Halloween hell...

It's October 31 which means it's Halloween! While here in Australia it's more of an adult holiday with costume parties galore, for kids there isn't much in it for 'em. While I remember getting upwards of 80 trick-or-treaters come to my door, here people at work tell me if they get a half dozen visits that's a good year.

I have pretty fond memories of trick-or-treating from growing up: the dressing up (as a ghost if your mom didn't remember in time); the wonder of going from house-to-house hoping for something good (i.e., no fruit); the spreading out of your booty afterward and trading the ones you didn't like with your siblings (I still can't stand Mary Jane's); and finally trying to get to sleep despite the sugar high.

But there was a dark side to the activity as well. Older kids - I'm talking 12/13 yo - that would lay in wait to ambush unsuspecting Little Red Riding Hoods and Fred Flintstones who wandered too far outside the group. Like lions in wait for the young and infirm they would pounce, taking your candy and leaving you with a headful of shaving cream or at worst Nair. For a near miss you may get hit by an egg thrown at you so you'd arrive home looking like you were in some demented yellow & white paintball game. And if during the mad dash for safety one of your band fell behind or was caught? Hmph! You ran all the faster as their "sacrifice" meant you would arrive home with all your candy and your eyebrows intact.

Yeah, I guess even as a kid there were good sides and bad sides to things. As Butters observed when I related my memories, "Eh, it was just preparing you for life."

Truer words...

- Farmer Ted