TRICKY TREATS

Before it got really dark, the first group arrived. There were two mothers, a father, and a dog! The kids shuffled in dressed as all manner of characters. One girl was dressed in dark clothing and had vampire teeth with her smile. Two smaller boys were caped characters of some sort. One was already fingering the wrapped candies, so I told him to go ahead and take some and then pass the plate to the others. I had plenty of candy on the plate so I encouraged the kids to help themselves, which they did. One of the bigger visitors was unrecognizable. It looked as if someone had taken hundreds of crayons, melted them, and poured the resulting liquid over his head! In the whole time he never even attempted to remove any kind of face mask. There was no way to tell if he could even see!

Meanwhile Skittles and Patches, restrained by a gate, began an insistent barking. As I explained to one of the mothers that I had confined them because I knew her younger son was afraid, and as she thanked me, I did my usual threat of "I have a zapper and I know how to use it". Yet it did NOTHING to quell the barking. Then I became aware of the reason: Lucy! One of the neighbors had brought their dog along. Lucy was not "wearing a costume", but having her along just added to the fun. I was quick to apologize for not having a dog biscuit and promised to have one NEXT Halloween.

The group still had places to go, and they took their leave. There was still a lot of time to go until the town's time limit on trick or treating arrived. To keep busy I browsed my book collection, noticing things that were new to me after many years. One book, Drawing on the Left Side of the Brain, had illustrations of the human head from angles that would allow an artist to pose the human form realistically. It had always amazed me that the eyes were in the center of the face. This was noticeable especially on men with receding hairlines.

Meanwhile time had been passing and the other Halloweeners were expected soon. When I became aware of their approach, I opened the door to find a young man in no particular costume, a girl with huge plastic lips that she was holding with her teeth. The other two were dressed in rags so I suspected hobos? Anyhow all were glad to help themselves to the plate of candy. As a caution I asked if there were other groups around (so that I could have enough candy for them) and I was told that nobody else was out. With that thought I insisted that they have the remainder of the candy. Besides, I still had more bags of candy in the kitchen that I hadn't even touched!

At this point I could open the gates and let the dogs out. They were ecstatic about having their freedom. They would have preferred to be out when they could have visited with the children, which they loved. As the clock ticked on past the time for trick or treating to take place, I prepared for my daughter and her little family to come by. She had been emailing me about the costume that she had made for my grandson. This year he would be a pirate. I was eager to see him. It would remind me of the years when my own kids were little and I made their costumes for Halloween. I always asked them what they "wanted to be", and I made costumes for everything from a unicorn to Jaws. The kids had fun and so did I. One year my daughter wanted to be "a witch with green hair". I made this using black cloth and some green yarn. When the basics of the outfit were done, she tried her costume on, looked at herself in the mirror, and burst into tears. Then we decided on an alternate costume while there was still time to make it.