Knock, Knock!
“Oh, my God!”
As I opened the front door, there in the doorway was a short black-robed figure with the face of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. When the cadaver-like body spoke, it said in a high-pitched juvenile voice, “trick or treat.”
It was Halloween and the neighborhood was flooded with bands of oddly dressed children each carrying a loot bag. As the kids came to the door their parents waited protectively in the street. The costumes of the day included skeletons, Superman, Elvis, Spiderman, Batman, fairy princesses, Cinderellas, weird scary masks, Casper the Ghost, pirates, Big Bird, Elmo, Barney, baseball and football players and other weird and wonderfully imaginative outfits.
The giggling and high-pitched laughter took me back to the days when my children went door to door. These children were boisterous but well behaved. They asked politely, “Can I take another candy home for my sister?” When I said, “You can take four candies,” they dutifully counted out the proper amount. When I told one little boy to take more he answered, “No thanks, I want to save some for the other kids who are coming later.”
It is a pleasure to see the coming generation so full of life and yet so well behaved. In my day in the Bronx there was a lot of aggressive and mean happenings on the night of Halloween. Soap chips or powdered chalk in a sock were the weapons of choice.
One darling little girl, who came back twice, in a silk Korean dress, just giggled when I told her I remembered her from before. She must have liked our assortment of candies. I recall that my kids had favorite homes that they approached with glee and visited many times.
Naturally, we overbought and we are stuck with some chewy and high caloric refreshments that will soon disappear between Lorraine and I.
All in all it was a fun and, sometimes, scary Halloween. I picture those happy kids eating all that chocolate and gooey candy in one sitting. They earned it.
Are adults “Over 60…and Getting Younger” allowed to go trick or treating?
