Halloween Party Poopers

I still have a ton of candy leftover since the usual amount of kids just didn't show up.  Whats a person to do, have a sign up sheet posted the week before so you know exactly how many kids will be visiting?  Why you might ask do 40 or 50 kids show up one year and maybe 15 the next?  Is it because I live on Party pooper lane?  Ok so I don't really live on party pooper lane, it's just a nickname I give the street when EVERY house closes their doors and their lights on Halloween.  Yes, they are home they just can't be bothered.  It's not that they are hurting for money, most are pretty well off.  I understand if one has religious beliefs that may stand in the way of enjoying Halloween, but everyone? And honestly there is no connection to religion these days...it is simply... in the words of Winifred in the movie Hocus Pocus..."All Hallows Eve has become a night of frolic where children put on costumes and run amok."

It reminds me of other party poopers albeit different kinds.  At least it taught me something important....

Back when I was a kid if Halloween fell on a Saturday there was no waiting till you got home from school to go trick or treating.  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.  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 in 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 older 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.