Spooky

Attribution: Brookie

Years past, I couldn’t wait for Halloween. As soon as I’d flip my kitty calendar from September to October, it would be Decorating Time. October 1st, there I’d be, dragging that orange and black Rubbermaid storage container out from under the stairs; cajoling poor mr kk until he’d carry it up for me. Then I’d start decorating, inside and out. And I’d always carve at least three pumpkins–heck, until this year, we grew our own in the back yard. We had our own private pumpkin patch. Come October, mr kk and I would decorate then invite family, friends and neighbors over to pick their own. And every year, without fail, I’d dress up and scare the crap out of neighborhood kiddies of all ages. Kids remembered me, even years later.

But this year. . .

I wasn’t feeling it this year. I think it started when we tried to grow pumpkins and no plants came up. It just didn’t feel right. Then there were the windows. We were getting new windows put in October 5th, so I held off decorating and had to deal with the preparation and everything, then my mom got sick and I was at the hospital for a couple of days with her. . . then we had that East Coast trip, same week, gone for ten days then unpacking, and I got sick and then. . .

I wasn’t going to decorate, but I caved a week ago; put out a few things inside the house. Nothing outside, but mr kk did get his favorite little guy, which is right now sitting in its place of honor on the bathroom sink: a blue-faced, plastic vampire. Mr kk bought it years ago at a rummage sale for something like five cents, complete with gumballs, we think. Those same gumballs (or whatever they are) are still in there. One of these days I’ll take a picture. 🙂

That little vampire must have infused mr kk with the Halloween spirit. A week ago today, he came home lugging three pumpkins. I wasn’t going to carve them, but mr kk kept saying he knew I wouldn’t be able to resist and dammit, he was right. I reconsidered three days ago; spent the evening hacking away. I did take pix of those. The little one with sharp toothpick teeth is my favorite. I even roasted two cookie sheets worth of pumpkin seeds. Half are eaten already, the other half are calling my name, even as we speak.

I wasn’t going to watch any scary Halloween flix this year, just wasn’t feeling the love, but mr kk wouldn’t give up on me. We ended up watching three of my favorites: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charley Brown; Interview with the Vampire; and Rocky Horror. I forgot how fantastic Tim Curry was in that movie.

Because we’d just spent a decent amount of dough on those new windows and that trip, Mr kk was going to go light on the candy this year, ‘light’ meaning ‘less of,’ and ‘cheap,’ but he reconsidered on both counts and ended up splurging on three bags of Nestle’s mini candy bars.

But the forecast for Halloween yesterday in southeast Michigan was nothing short of scary: rain–maybe changing over to snow–and gale-force winds. I wasn’t going to dress up this year. What would be the use? I wouldn’t be sitting on the porch, no way was I freezing my butt off.

Three o’clock rolled around. Mr kk lit the candles in our three pumpkins and filled a bowl with candy bars. Three-thirty, he took off for Little Ceasar’s to pick up our Halloween pizza, which is tradition. Four o’clock, he turned on the porch light and for some reason, that action propelled me into action. Like a zombie, I staggered into our bedroom and pulled open the closet door. Next thing I know, I’m dragging out my two bags of Halloween makeup and accessories.

When that first skeleton-clad little boy tentatively knocked on our door and whisperedTrick or Treat, he took one look at me and almost fell off the porch. His mom and dad stood on the sidewalk, laughing in utter delight, urging him on. He manned up, and I wished him a Happy Halloween in the kindest, sweetest voice I could muster

You know something? I wouldn’t have missed that for the world.