PEACE, JOY, & THE GREATEST GHOST STORIES EVER
Okay ...Okay..there’s no ghost stories here. Why did I write that? Well because when people see the word (people and google too) Halloween they expect to see something scary. You want scary watch CSPAN or network TV. I am, however, going to talk about Halloween, peace, and joy.
This morning the helium filled bat balloon started to sag just slightly, the remains of the “give-away” candy have dwindled, and the batteries have gone dead on the. “GOOLS JUST WANT TO. HAVE FUN” singing witch. In short another beggers’ night is in the books.
No how many rings my tree of life grows not a Halloween passes without me thinking. Back till I was 8 years old. There I was dressing in the classic clown costume for the fourth year running. Did I really like clowns as a kid? Not really and I don’t really like them now, but the costume wasn’t bad and I was a tiny kid so it still fit. It was. A pretty shade of blue (my favorite color) and white and it was warm enough that I didn’t have to wear a cot under it or over it which always ruins the whole vibe. How tiny was I? Well we had a classic 1956 Ford Crown Victoria powered by 312 cubic inches of giddy-up and more chrome than you can find on a whole car lot these days. If we had used it for a circus car and the clowns were my size, we could have fit 37-43 of us in that car.
Anyway back to the story...
I suited up for. The candy crusade and was pretty excited. I had a complete mental map of the neighborhood and had catalogued who was going to drop what in the pillowcase. I knew who piously dropped pencils or pennies in the bag and double checked my memory to. Make sure I had located the people who put those wax paper wrapped (orange and black) chunks of sticky concrete (better. Known as ) peanut butter. Taffy. Having all this in mind I grabbed the mask. OMG, OMG OmG that mask. It wasn’t so much plastic as chalky asbestos texture. It had somehow taken on the aroma of cedar and moth balls and when I pulled it on it scratched several parts of my face. There was a tiny slit for the mouth that allowed a tiny breath in and out and the eye holes were just big enough to catch my eyelashes and sometimes my eyebrows on Now I have vision problems enough already so these dots with a visual field of about 4 degrees weren’t ptimum and about the only light they really let in was the glaring light of headlights coming down the street. There were plenty of those because we were. Living on the first full street in town from the country.
I took in a couple full breaths and followed the neighbor kids out the door and the goody grab was on.
I was small but fast and it was easy to follow. The reverberating trick or treat chants up and down the streets. Oh and after about 4 blocks I flipped up the mask—who was I kidding everyone knew it was me because everybody knew. Everybody in a small town (and in a lot of big town neighborhoods too).
well having completed the circuit my brother and I returned home. We did the traditional dump and sort in preparation for the trading portion of the event. We say across from each other in the kitchen and prepared like owners on draft day or high rollers on the New York stock Exchange. My beast trading chips were. Mounds and Almond Joy. I don’t like the texture of coconut so I could go 3 for 1 if I could get a Tootsie roll or a Milky Way—even a “fun-size” one
Now there’s a marketing ploy...What’s so fun about a small piece of a regular sized item. But. No one blew the whistle on the candy companies and. Lo and behold these many years later we have a lot of employers who pay. Far too many workers with fun sized salaries and a number of our politicians have fun sized intellect it seems.
anyway I started with 53 pieces of candy and after trading I had 49 pieces of really good candy... set to last till candy cane and popcorn ball season.
My parents let us have a couple pieces before bed so counting the couple I’d already eaten I had about 43 left sitting on the table and strolled off down the hall. It had been a great night—well until then.
Somehow one of us three boys had left a matchbox car (with real working doors and hood) on the floor right. Outside our bedroom door very near the toy box but not quite in it. The door. Caught the toy and it got lodged against the frame so the door didn’t quite close all the way. There was a little sliver of light showing into our room which was no big deal,unfortunately, that wasn’t. The tragic part. Just before. I could reach dreams.and I heard the sound that was as loud as the first gun shot at Lexington Concord, or Bunker Hill. It was the sound of all the candy on the. Table being slid int the big. Red metal family bowl!! My candy! My candy had just become community property—oh the injustice of it all. I momentarily thought about running out to reverse this, but then once one foot. The floor I remembered being told a few days. Ago that Iwasn’tsupposed to get out of that room unless I or one of my brothers was “on fire.” So I climbed back into the bed and tried to drift off to sleep figuring I would. Watch a couple episodes of Perry Mason and make my argument for the candy in the morning. Then as if it couldn’t get worse....
My eyes were. Closed and I was breathing slow and smooth when I heard the scariewst sounds ever coming from. The living room....No it wasn’t my parents making out—it was that theme song and that voice talking about a sign post up ahead. You got it it was “the Twilight Zone.” that sealed the deal for me. I have never really liked. Halloween since that fateful. Night.
so what does any of this have to do with PEACE & JOY?
Let’s drift back to that mask. I think when you seek peace and. Joy it is sometimes necessary to try out some different roles and. From time to time you may look and feel like a clown when it’s all said and doneHowever, if you spend too much time wearing a mask to hide your true self either when you look in the mirror or when you are out in front of others, it will take its toll. The mask may look okay and match the suit on the outside, and yet on the inside there may be things that keep you from breathing and seeing the beauty in the world outside.
so to summarize..HAPPY HALLOWEEN—we’ve survived again. When seeking peace and joy find some comfortable costumes to wear from time to time but always stay aware of the masks that you wear and that others. May be wearing. Sometimes you are going to have to give yourself to the whole community, but. You will get some of them back just at the moment when you need a sweet reward. Yes, sometimes life will drop fun-sized trials and tribulations into your bag, however,that could help you be grateful for the strangers who lived in the third house on the right two blocks up who changed their gift every year but it was always a full sized name brand candy bar and if you were early enough you got to choose.
Well...I think I see a sign post up ahead so I’m going to finish for today... It’s time to move to another scary day....Black Friday
Peace
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