Trick or treat...or not

Candy corn ACEO

Back when I was a kid and Halloween fell on a Saturday there was no waiting till you got home from school to go trick or treating.  Candy loving kids didn’t wait till dark to begin their collections.  While I wasn’t much of a candy eater I still enjoyed donning a costume and going trick or treating. 

On one particular Halloween, my mother decided to take us downtown telling us that even storeowners gave out candy to costumed kids.  We had already amassed quite a bit of candy from the neighborhood and the weight of the candy stressed the twisted paper handles of my paper Halloween bag.

My mother decided to cross the street and leave my brothers and I at a fenced playground while she went into a small store.  Unfortunately the playground closed and we waited none too patiently outside the gate. 

I could see them coming; a group of about 6 or seven kids swinging their Halloween bags.  It wasn’t long before they confronted us.  They got my sibling’s bags with no problem, but I wasn’t giving up so easy and I held on tight.  Even so, it didn’t take long, and they continued up the street looking for easier collecting.  When my mother returned, there I stood, holding my handles.

Funny but I don’t remember not having any candy that year.  I don’t remember much of anything except standing there holding those handles.

It wasn’t all bad though because I learned a lot about myself that day. I learned that I was not about to go down without a fight, and I never would.  It was about triumphing without winning.  While I didn’t keep my bag, I held in my hands that day the symbol of my tenacity, those twisted paper handles.