October 31, 2011
Dear Clusterflock: Are You Tricking or Treating?
Danny and I had good intentions. We bought candy, have it in a big bowl. We opted to go dark. Turned off all the lights. Sitting in. Watched an episode of “Once Upon a Time.” (Quick review? Not so good. Maybe even sucked.) Then an episode of “Grimm.” (Better? Maybe. Maybe also sucks.)
I’m in a mood. Prolly better lil chiren don’t see me tonight.
We ate some candy from the bowl. Tasted like a poisoned apple…or peanut butter and chocolate.
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I’m going to bed early, maybe tomorrow I can better face the day.
One of the many oddities of the odd place where I dwell much of the time is that virtually no one lives here full-time — and certainly no children live here. So it felt deeply weird (in the old sense) and wonderful (that, too) to have carved a pumpkin, set a candle in it, and placed it outside the door an hour or so ago.
It felt as though I were carrying on a profound and ancient ritual.
‘Jack’ will burn outside the door all night long. Or until the candle flares out.
Girlfriend’s sister ran out for candy. Had her get me one. Never put apt complex “Trick or Treat Here!” sign out. Eating candy and having pain. Not all bad.
Sheila, just’s long’s the dried up cornfield is safe from flame. Don’t want to get up in the morning to see on CNN a whole field (along with 18 golf courses) went up in black smoke in the driftless region.
Ain’t lookin’ ta git burnt up.
Dave, send the little rascals over here. That’ll learn ‘em.
I’m basking out on the patio in the cool blue glow of my laptop’s screen. Given the visage, I’m sure little “trickers” would have second thoughts before coming through the back gate.
I just talked to my friend Steve in Dallas. He said that he’s left his window open and that if anyone wants candy, they’re going to have to trick.
Miss that visage.
I live on the third floor of a walkup and kids (rightfully) never ring the buzzer on an apartment building. But I missed giving out candy. Bought a pumpkin bucket at CVS and all the best candy. Basically not Tootsie Rolls.
I wrote “take 2″ on the bucket which I hoped secretly meant “take a bunch but don’t be greedy and please don’t swipe the whole bucket.” Filled it up, stuck it on the stoop, and hoped for the best. I expected either a surly teen would swipe the bucket early or parents wouldn’t trust unattended candy and it’d still be full at the end of the night.
To my surprise it worked. The bucket slowly depleted over the course of 4 hours. Around 9 pm there were only 3 Starburst left, then one. I’m sure that last kid passed the marshmallow test. The bucket was then taken upstairs so as not to tease the child faced with a solitary Starburst.
It’s still sorta felt like handing out candy though, like ya’ll, I didn’t actually see any kids.
Yesterday was Levi’s first birthday. We had a birthday “party” in the morning and took the kids trick-or-treating in the evening. Izzy was a pro and even went to the door of the house that scared here, “I thought I saw skeletons in the ghosts,” because they were giving out glow-sticks and that’s not something a 3 year-old passes up because of a few skeletons in ghosts.
I’d forgotten how much fun Halloween is for kids of all ages. Even the older kids, who are in it just for the candy, have fun running from door to door. We saw some junior high kids who got busted for returning to the same house multiple times (they got more candy from the people who called them out).
Also, we stopped at one house and, despite the fact that they were perfect strangers, they offered us margaritas and beer. I walked off with an Anchor Steam.