October 22
SHE: Next week is Halloween. HE: Dear Me, again?
October 23
HE: They will do the Nutcracker at the Fine Arts Pavillion. SHE: Dear Me, again?
October 25
SHE: We need to buy some candy, soon. HE: Yes, unfortunately. Might as well go today.
Same day, at the supermarket
HE: How many did we buy last year? SHE: Not enough. We had to give out quarters by eight thirty, remember? Here, grab a handful of Snackdoodles. And some Loonies. They are too sweet for me but kids like them.
HE: How many, you think, we need? SHE: At least a dozen of each kind I would say.
HE: Oh look, they have Gluecrafts, they are good. What are these? Hi-Kal “Glutenfree”? I never heard of them. SHE: That may be a good thing. You never know what they put in to make it healthy. Grab some, anyway.
HE: Do we want Shnools? I think they are chocolate with goo inside. SHE: Anything with chocolate cannot be all bad. Take some.
HE: That is quite a bag full already. I didn’t really count what I put in.
SHE: Oh, good I found these. They are “peacrackernutbars”. At least that is what I called them as a child. I loved them. They were the perennial favorites in our family.
October 26
SHE: Wow, that is a lot of stuff. I hope we did not buy too much. HE: Yep. I just weighed the bag. We have almost five pounds of candy here.
October 28
HE: It is terrible. Every time I walk by the bag I reach in and have a candy. Some are actually better than others. SHE (trying to speak with a sweet putty sticking to her teeth): I know. I have two favorites, the Loonies and the Peacrackernutbars. I set a few of them aside. Let’s give those away only if we run out of the others.
October 30
SHE: I really should not eat any more, I had so many yesterday. But candy, just because it is available, grows on you. Like a craving. HE: I agree. And yes, we ought to stop or there will be nothing left to distribute. As a matter of fact, we have barely two and a half pounds left. I can’t believe we ate this many.
October 31, Halloween, Afternoon around four o’clock
HE: I am worried now. Maybe we should put all those favorites back in the bag.
SHE: Isn’t going to happen.
HE: What do you mean?
SHE: Don’t look at me like that. You are not innocent, either. I ate them, of course.
Same evening, around eight
SHE: It is dark already, this time of the year. Funny that nobody has come yet. Go out and try the bell. Maybe it is not working? HE: They would have knocked, if I know children. But I will check. (Ding dong goes the bell). The bell works alright.
Same evening, nine o’clock
HE: This is weird. Is everybody out of town this year? Did all the neighborhood kids grow up and get married? I do not understand.
SHE: Now this is weird. Look out of the bathroom window. Do you hear the voices? There are hordes of children and grown ups, all practically running, toward the School it seems. I bet they have an organized affair this year because of all the vandalism in recenty years.
Same evening, ten thirty
SHE: Well, so much for Halloween, I guess. (Unwraps a Peacrackernutbar). We will have to eat lots of candy now. HE (Munching on a Snackdoodle): Yeah. It’s a shame. No cute kids this year. No Angels with wings, no Princesses. On the other hand, it was a peaceful evening. I guess we will have to give the whole bag to charity.
December 15
SHE: I just thought of it last night. We still have to get all that candy to the Fire Station or the Salvation Army.
HE: Are you kidding?
SHE: What do you mean?
HE: What candy?
(c)2016 by Herbert H Hoffman