Waiting Until Next Year

The Red Sox collapsed on the diamond. Wait until next year.

            The Patriots don’t look so hot. Wait until next year.

            I missed Halloween! How did I miss it. I guess I’ll have to wait until next year.

            How did I miss Halloween? It just came and went, disappeared like a ghost in the night. I guess I have been so engrossed in current events or wondering when we will change the clocks back (missed that too), or if I’ll get to see the Northern Lights someday (missed that too). I just completely forgot about the holiday. How is that even possible? Maybe it skipped my mind because it is not even an official holiday.

            Surely there were giant skeletons in people’s front lawns. I didn’t notice a single one. How could I have not noticed the jack-o-lanterns on neighbors’ front steps? I did!

            No kids came to the door to trick-or-treat, probably because we live on a dark, isolated street. They must all have been marching in the town’s annual Halloween parade. My dad used to bang the big base drum to lead the parade when I was a kid. How on Earth could I not remember Halloween was in October?

            The only time I recall wearing a costume was in 1957 during the town’s centennial parade. Dad and I dressed as hobo-clowns tossing lollypops to kids from the back of a Model T Ford truck. Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to wait until next year to don my ghost sheet with the holes poked in it for eyes, ask my bride to wear her witch hat, and play spooky music.

            Truth be told, I have never been a big fan of Halloween. When we moved into our first house, we bought a couple of small bags of candy expecting to get 15 or 20 kids. Boy were we surprised! We got over 300 little gremlins knocking at our door. Ghosts and goblins, monsters, superheroes, and high school kids with no costumes at all. Parents drove their kids into our neighborhood from other nearby towns. Of course, we ran out of candy. I think we gave out grapes or Ritz crackers or something. I forget.

            When our kids came along, we went all out. The missus made beautiful, elaborate costumes: Robin Hood, Snow White, a pirate, a princess. Once, our neighbor threw a costume party on Halloween. I went as Annette Funicello, the Mouseketeer. That was a scary sight!

            When I was a high school teacher, all the faculty including the administrators would dress up in costume. One year I was a demented doctor; electric wig, white coat, stethoscope and all, marching around the halls with our classroom skeleton shouting “make way, a former student passing through.” Another year, I was a British judge with a powdered wig and black robe. The principal thought I was a graduating student. (He was Kermit the Frog. Think about that for a minute). One colleague even came to school dressed as me. That was spooky!

            Just like the Red Sox and Patriots, I guess I’ll have to wait until next year.

            Hope I don’t miss Christmas.

            Mattapoisett resident Dick Morgado is an artist and happily retired writer. His newspaper columns appeared for many years in daily newspapers around Boston.

Thoughts on…

By Dick Morgado

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