Early Halloween celebrated

It was a dark and not stormy night. No thunder rolled across the sky. No lightning flashed. A dog barked in the distance, then another and another. A rooster crowed. It couldn’t tell time. Something was scratching at the door. There was a heavy thump and an audible sigh as whatever it was gave up and flung itself against the door to await the occupants exit. They had to leave sometime.
It was the time of year when the air was full of the smell of death and decay. The nights were as chilly as a graveyard at midnight. All over the countryside shiny knives were plunged deep into unoffending pumpkins in a bizarre ritual practiced by believers and unbelievers alike. Prepackaged candy was amassed to ward off any impending mischief by unknown imps and other creatures of the night.
There was a short parade. First came a tiny Spiderman wearing sparkly pink shoes several sizes bigger than his feet. Then came a princess with an excess of energy. They were followed by a purple dragon wearing the princess’ crown! The dragon looked as if it had just finished a satisfying meal. I was afraid to see what might appear next.
Then I heard a growl. The sound was close at hand. I heard another growl followed by laughter. All of a sudden I was covered in slime. The object growling at me was drooling on me. Then it tried to bite my fingers off. Luckily it didn’t have any teeth.
The next evening small pumpkins were painted. One was painted black. It preferred its natural orange color and flung flakes of black tempura paint off its skin onto anyone who dared touch it. It succeeded in becoming mottled rather than solid black by the end of the evening. Another was painted blue with a pink mermaid and a yellow sun. Yet a third was slathered in green and represented a dragon shark, or was it a shark dragon?
After the pumpkins were left to dry two lovely maidens performed many creative dances. A young prince occasionally joined in the ritual celebration. The youngest innocent snoozed while the older celebrants talked amongst themselves.
Giant orange pumpkins were stabbed repeatedly by the matriarch and their insides saved to create more sacrificial fruits for the following year. Soon a grinning cat and a spooky bat appeared where there once had been solid flesh. A candle was placed inside to illuminate the darkness.
The evening was over too soon. The maidens shed many salty tears as they bid goodbye to their hosts. The earth sucked up the long awaited rain. Mud grabbed at the shoes of the adults. The young prince and the maidens were exhausted and were soon tucked into their beds. One maiden requested a story about a spider. She looked forward to her field trip on the morrow. The young prince went to bed willingly. The innocent was fed a bottle and only hurled once before slipping off to sleep.
All in all it was going to be the best Halloween I had experienced in many a year. We were in Texas the week before Halloween. Our grandchildren entertained us with multiple costume changes and threatened us with rubber lizards. The baby made sure all our clothes smelled like spit up and was constantly wet with drool.
We reviewed sight words on flash cards and were amazed that someone who was in kindergarten was learning stuff that we learned in first grade so many years ago. We sat outside in our bare feet and watched children swing and slide and play in the sand. We watched the baby try to pull the lips off the dog. The dog just stood there, happy for the attention.
We will be home by the time you read this and all we will be left with are memories of pumpkins and princesses; nasty diapers, bottles, babies who growl and children who give hugs as freely as politicians give promises. I won’t miss the feel of drool on my face but every time I see a pumpkin I will remember that somewhere in Texas are pumpkins decorated with black paint, mermaids, and shark dragons or was it dragon sharks? It was a wonderful Halloween.[[In-content Ad]]