Newton Assassins

My dear City of Newton is famous for overachieving kids and helicopter parents.  

I keep hearing stories that I never think are going to be topped, but I'm always being surprised.   Today is a case-in-point.  

The seniors graduating from Newton South High School have a game called Assassin.    It used to be pretty simple, but it's starting to get pretty rule heavy.    The idea is that there's a list of people who buy into the game.   Each person is given a target that they have to 'assassinate' - really shoot with a squirt gun.   In turn they can be preyed upon by their own assassin.  

About 300 seniors buy into this, and have to adhere to certain rules - e.g. no shooting inside a home, or on campus.    Makes sense.  

My daughter's in this game and is playing it with a real sense of gusto.   It's actually pretty humorous.   Well, I thought so until I heard Stacy's story.   Stacy is the daughter of some friends of ours and we bumped into her at a recent city-wide event.     Like my daughter, she was also playing Assassin, but ran into a Newtonian situation.  

Her target, a guy on the crew team, took his evasion to a new level.   Evidently his mother and sister got into the act, trying to make sure he'd win.   He even wore a wig to crew practice.   When Stacy tried to ambush him outside his house, his mother came and physically grabbed the water pistol out of her hand - not because she thought it was a real gun or a danger, but rather to help her son 'stay alive' in the game.