His eyes glittered with mischief as he got closer. He glanced between Nina and I as he decided who his next target would be. Decision made, he ran up to me and poured water on my shorts, then took off shrieking as I ran after him. I looked around for another watering can, and spurted a stream of water at him. He giggled and squirted me back, then dashed off to escape my revenge.
The other boy was a few years older and looked at me hesitantly, seriously calculating if he could throw water at this grown-up and get away with it. I smile, encouraging his audacity, but didn't have the words in German to tell him to go ahead, so I just made the first move. His face broke into smiles as the water splashed him and he splashed me back.
Watering can empty, he went to refill, and I waited to fill my can too. Apparently any concern he had about getting grown-ups wet was gone, since he poured the entire contents of his watering can on me while I was filling mine up, shouting "warte! wait!" at him. (As my friends laughed at my ineffective attempt to use words to stop a child engaged in a water battle.) His watering can now empty, and me in control of the water source, he turned on his charm, and looked at me with those big pleading eyes that little kids have mastered, holding out his watering can for me to refill. "Bitte, bitte" he pleaded, fluttering his eyelashes. I laughed at his presumption, but again, was at a loss for words. How do you say "why on earth would I help you after you just poured a bucket of water on me? You better run, cause you've got it coming" in German? So, I just took his bucket and started filling it. With innocent intentions, I promise. But then, Nina started shouting "Lauf! Run!" and his eyes got big as he considered the possibility that he'd just handed his weapon to his opponent. He took off running, and I was left laughing, holding 2 watering cans full of water.
I hadn't really expected to get in a water fight. After all, I was a guest at my friend's mother's house for her annual Pentecost brunch. I was expecting food, and staid, placid conversation. Which is how the day had started. But when your German conversational level is about equivalent to that of a 2 year olds (and that's being generous) conversation doesn't get you very far in a setting where 90% of the people present are speaking German (actually, a lot of them were probably speaking Bavarian).
And so, what started accidentally when the 3 year old somehow got control of the hose and squirted water our way, escalated quickly. Soon all the guests under 14 at the brunch were running around screaming and tossing water at each other, and Nina and I weren't far behind in joining the melee. Half an hour later, wet and still laughing, looking for a safe spot in the sun to start drying off, we started wondering how to tame the monsters we'd created. "I'm not playing now" I told the 3 year old, in German. He looked at me dubiously, and tossed water on me anyway, then dashed off, just in case. It took awhile, but eventually confiscated watering cans plus a limited supply of water left in the bucket they were refilling from slowed things down. We discovered Mikko, who had disappeared when all the water throwing craziness had started, in the drum circle tent. It seemed a good place to escape the winding down water battle, plus, it's another activity that requires minimal linguistic competence, so there we stayed, pounding out rhythms on the drums until peace and order were restored.
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