...And Halloween Tricked

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​...AND HALLOWEEN TRICKED

...Continued from yesterday:
         As it turned out, our granddaughters and their parents had plans for Halloween night. They generally spend Halloween at the house of some friends  who throw a little costume party followed by some trick-or-treating around the friends' neighborhood. But no problem. Tom and I would see our grandchildren off dressed in their costumes then they could go to their party while Tom and I would stay behind to enjoy handing out the candy to the neighborhood witches, ghosts, princesses and superheroes .
         "I really don't know how popping our street will be," my daughter said. She didn't know because they didn't go trick-or-treating in their own neighborhood.
         "No matter," said I. "I know there are at least a few kids around here."
​         As party time approached the girls got into their costumes with a friend who came over to get ready for the party with them.     

    Hamming it up,

....and getting into character.

      Soon after they left Tom and I set up our trick-or-treaters' station. 

    Perhaps we were jumping the gun just a hair; the sun hadn't yet set, but we did want to be ready for the first little beggars.
       And so we waited,

...and waited.

...and waited.

     Finally two little goblins came hurrying by with a lady who appeared to be their mom. They did stop just long enough to open their bags to receive the handfuls of candy I offered them, but in truth they didn't appear to be actively trick-or-treating at that moment; they looked to be on their way to somewhere else.

     That's when it occurred to me: Not only was there a dearth of trick-or-treaters on this street; none of the residences - other than ours - looked to be opened for trick-or-treating business.
​       How, I wondered, on a street that puts on the Halloween dog like this one does, 

...could trick-or-treaters not be welcome?
      The sun went down, the moon came up, and still no action,

...except for one time when we heard some footsteps coming down the street,

...but it turned out to be a couple walking a dog. I sort of offered them some candy. They sort of just kept walking.

       Later that evening when the family arrived home from their wonderful night of Halloween fun, 

...we told them about how we'd just been through Night of the Living Dead without the zombies.
    "Oh yeah, that" said our son-in-law. He told us that he learned that night from some other parents that in their community certain streets are deemed Trick-or-Treat streets, and these streets are closed off to traffic so that children can trick-or-treat safely. 
       I agreed that was great for the kids.
       Bummer for me.