I love Halloween. Costumes, make-up, decorated houses, scary music and....CANDY! I remember every year as a little girl preparing for the big night. I had a dresser in my bedroom that had three large drawers; the bottom was cleared out just for my candy. I always took a pillow case as my "Candy Carrier" because there was no chance of it breaking and spilling my precious cargo. Another important use of the pillowcase was that it could be used as a weapon. Yes, I did say weapon. There was a very unsavory character that lived in my neighborhood who was known to steal candy bags from unsuspecting victims. The night this fellow tried to take my candy, was the last night of his reign of terror. I swung with all of my might and connected right with his noggin! The best part was that the neighbor up the street worked for Pepsi and always gave out cans of pop...I was fully loaded. Luckily for him, the Baby Ruth's, Snickers and 3 Musketeers cushioned the blow. I never saw him out on Halloween again, at least not in my neighborhood!
With such fond memories of this particular evening of the year, you can imagine how excited I was when my son, Koby, was about 8 years old and agreed to let me trick-or-treat with him. When I say "with" him, I really mean "with" him! I am about 4 ft. 11 in. in height...are you following with me now? Koby had never really been much of a go-getter when it came to trick-or-treating and I felt it was my duty to show him how it should be done. I was giddy with excitement. Werewolf mask, camo pants, boots, red flannel hunting shirt, I was ready to go. My husband just shook his head, what else could he do but drive us to our destination. The evening was wet and cold, but the streets still looked like a scene from E.T. There were sugar-frenzied kids everywhere and parents that looked like they wanted a drink (I'm quite sure there was some of that in their coffee mugs). We parked the car, picked a house, went to the front door and rang the bell. I was shaking and giggling like a high-school girl. As an adult, I was afraid of being found out and at the same time, excited! Koby was right next to me as we said "trick-or-treat" in unison; my son and I. Turning away from the house and walking towards Shawn, my husband, we started laughing...hard! I couldn't believe that I was doing this! Now it was time to get down to business. "Come on Koby, let's go!" I hollered as I ran to the next house, his little legs doing their best to keep up. After about 10 houses, running as fast as I could get him to go, he began yelling from behind "MOM! Wait for me! You're running too fast!" I quickly went back to him, horrified that he had called me "mom". I looked around but no one had seemed to notice. I realized that in my excitement, I was running the Halloween right out of my son! It was time to give him a break. There was something else that I needed to do.
Some friends of ours lived in the neighborhood and I wanted to pay them a visit. As we came to their driveway, I told Shawn and Koby to wait out by the street. I walked to the door with my pillowcase in hand and rang the doorbell. The mask was so hot I could hardly breathe and the craziness of what I was doing made it even worse. I waited. The door opened and both Penny and Dave were standing there in front of me in my werewolf costume. No one else was at the house but me..."Great costume! Do you like gum?" Dave says. "Sure!" I say. He gives me a handful. "Thanks JackA$$!!" Their mouths drop in disbelief as I drop with laughter, pulling off my mask. Now you see why I had my son wait by the street with my husband, a little adult humor never hurts! We still talk about it and laugh (Penny, Dave and I) and Koby and I do the same when we talk about our trick-or-treating escapade. My husband still just shakes his head.
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