Trick-or-Treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!

As a child, I remember, we had some fun Halloweens.

It was just one day back then, not the month-long, elaborately decorated, merchandising extravaganza it is now. Our costumes were not store-bought, pre-packaged costumes, but were put together out of what we had and then made into costumes. I can barely remember some of them; a witch (I had a lot of trouble with the hat), an Indian, a hobo, a ghost/banshee (a sheet costume with baby powder in my hair and on my face, and lots of green eye shadow around my eyes), a princess/ballerina with a lovely dress (that unfortunately had to be covered with a coat as it turned cold that night, much to my dismay).

We went Trick-or-Treating together, we little kids, our older siblings, and neighbors of every age. They had to take care of us, and we gave them the perfect excuse to continue trick-or-treating after they had reached the ripe old age beyond which one was considered "too old" for it. Of course, we first went down our own street, Laguna Lane, where the neighbors who knew us exclaimed over our costumes. We readily accepted homemade popcorn balls or caramel apples or cotton candy, as well as the usual store bought candy fare. We entered neighbors' (even if they lived two streets over-they were considered neighbors) homes so that their guests and family could see our costumes, explain how they knew us or one of the kids with us, and give us our treats. We went down South Lakeshore to Wallace Road, then over to Shorewood Drive. By the time we were coming back on Shorewood, we little kids started to get tired and our feet sore from wearing shoes that went better with our costume, than fit our feet. The older kids started a chant to get our minds off of our misery: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... we - are - a little bit crazy!" (You took steps forward to each of the counting words, then stop "we", put foot forward "are", feet together knees bent "a little bit", straighten back up "crazy!", then march forward again "One, two,..." etc.) We arrived home tired, but happy and had plenty of candy.

One time the church Youth Group (was it still Walther League then?) decided to have a Haunted House in the empty, and apparently church property, house in back of the church. Marty and Gayla Benson, who lived down the street, decided to fix me up as a princess for the occasion. They spent what seemed like hours, fixing my hair into an elaborate french twist, which consisted of a lot of bobby pins and copious amounts of hairspray. When we got to the Haunted House, I was a little bit apprehensive, not so much from the scary prospect of what would happen there (I knew the boys-Herman and Fred- would be the scary characters and they had explained the skits, complete with cold spaghetti "guts" and peeled grape "eyeballs"), but that my hairdo would fall down and ruin my whole costume!

As we aged, Halloween took on more real danger. Reports of razor blades in apples, or rat poison in those paper straws filled with powder (turns out that was the father of the girls, trying to collect life insurance money) made us nervous, but did not altogether deter our quest for sweet treats. It did make us suspicious of these strangers we had formerly considered neighbors. Still we took our younger siblings, Carl and Janet, out trick-or-treating, just as we had done. Bullies hid behind bushes to scare kids and steal their hastily abandoned bags of candy, or dropped heavy rocks into unsuspecting innocents' bags to burst the bottom out and scoop up their ill-gotten booty. Our kinder, gentler Halloween days seemed lost. Daddy was inspired to request an old-fashioned celebration with apple cider and cinnamon-sugar donuts, following a short Trick-or-treating foray down Laguna and nearby South Lakeshore. Our neighbors, Flynne and Brett Mauthe, with our help, set up a scary cemetery for those who dared to trick or treat at their house to walk through. We had BEWARE signs and headstones with pine straw and leaf "graves". For the braver, older guests, Flynne hid under the leaves and at the opportune moment "rose from his grave", much to their horror, or delight.

Eventually, the Trick-or-Treaters became fewer and farther between. Our old neighborhood had grown up, grown cynical and grown weary of the whole celebration. It was now only a ghost of our Halloweens past.

In our own neighborhood, our kids have enjoyed the fun we had as kids. Dressing up in costumes that are either carefully thought-out and planned, or spur-of-the-moment thrown together. They've gone Trick-or-treating, to parties, or stayed home to give out the candy. Neighbors decorate their homes to rival Christmas, with hay bales, scarecrows, and pumpkins. Halloween is a time of celebration... of Fall, and of imagination, of fun and being a kid.

There are still dangers out there... we keep them in the backs of our minds, ever aware, but hopeful that we will remain untouched by them.

"You better mind your parents and your teachers fond and dear,
and cherish them 'at loves you, and dry the orphans tears,
and help the poor and needy ones 'at clusters all about,
or the gobble-uns will get you, if you don't watch out."
~Little Orphan Annie ~ by James Whitcomb Riley