Halloween is coming. The night all the little ghouls (and some big ones) come out of the woodwork. It doesn’t seem that long ago when I was the one coming out of the woodwork…
When we were kids out on Halloween night, we would double dare each other to go up the long lane to a spooky, old house set back in the trees. “Trick or Treat” we would yell, the door would slowly creak open and a very ancient person (it seemed to us) would hand out candies as we stood trembling on his doorstep. We would back away so that we could keep an eye on him in case he would attempt to drag us into his den of horrors. As we grew to adulthood, we realized that he was just a kindly, elderly bachelor who kept to himself.
Even before we had children, the foreman and I loved Halloween. Living on the farm, we didn’t have many trick-or-treaters to occupy us, which left us time for dressing up and going to town to pester friends and family.
One Halloween, sister a spate of vandalism the previous year, the local firemen were helping to patrol the town. The foreman and I were strolling down the street, he in one of my dresses stuffed with pillows and I in a pair of his coveralls, each of us with a ghoulish plastic mask. The truck pulled over beside us and the fireman rolled down his window and asked, “Aren’t you two a little too old to be out?” He was a friend of ours, but he clearly didn’t recognize us, so we shook our heads and kept quiet so he wouldn’t recognize our voices.
He offered us a ride. As we climbed in, he gave us a sidelong nervous glance and started the truck. After half an hour of nervous chatter and patrolling the streets, we pulled off our masks and revealed ourselves. There were lots of laughs as he dropped us at our vehicle and we headed home.
As we neared our farm, we noticed our neighbours still finishing chores by their yard lights. With hijinks in mind, we pulled into the end of their drive, got out of the truck and crept up their lane, only to have our trick turned around on us. Our neighbours had seen us coming and hid behind some bushes so they could jump out and pounce on us!
When I was a kid, costumes came from our imagination, not from the store. One had to improvise. The family bed sheets became a ghost, a devil’s suit was made up of your dad's long red underwear. Witch costumes were hard to come by unless you had a surplus of black cloth and if you were lucky, you had a mother who sewed.
By the time our children and grandchildren were out on Halloween night, costumes were vastly improved – everything from Batman to Barbie to Dracula and the occasional Hippie. Now at our door, we meet Elsa from Frozen, a zombie from who knows where, a dinosaur, Dalmatians, and even Yellowstone Cowboys!
Whatever the costumes, for me, Halloween will always be a time for fun. Soon we will hear the crunching of the leaves on the sidewalk, the chatter of children’s excited voices and the call of Trick or Treat!
Happy Halloween, everyone!
- Beth
