Boo !!

I think I am the duck

When Mark first moved here, a few days before Halloween he ran out and bought a shit load of candy. I tried to explain to him that there will be no kids coming around here to trick-or-treat. He didn't believe me and continued to decorate and plan for the big day. Ho-hum, October thirty first was no different than any other evening that year. Cats wandered around, a few dogs barked, a lady across the street got drunk, and I watched television. Mark was disappointed, but not so much that he didn't try again the next Halloween with the same results. Mark does not buy Halloween candy anymore. Not until November first, when it all goes on sale. Again, this year on Halloween, our street will be barren of little kids dressed up as ghosts and witches. Yet over in the middle of town, the street will be closed to traffic and a few thousand adults will be parading up and down dressed as sexy firemen, sexy nuns, sexy things covered in feathers and sequins, and sexy health workers in cutaway Ebola hazmat suits. The night of All Hallowed Eve has been taken over by the big kids. It is nothing like it was when I was a child. I remember the streets teeming with children dressed in store bought costumes, costumes stitched together by their moms, and crazy outfits thrown together by the children themselves. One Halloween my older brother was dressed as a puppet show. He cut out a large box, put curtains on it, and walked down the street performing a little show. Mobs of kids would be comparing notes on who gave out the best candy and who was giving away worthless crap, like apples. There would even be a house here and there that was giving out cash, usually pennies. In the 1950's a penny could buy more than one piece of candy at Rudy's candy store, so it was appreciated. It was a great time for kids. I don't know what kids do around here at Halloween now. Maybe go down to the main drag in town and watch all the adults getting drunk in their sexy costumes. I'll bet that's scarier to a kid than anything Mark could come up with.