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ALL HALLOWS EVE

"On Hallowe’en, the thing t’do is pretend that nuthin’ can frighten you ‘n if sumthin’ scares you ‘n you want to run, just let on like it’s Hallowe’en fun.”

Happy Hallow’een to all the ghosts, goblins‘n ghoulies where’er they may be...

I’ve been channel-surfing ‘n the telly is loaded with more ‘horror’ movies than I’ve ever seen but so far I haven’t found the one I’ve been looking for...that’d be Walt Disney’s ‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ with der Bingle as narrator...Washington Irvings short tale of Ichabod Crane ‘n the Headless Horseman...Disney coupled it with the adventures of Mr. Toad, an excerpt from The Wind in the Willows...

Of course, there’s no blood ‘n gore which makes it all the more suitable for children ‘n doddering old folk, both of whom are subject to strange ‘n fanciful dreams...’specially if you lace their evening milk with vicodin...

One ‘a these daze, I’m gonna have to watch the Tim Burton version...but without the vicodin...

Back in the Beattyville daze of my youth, there wuz a war goin’ on ‘n only little kidz got t’go trick or treatin’...’n we only went to a few homes where we got home made cookies or maybe fudge...lotza time just an apple but I recall it as fun..the bigger kidz didn’t do trick or treating...mainly they just did tricks...

generally nuthin’ too mean-spirited tho’ I seem to remember hearing about an overturned outhouse that co-incidentally had someone inside when it went over but that wudn’t in Beattyville...mostly, they soaped windows, threw shelled corn at homes ‘n cars (not a lot of cars on the road during WWII)...basically just a chance for teens to ‘hang in the darkened streets ‘n act up...that’s what they use’ta call it, y’know...acting up!

Things all changed in the ‘60’s...we got the kidz dressed in costume ‘n took ‘em ‘round the neighborhood collecting candy...as the years went on, people began driving their children from one neighborhood to another collecting pillowcase loads of candy...teens with cigarettes dangling wud show up at your door with their sacks held open...often they wudn’t say a word, not even ‘Stand ‘n deliver’...lot of bounty paid out over the years...

Not so much t’day...scary times, I guess...more organized events t’day ‘n earlier...more kid-oriented ‘n that’s okay by me...I’m getting too old for the sugar-high anyway...

“When black cats prowl ‘n pumpkins gleam, may luck be with you on Hallowe’en...”