Crow’s Feet Prompt #69 — Halloween
Trick-or-Treating Then and Now
A look back on how a tradition was gutted
On my drive home the other day, I saw the unmistakable signs that another Halloween is upon us. I saw houses decorated with fake gravestones in the front yard, spooky cobwebs adorning the windows, and jack-o-lanterns everywhere. Some have gone so far as to buy overpriced, huge statues of monsters from their local home improvement store. Some of these statues even “talk.” Others have strung orange lights on their homes, similar to the kind of lights people use for Christmas.
The scariest jack-o-lantern I’ve seen had a “check engine light” symbol carved into it. It doesn’t get any scarier than that.
As a kid, Halloween was right up there with Christmas and Easter as far as my favorite holidays went. What was there not to like? We got to dress up in funny costumes, walk around the town after dark, and go to as many houses as possible where we received free candy. It was a kid’s dream come true.
As we got a little older, we became more sophisticated in our approach to trick-or-treating. Once we made our rounds, we would change costumes and make a second round, thus doubling our “take.” We also made a mental note of which houses gave the best or the most candy. We made…
