Thursday, November 1, 2007

where has all the horror gone?

although i have been reading a lot of complaints recently about the invasion of licensed characters into the halloween gallery, i noticed a lot of homegrown costumes. not very many people bothered to scary-up their homes, though. they are pandering to the young innocents instead of the older thrillseekers. (one house had occupants handing out candy while watching a basketball game from a couch in their garage.)

pooka had a great time either way. bug not so much.

granny inadvertantly left the hat to bug's costume at school, so she substituted a reddish-orange knit hat that covered the kid's entire face and made her look like a rooster instead of a chick. oh, well, close enough.

bug did not want to go out (after school is her cranky time) but we strapped her into a stroller anyway. as long as we were moving she was tolerant. she eventually fell asleep.

pooka enjoyed herself very much, even though the costume was my least favorite licensed character. the weather was much more conducive to trick or treating this year, although it was a bit gusty.

one house in poppa's neighborhood really goes all out. they put up a ragged picket fence covered in graffiti; crypts and grave stones on the lawn; black lights and cobwebs in the garage. last year pooka refused to pass this house, insisting that we cross the street instead. this year she not only stayed on the same side of the street, she even approached the people in the garage (accompanied by me). it was all for naught, however, as they were just apologizing for being out of candy. they offered homemade cupcakes and rice krispie treats instead. i was kind of surprised that they even bothered. aren't those things all taboo in these litigious and perverse times? i was glad when pooka said she didn't want either of those, but i took a cupcake anyway. (i suffered no ill effects, so that's one less lawsuit our court system will see.)

sunday school had distributed unicef boxes for this night. pooka had no idea what that was about and wouldn't have carried it if i hadn't insisted. when i was younger, we had them every year, and people were ready with a bowlful of change next to their bowlful of cavities candy. i guess they don't do that anymore. i had given her some seed coins and encouraged her to jingle the box as she approached the houses to let people know without outright asking for money. only two other houses contributed to pooka's collection.

about halfway through our circuit, pooka started to wind down. i informed her that we had to walk all the way back anyway, so she might as well collect more candy. a few houses later, she insisted that she had to pee. i chose the closest house populated with the most kids and asked to use their facility. again, i was surprised. they asked no questions but let us in and even left us alone in their home.

after her break, pooka was prepared to t-n-t a lot longer. we finished our route and went back to poppa's to meet up with kisu, who had just arrived from work.

we handed out some more candy, and then got to the good part: sorting the stash. she got a disproportionate amount of m&m's and reese cups. she also got a lot of hard candy/lollipops but very few chocolate bars for me to steal. i thought i would be satisfied by rifling the goody bag bug received from school, but it contained (ack) baby food and biter biscuits. what the?? that's no fun!

i guess i'll have to go to the store and buy my own.