Once Upon a Halloween In the 50's

The excitement mounted as we rummaged around in the attic looking through old steamer trunks for discarded clothes and props to make Halloween costumes. With an old suit and hat of Granddads, I became a hobo, and with an old dress, a pillow, and a big brimmed hat adorned with flowers, my brother became a bosomy old lady. After Mom helped us apply the final touches of rouge and mascara, we went downstairs to parade before the family who claimed not to know who we were reaffirming that we had succeeded in our attempts to create a masterpiece of illusion and disguise. With empty pillowcases slung over our backs, we began our long trek on the winding road down to the bay and into the chilling night of Halloween. With every step, the night grew darker as the full moon climbed high in the sky. Yellow eyes stared at us from the gnarled limbs of an old oak tree as the gathering wind lifted the fallen leaves in a whirling vortex that moved high above us and blew away. I grabbed my brother's hand as a horned owl hooted, taking flight on a whoosh of air that left me covered with goosebumps as he disappeared and reappeared as a black silhouette in front of the moon. We had gone only a few more yards when my brother whispered in a frightened voice, "Did you hear that Lainie?" "What?" I asked. "Shhhhhhh....listen", he said. Then I heard it too...something scratching and crawling behind us. I couldn't see anything, but I knew it was there. I felt it touch my ankle. Runnnnnnnnnn, I screamed. I never knew until that moment, we could fly, but fly we must have, for I don't recall my feet ever touching the ground before finding myself at the foot of the hill with my brother right beside me. With no sign of the monster in sight, we finally caught our breath and carried on. We had gone only a few more feet when we heard it again. This time it was in front of us. There it was...scratching and clawing its way across the road...and old, dried up, windblown oak leaf. We laughed until our sides ached. Gussy's place was on a path above the foot of the hill on the left side of the road. The path leading to Gussy's house lay in total darkness, but being the brave souls we were, we proceeded up that muddy path bearing the repeated slaps in the face by the tree branches flanking its banks. Finally, we saw a glimmer of light up ahead. There she stood on the veranda amid the eerie dancing shadows cast by a single burning gas lantern. She was dressed in a long black flowing robe. A black hat with a long pointed crown and a twisted brim sat on a mound of stringy grey hair that appeared as spider webbing in the eerie lighting. Her face was dripping with green slime upon which a long, twisted, wart-covered nose hung between to beady black eyes. "Come, dearies, " she cackled. "See what old Granny has for you. Lookie here...a nice, RED CANDY APPLE," she croaked while reaching into her bubbling cauldron, pulling out a SNAAAAAAAKE. I am sure our screams were heard all the way across the Bay. "It's only rubber," she croaked while laughing hysterically. Finally wiping the tears of laughter from her ugly face, she reached into a basket and presented us with the PRIZE we had waited for since last Halloween. I couldn't put it in the pillow sack because it would stick to everything, so I held it in my hand as I followed my brother back down the path, stumbling and sliding on my rump to the bottom. My candy apple was now covered in bits of gravel and grit...but I ate it anyway. The clanging sound of our footsteps echoed back at us as we crossed the metal bridge over the inlet. Somehow, that sound conjured up visions from an old fairy tale about an ogre who lived under a bridge. I felt the hairs bristle on the nape of my neck as I tried with all my might to push that terrifying image from my mind unsuccessfully. Finally, we were off the bridge...safe and sound...walking the upward incline of the hill that continued to meander for miles around the Bay. There must have been at least one hundred houses there. It wouldn't take long to fill our pillow sacks. Jack-o-lanterns glowed and flickered in the windows and on the walkways and verandas. All of them, gazing through their vacant insane eyes as they smiled gleefully through jagged teeth waiting to eat us. Ghosts and Goblins with bloody fangs, hobbled door to door, singing...TRICK OR TREAT. Houses where they weren't welcomed, bore their tricks of soaped windows and egg slimmed doors. By the time we reached the upper banks, our sacks were filled with an array of apples, peanuts, candy kisses, suckers, chocolates, Rice Crispy Squares, fudge, cookies, bubble gum and a large assortment of other candy. Realizing we had hit the MOTHER LOAD, we decided to call it a night and head home. Slurping on suckers...with our bounty bulging from our sacks...we laughed and giggled recalling the events of the night as we made our way back to the bridge. We hadn't gone but ten feet when I heard a growl rumbling up between the metal planks beneath our feet. "THE OGRE," I screamed. In a flash, we were gone like the wind...racing and screaming across the bridge...leaving a trail of candy and cookies bouncing behind us. I was in the lead until my brother's terrified face passed me in a blur. My lungs were on fire, but I managed to catch up and keep pace until we reached the other side, running until we finally dropped from exhaustion in a field off the side of the road. There we lay among the remaining smashed cookies and candies strewn around us, watching in disbelief as Old Man Humpy's dog, (Sparky), came out from under that bridge, running like a streak of greased lightning, chasing a screaming cat up the road. We laid there for what seemed like hours, covered in sweat, our hearts beating like drums, too tired to move, looking up at the big old moon. And I swear...to this day...that big old moon...grinned at me. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!