Things That Go "Bump" in the Night

         I’ve never been much for scary things. While I’ve seen the “light” on the train tracks and walked past the Witch’s House when in Kindergarten, that’s pretty much it.  

             The thing in the sky with a red tail was not Rudolph, so I hid until Daddy made me come outside to see what scientists called “sputnik.” Who in their right mind would knowingly go outside and search for something hovering in the sky, just overhead, something with a red tail that glowed. Seriously?

          Sputnik came on the heels of Miss Maud’s vanishing act, probable murder, with her remains most likely in my closet or under my friend’s bed.  We were sure of it.  That, or it was an abduction. 

           Walter Akins took Suzanne and me to a space invader movie at the Rialto and, in confession, I have not been the same since.

         My Halloween costumes never resembled anything frightful.  I have been a Gypsy (with gobs of Mother’s costume jewelry draped all around) and a little Indian maiden, complete with a feather in my hair and a fringed brown skirt. No store-bought costumes and not much door-to-door candy gathering, either. Fun was the school carnival at Cleveland Avenue School where I once won a cake at the Cake Walk.

          Another good part about Halloween is, of course, the candy. Giving “the good stuff” is important in a neighborhood. You don’t want to be remembered as the house that gives little boxes of cereal, or Band-Aids.

         Funny thing about Halloween,though.  Now, it’s as much of a grown-up holiday as any other, perhaps more.  Adults use any excuse to bring tricks to work or fill the break room with treats.

         Still the wimp when it comes to creepy things, I’d just as soon get the candy straight from the bag.

          Things that go bump in the night would be me and whatever gets in my way as I exit any version of a Haunted House, especially one where Boo Radley might have lived.