In general it was a bust. The first group came by in broad daylight. Twelve parents, I counted them, with probably fifteen kids, toddlers through maybe eight years old. I did not recognize any of them. They were not Oakwooders. I suspect they were either Gypsies or Irish Travelers. They must have gotten our names off of some Soft Touch website. I grudging gave each of the little creeps a small candy bar. They all responded with a practiced, "Thank you", but I wasn't fooled that easily. A little later a few scattered groups of the Oakwood kids came around. I gave them all too much candy and they took the chance to talk to their Buddy, the old pug. They were ALL ESCORTED BY PARENTS! Why do parents insist on stealing this little adventure from their children? For Christ's sake, they know everyone living in Oakwood. "Damn!", he said curmudgeonly.
All was not lost. It was a beautiful evening, the sky and the lake mirroring each other. Which came first, the lake or the sky? Addy would have walked down to the lake beyond the oaks to take the picture and enhance the illusion even more. I just walked out on the deck and pulled the trigger because I was still manning the candy bowl.
2 comments:
had a few kids. biked downtown in the dark and ate pumpkin ice cream. kinda fun.
mw
So you're a curmudgeon. I'm the mean old lady. Two boys about 12 came by after many packs of kids, and as soon as I opened the door, one kid grabbed the Nestle's Crunch out of my hand and said, "I want this one." The other kid looked at the remaining candy bar and said, "I don't like almonds." "It's not an Almond Joy," I said. "It's a Mounds." He turned it over in his hand a couple times, said, "I don't like these," and handed it back to me. So I shut the door. "Hey!" he said through the glass, still waiting for a better quality treat. "If that's the way you're gonna be . . ." I said. Somebody's got to teach these kids some respect.
I'm with you on this being a kids' holiday (and so is R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps books, who got his opinion published in the NYTimes). And yes, you're supposed to run around in the dark with no parents. But you're also supposed to take what people give you and not grouse about it. You can trade with your friends or siblings later. I never ate those peanut butter kisses that stuck to their orange and black wrappers, but I didn't whine about them.
Cheri
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