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Authors, sign in!An old couple lives next door. Now just the woman. The man has passed on, leaving her alone. Few children come through our neighborhood on Halloween, so most people don't bother to stock much candy, but every year the woman sets aside a special bag of treats for my children on Halloween -- mints from restaurants, chocolates from hotels, waste not want not. The sort of thing, when you get older, starts to seem odd, like the people on the block who give out nickels or dental floss for Halloween. Apples. The air in the bag of candy, clearly a collection of sweets the woman accumulated over the course of the year, smells like her house, bit of cedar and a hint of Listerine...an antiseptic smell. One wonders if she accumulated the candy all year with the thought of handing it to my kids.
It's odd.
And it's sweet.
And on Halloween, it's my kids' first experiences with the kind differences of neighbors.
I love Halloween.
Published October 29, 2009 by Eric Justian |
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Comments (2)
Thanks, Eric. You took me back to my own childhood, to the old couple down the block who'd meet the kid-goblins at their door--she in her starched dress, he in his tie and Mr. Rogers sweater--and hand out smiles and apples and nickels, and thereby hand out a rich memory.
Posted by Richard Head
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October 29, 2009 4:17 PM
Posted on October 29, 2009 16:17
Yes, thank you. It's wonderful that you see the love and concern your neighbor has for you and your children even though her gift is small. She embodies that spirit we need so much more of in America now.
Posted by Pamela Jean
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October 29, 2009 4:34 PM
Posted on October 29, 2009 16:34