If you break the chain....

Harper, aged 4 1/2, recently received his first chain letter. According to the letter, if he sent a sheet of stickers to the person at the top of the list, added his name to the bottom of the list and sent it to 6 friends, he would receive 36...count 'em, folks!...sheets of stickers within 2 weeks.

I remember receiving chain letters as a child, long before ordinary people had access to photocopiers, so each copy of the letter had to be rewritten.It took forever to write those damn letters. But I never once considered not sending the letter on, because I was terrified by the sinister threats of what would happen if I broke the chain. 

In my twenties, I took part in a chain letter called the 'pretty panty exchange'.  I sent off 1 pair of undies, and was promised 36 pairs of undies in return. Now this was not like e-bay. They could not be very good condition or even new without tags. These had to be brand spanking. Sounded okay. The threat in this letter should have been "If you DON'T break the chain, you will most likely receive a whole bunch of G-strings (aka thongs) which you should never wear because they go up your bum (aka butt) and are frankly, uncomfortable." Lesson learned.

In the movie, Chain Letter, released last year, a maniac murders teens when they refuse to forward chain mail.Yikes!

Harper didn't receive any death threats with his chain letter. Nor did he receive any G-strings. (That would have been weird, no?) He had fun choosing who to send them to, signing the letters with his name, which he has just learnt to write, decorating the letters with stickers, and in one case covering the entire envelope with stickers, including the address and the stamp. I wished for a grown-up sticker club to take part in. Huzzah for the chain letter!