Declaring Halloween in February, I’m doing all stories this week about Halloween stuff. Enjoy!
It was a semi-traumatic decision Diane made one year, when she realized she was too old for trick-or-treating. To help take her mind off things (and to shut our dog the hell up) I grabbed her and the bowl of candy and we sat on the porch giving out treats to the kids who came by. During a temporary lull I hopped into the house and came back out with a plastic Viking helmet, and soon after Diane found a similar goofy hat for herself.
Thus was born our annual Texas Halloween tradition of dressing up and sitting on the porch.
We’ve had some interesting costumes over the years, but one of my favorites was the year we were zombies. I had a black wig pulled down over my face, and Diane just used her copious natural hair, and we sat unmoving on the chairs while kids walked up. When they got really close, we’d suddenly whip out a piece of candy to give them.
Or at least that was the idea.
What ended up happening all too often was a group of kids would confidently stroll up the walkway, turn into our porch, and stop dead. Staring. Not quite sure if we were dummies or real people.
Or real dummies, some might wonder…
Sometimes a really young kid would come up and we’d drop the act, because you don’t want to scare little kids. Mostly, they kept their distance and sent their parents in for the candy. (Smart little buggers.)
One or two just stopped, looked, and turned around and left.
We had a great time, and we may try that once again this year…
In the photo, that’s Natalie on the left who joined us for a short while, with me and Diane (channeling Samarra from The Ring) next to her. The key to the “real” or “fake” thing is the hands – hide the hands, and they can’t tell. Plus, the hair let’s you see who’s coming without them knowing you’re watching them.