Halloween is a fun night for kids. They dress in costumes and roam the streets collecting all kinds of treats, some they love, some they like, and some are quite surprising.
As a child myself, I always like to get a few surprises other than candy. My favorite was when I would get pencils with Halloween designs on them, or those little 5 page coloring books.
When I grew up, I always tried to give the children treats they would like. Well, that is after, the first Halloween when I lived completely on my own.
It was about 1976, and I had just graduated college and moved to a small town outside of Bay City. I had been staying with a friend when I first moved there, and later worked as a nanny for a woman for more than a year. Finally, on a cold and blustery October day, I moved into this cute Mobil home in a Mobil home community.
I spent the day organizing my new home, and loading up on enough groceries to last a month, I was feeling a little tired, and excited to spend my first night in my new home in peaceful silence. I had just settled down with a good book when the doorbell rang.
Annoyed that my quiet evening was shattered I went to answer the door.
“Trick or Treat!”
I stared at the two little monsters dumbfounded. Then it dawned on me. It was Halloween night. I had not even thought about it, and certainly had not purchased any treats for the trick or treaters that would be coming to my door. In a panic, I tried to think of something to give them.
Finally I grabbed my purse and fishing through it gave each of them a quarter.
“Hey thanks!” one of the little monsters exclaimed as they took off down the street to the next house.
I was about to shut the door when I saw other little ghouls and goblins coming up the walk. For the next few minutes I handed out quarters, dimes, nickles and even what few dollar bills I had left from my grocery shopping earlier in the day.
The kids were still coming and I was out of money. Rushing to the kitchen I looked around. Spying a case of pop I had purchased that day I grabbed it and raced back to the living room. There were several “Oh Wows!” as the kids received cans of pop for their treats.
Within the next hour, I went through all my pop, the cupcakes I had bought to carry in my lunches, and two packages of cookies, that I had divided up and put into sandwich bags. Still, the kids kept coming and I was out of anything treat like in my house.
Rushing back to the kitchen I surveyed my cabinets, grabbing anything I could find. I was just congratulating myself on being able to meet this emergency when a young boy of about five who was dressed as pirate, came to the door.
I dropped his treat in his back and wished him happy Halloween with my brightest smile. He turned and walk back out to the street where I heard him say to his mother.
“Cream corn? That lady gave me a can of cream corn!”
The woman looked towards my trailer and hastily pulled her child down the street. She must have spread the word because shortly afterward the parade of Trick or Treaters to my door stopped.
