Halloween story

Wednesday evening I went over to my friend Laurie's house for pizza and Halloween festivities. Her neighborhood is much more overrun with kiddies than mine is and, therefore, much more exciting. Some other friends with kids came over, too. We ate pizza and the kids could barely contain their excitement before trick-or-treating.

Joseph and Vincent in their cowboy finery:
Mom Nancy and Libby, the ladybug:While they went out trick-or-treating, I stayed behind and handed out candy. The next day at work most of my co-workers said they didn't get many kids. That's because they were all in Laurie's neighborhood. Altogether, she went through two big bowls of candy and the kids probably would have kept coming if she'd had more.

This year I was a bit of a scrooge and bought pencils and noisemakers for the kids I know. I shunned the candy because if I buy it, I just eat it. And my chins don't need any more girth. Pepe was kind enough to point out that he would have egged my house if I had given him a pencil when he was a kid. I ignored him.

Now, here's the real Halloween story:
I got home from the festivities about 8:15 and was settled down in my recliner watching some television when my doorbell rang. I thought it might be my neighbors and their two kids (ages 10 and 8, I think) because they usually come over each year. My light wasn't on and I figured it was someone I knew. Silly me. I looked out first, saw movement, flipped on the light and then opened the door. There stood a 13-year-old (I'm guessing) alone on my porch. I'd never seen him before in my life. He was dressed up, I'll give him that. He said "Trick or treat" and I looked at him blankly. Did I mention that MY LIGHT HAD BEEN OFF. To the left I saw that there was some candy in a cellophane bag on the ledge by my door. I picked it up, looked at it and asked him, "Was this there already when you rang the bell?" He said it was. I saw that the card was made and signed by my neighbors (she does scrapbooking) and that I'd been "Boo'd". I looked at the kid, said I didn't have any candy (which I clearly DID because I was holding the bag in my hand) and that my light was out for that reason. I said, "Sorry" and closed the door. Then I waited a beat and turned out the light. Cruel? Perhaps. But I honestly had no other candy in my house and I wasn't going to re-gift immediately the candy my neighbors had left for me. What kind of neighbor would I be if I didn't at least eat a few pieces of the candy they gave me? And really, there's only about five pieces in there anyway. The whole rule about the porch lights is ignored by so many people these days and I felt it important to teach a lesson, I guess.

But I checked the front of the house to see if I'd been egged before leaving for work Thursday morning. Luckily, there was no sign of yolk.