Halloween in the South End was always fun. We didn't have much money for costumes in those days, so I always wore the same thing. I found the oldest clothes I had at the time. The more rips and tears the better. I put on old shoes and maybe a pair of my Dad's mismatched socks. I tied a piece of rope around my waist for a belt and carried a bandana stuffed with paper and wound around a stick which I carried over my shoulder. I was a hobo. The only piece of costume I ever bought was a mask; usually just a simple black mask like the Lone Ranger wore. It probably cost all of 25 cents if that much.
Some of us who were in Madelyn Drinkwater's dance classes always had plenty of old costumes around we could wear for Halloween. The problem was they were usually of the skimpy variety and were not warm enough to wear in October in New England. By the time Halloween came around, we had usually outgrown them anyway. I think my sister wore a couple of hers, but I never did.
The treats we got when we went trick or treating in the old neighborhood varied from plain apples, to candy apples, to popcorn balls, to candy bars and candy corn. It was not necessary to Xray the heck out of everyone's haul so you could eat them as you went along if you wanted to. Sometimes we just got a handful of loose candy. I loved the candy corn and still do. It's my favorite Halloween candy.
My Great Aunt May made the best treats on Halloween. She was a great cook and a very creative person. One year she actually took oranges; cut faces in them; then took the orange meat out and refilled the cavity with ice cream. How she did it I'll never know, but we kids were delighted with them.
In those days, the emphasis was mostly on the treating and not the tricking. We were respectful of others property then. The worst thing that happened was that some grouch in the neighborhood got his car windows soaped up. There may have been some toilet paper strewn around too, but that was the extent of the tricking part of Halloween.
We always had some place to go to for a Halloween party. I think the Community Building sponsored Halloween parties for all the kids for a few years. I think they had a costume contest too. However, on the actual night of Halloween, if it was a choice between a party somewhere where we might get a small amount of candy, or actually going out and trick or treating, guess what we chose to do. We always did have a party at Girl Scouts though where we inevitably ended up bobbing apples. It was all great fun. The candy was even sweeter to me because my mother didn't let us have much in the house. She made baked goods instead and we always had apples around to munch on.
If I get a chance to dress up these days for Halloween, I do. I also like to wear a scary mask when I great the trick or treaters at the door. For a few years, I had a black cat I'd sit up in the door window while the kids were around.
Here in Georgia, it's the practice of some store clerks, especially in food stores, to dress up for the customers on Halloween. Some businesses also allow their employees to dress up on that day and some even have "best costume" prizes. I dressed up in the last job I had. One year I was Ozzie Ozbourne; once a Red Sox fan. Once years ago at another job, I dressed up as a mad bomber. I painted some round dowels red, put string in the ends of them; and taped them around my middle with duct tape. It's a good thing a cop didn't stop me on the highway on the way to work. It wasn't long after the bombing at Olympic Park that year here in Atlanta.
So those are my Halloween memories. I never pass up a chance to live it up a little on Halloween if the opportunity arises. The next time I go trick or trerating though, I think I'll knock on your door with a cocktail glass in my hand like an old teaching friend of mine used to do. Happy Halloween everyone.
Thanks for listening.
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