The chiming of the doorbell raised the ire of the family dog.

Joey went into defensive-bark mode, rushing to the door and letting out a few guttural growls to let whoever was on the other side know he meant business.

"Hush," I said to our pooch, "I'll take care of this."

Accustomed to the usual solicitors, I was surprised to open the door and see three pre-teens with faces beaming up at me.

"Hello, sir," one of them blurted out. I almost looked behind me to see who they were addressing.

"We are on a scavenger hunt - do you know what that is?" she continued.

"Well, yes, I do - I went on many hunts myself when I was your age," I stated, my mind harking back to the carefree days immediately.

"Sir, we have these items on a list that we are trying to collect," she said. She handed me the list and followed with, "Do you think you might have some of these?"

On the list were a few household items, with a few more already scratched off. They were in need of a pencil, a push pin, a button, a Ziploc bag, a pipe cleaner and a twist tie.

"Hmm," I said, with a tone that made me feel like Santa Claus, looking over the wish list of a optimistic tyke in early December. "I believe I might be able to help you on your quest."

I told the kids to stay on the porch and I'd be right back, hopefully with a few items. I quickly scooped up a twist tie and Ziploc bag from the kitchen and then found a push pin and pencil in the office. Resisting the urge to dig deeper and find a button and/or pipe cleaner, I returned to the door and handed the leader the list and the items. "Here ya go - this should get you close to your goal," I said.

"Wow - thank you, sir!" she said. "Have a nice day!"

And with that they were off. Joey and I stood at the door and they made their way down the stairs, around the sidewalk and up to the neighbor's house. I closed our front door after a little nudging of Joey, who always protests when we close the front door, which I suspect he sees as his window to the world.

I sat back down and Joey went out to the back yard to find a squirrel or cat to chase. Soon I was wondering if the team that was just at my door was now on the way home with the winning booty.

Back in the day - and when I say "day," I mean 40 years ago - we didn't think twice about knocking on doors for such things as scavenger hunts. It was with a little concern that I thought about the way our society is today when it comes to kids roaming neighborhoods and relying on the goodness of strangers.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of badness these days as well.

In hindsight, I might have mentioned to the kids that going door to door for the purpose of a game might not be the best idea they ever had. Hopefully they had the sense to never go into a stranger's house, even if invited.

Sitting on the couch and reflecting on the situation, it bugged me that we can't just automatically allow our kids to roam around the neighborhood these days like we could in a bygone era.

And besides, I would expect a modern-day scavenger hunt when one comes to the door now. You know - they ask you for an item, and then they take a photo of it with their iPhones.

It would certainly speed up the game, and I'd run out of pencils, twist ties, push pins and Ziploc bags a bit later.

You can attempt to reach Jerry Hitchcock at 664-8176, Ext. 2017, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at HitchTheWriter.