARTY ? Well, l'm the adult but l certainly wasn't in control of the party. They lecture me on the fact that l should have registered the party on thepolice website and l'm like, yes, yes, yes l should have done that. My brain trying to think of a good excuse why l hadn't. Why hadn't l asked more questions about this party ? Why had l gone out for tea ? How was l going to get this under my control ? Anyway, when the cops turned up everybody that was is the street just split, as you do at an under age party when you are drunk. So the task of controlling this party looks acheivable. The cops leave telling me that l'll have no hope and that they will be back !

I spend the next three hours at my letterbox telling kids they can't be in the street, they can't urinate in my neighbours driveway, please don't throw the bottles, I tell you if you continue to fight l will punch you in the nose. Really l had absolutely no control of the situation. My mother was playing nurse out in her unit. Three girls bashed a boy in the toilet. Another girl smashed a bottle over a boys head. Mum really deserves a medal for her patients on a very trying night. There was no way to control all these teenagers. They were all so angry. Taxi after taxi pulled up in my street and teenagers got in and out. Then it happened. The point of no return. This really big, very drunk boy decided to windmill his way down the driveway into the backyard and hit everyone and anything in his path. That started a gang fight and Billy decided that was enough.

Billy rang the police. Now you have to imagine 200+ drunk teenagers leaving my house on mass before the cops locked them up. An ambulance had to take the big kid who started the fight away. My neighbour across the road decided that he didn't want these kids on his lawn and threatened to kick their arses. Silly man. They bashed him. The police had even less control than l had. I couldn't believe it. I thought police had the ability to control situations like this. These kids just thought the police were a joke. It took over an hour for them to clear the street. Meanwhile l felt like crying but that wasn't going to help. I had to sweep the driveway from the road through to the garage so that l could drive the car into the shed. There wasn't an inch that didn't have broken glass on it. My mother was just shaking her head. We filled three large wheely bins with cans and bottles. There was no lawn left in my backyard. Some kid had fallen through the plaster in the room attached to the garage. The carpet in that room was just...there are no words to describe the level of destruction these kids had caused. Needless to say, Billy will be having no more birthday parties at my house.