Halloween

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our town really embraces Halloween. The decorating starts hot and heavy in late September and never lets up. When we moved into our house on Maple Street 28 years ago, no one warned us about the mobs of trick or treaters who would show up each year. The first year I found myself making a mad dash to the grocery store for more candy after half of what we bought disappeared in about 15 minutes. Now we know that we need to be ready for at least 300 visitors on a certain night in October. We have worked on our decorations, although many of them are now showing some signs of age (what happened to the skeleton’s other leg?). I hope you enjoy this little reflection on this spookiest of holidays.


After a gloomy wet day, my first glimpse out the window reveals blue sky and the first frost of the season. The early sun sparkles off the frost, yielding a sense of wonder, but then I remember the date. October 31st. Halloween has come again. The fall foliage peaked weeks ago. A few leaves do their best to hang on, providing final bits of color. These are now losing their tenuous grip on the gray branches to join the rest of the yellow, red and orange on the ground. The tree branches go from being colorful to sinister, now looking more like hands that could reach out with grasping claws to settle around my neck.


The excitement has been building ever since the big bags of candy appeared on the shelves at Shaw’s back in August.The jack-o-lanterns are all carved. The lights are strung to highlight the skeletons and tombstones carefully arranged in the yard to achieve a maximum level of creepiness. The downtown scarecrows with leering pumpkin heads have all been set up at local businesses. Did you see the 10 foot tall skeleton on Central Street? I almost fell off my bike the first time I rode by him. He’s holding smaller skeletons in his hands and looks ready to run into the road to grasp passers by. In the same yard, a skeleton dog appears to have chased a skeleton person up the nearby tree. Then there is the giant ghoulish creature with a jack-o-lantern head wielding an ax. Trust me, I’m not going too close to him. Don’t get me started on giant spiders. They are everywhere. Webs stretch down from porch roofs and the spiders are poised to attack anyone who walks by. I expect to see one of the neighborhood kids all wrapped up and stuck in one of these webs, waiting for its owner to come down for a little snack. Gravestones have popped up everywhere along with orange and purple lights. There is one house whose front has been transformed into a giant face, complete with two giant glowing eyes looking down on those who dare to get close.


I’m wondering if, like last year, the clown who looked like Pennywise (complete with floating red balloon) will once again walk the streets. Last year, I looked up from some last minute preparations just in time for him to slowly turn his head and stare. For a few seconds, our eyes met and I gazed into the expressionless deathly white with blood red lips. I shiver at the memory. I wonder if any high school students will dare to look at themselves in the mirror and say, “Candyman” five times? I wouldn’t be that brave and all I did was watch the preview! Will Jack Torrance appear at the door with that crazed look on his face as he raises the ax over his head and shouts, “Where’s Johnny!?”


It looks like the weather will actually be decent this year. Not warm. Far from it actually, but that is to be expected in northern New England at the end of October. Everyone’s lucky that we don’t have wet snow or cold rain. I think back to those Halloweens where the weather did what it wanted. The cheap costumes soaked and matted to the kids' skin. They didn’t care. The drive to get as much candy as possible overrides everything else, even personal comfort. They joined the hordes of other shivering kids staggering around the neighborhood, with lips turning blue.


Rumor has it that last year the house down the street was giving away full size candy bars, so now our neighborhood is on every kids hit list. They descend on it in packs, trailing along tired looking parents who would rather be home on the couch than traipsing around in the cold and dark. I try to embrace it. I do my best to put up some good decorations. I don’t want to be that one neighbor who doesn’t play along. The one who turns out the lights and closes the shades. I don’t go overboard and I refused to cave in and get one of the giant blow-up ghosts or ghouls. That would make our yard feel more like a cheesy car dealership.


I am partial to providing some scary sounds that come from everywhere and nowhere. That makes some kids weary about coming up onto the porch, especially the little ones. I do feel a twinge of guilt when I see the innocent 3 year old hesitate on the steps when a particularly unearthly scream rattles the night air. We reassure them that nothing will hurt them and offer to bring the candy bowl to them, sparing them from the worst of the sounds and that mysterious guy sitting on the porch.


I’ve been fantasizing about a particularly gruesome trick but I haven’t figured out how I might pull it off. I picture the kids coming up on the porch, nervous about the moans and rattling chains. They tentatively step past the figure with the disfigured face sitting in the chair. Then they reach for the door and as their hand almost makes contact, the blood starts pouring down. It streams towards their feet, spatters their costumes and faces. They can feel the warm stickiness of it. Can taste the coppery tang. And then, just like that, it disappears. Like nothing happened at all. They’ll be wondering for days how we did that.


For now, I’ll just have to settle for the creepy looking guy sitting on our porch. Is he real or isn’t he? You’ll have to decide for yourself. Do you dare to walk past those green hands? What if they suddenly reach out and grab you? Pull you into the mouth full of pointed teeth. His fetid breath reeks of something dead and rotten. Is the mini Three Musketeers worth it? It barely makes a single bite and then it’s down your throat, or stuck in your teeth with what’s left of the Jolly Rancher from the last house. But you want it, don’t you? You have to have it, no matter the cost. It just won’t do to leave any candy on the table on this one night of sugary debauchery. So you step gingerly towards the door, keeping one eye on the grotesque thing in the chair. If you catch even a hint of motion as it starts to drag itself up or reach out towards you, you’ll be gone. You’ll sprint down the stairs and if you knock over some other little kid, well that’s just the way it goes. You're all for saving your own ass at that point.


You knock on the door, heart hammering against your ribs. A slight breeze gets the skeletons moving and the ghost flaps behind you, but you know these can't hurt you. It’s just that guy. Why does he have to be there? Dead eyes staring. Chains clink and screams echo through the night air. You hear laughter and voices out on the street, but they might as well be a million miles away. They can’t save you. They wouldn’t even know that anything had happened. There would just be a jittery movement and you’d be gone. Why didn’t you agree to trick or treat with your friends? You had to go it alone this time. Didn't want to be slowed down by the group. Now you’re regretting that decision - safety in numbers you know.


How long has it been since you knocked? Shouldn’t someone have come with the bowl of candy by now? You’ll just count to 10 - no 5 - and then you’ll move on to the next house. 1, 2, 3 - what was that scraping sound? You don’t want to look. Can hardly move. Your head turns on a creaking neck. You don’t want to look, but you do. The green hand is strong on your wrist, pulling you towards the horror in the chair and your screams echo down the street.


Happy Halloween!!