On Halloween night Honeybuns and I dressed accordingly and spent the evening with the Dallas grands. We had NO trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood last year and were not about to make the mistake of eating ALL that left over candy alone AGAIN!
As Honeybuns, aka ROBIN, raced door to door on the candy run with BATMAN, aka Thompson, I set up my chair on Philip and Nancy's front porch. My job for the night was to greet and feed candy to the hundreds of kids that lined their street as the rest of the family wore themselves out canvasing the neighborhood for the best loot! A big party atmosphere filled the area, children squealed, parents made sure they said, "thank you" and I was enjoying all the delightful costumes parading by.
All was going swimmingly until late in the evening the kid traffic died down, the grand kids were home counting out their stash, ROBIN was tired and it was getting a little chilly. We decided to call it a night.
The conversation went like this.
ME: "Nancy, shall we just leave this bowl of candy here on the porch in case a few more kiddos drop by? They can help themselves to sweet treats."
NANCY: "No, the last time I did that someone STOLE my nice bowl, took the candy BOWL and ALL."
ME: "You're kidding! I'll just sit it down here by this plastic ghost and surely it'll be ok, the kids can help themselves."
We stepped through the front door into the living room.
30 SECONDS later, out of the corner of my right eye, I saw some movement on the porch and opened the door. THE BOWL AND IT'S CONTENTS WERE GONE! GONE!
I ran out the door and into the yard screaming at the top of my lungs...."HEY, HEY YOU...DON'T TAKE THAT BOWL, YOU CAN HAVE THE CANDY BUT DON'T STEAL THAT BOWL."
Nancy was right behind me yelling, "STOP! STOP! STOP TAKING MY BOWL."
About then a young woman, perhaps a mom out with her children, came around a corner and handed me the bowl before turning and running away. We both returned to the living room, STUNNED at what had just occurred. UNBELIEVABLE!!
We shared our story with ROBIN and JOHN WAYNE (Dennis and Philip) and decided that this was the best memory of the night. And that in years to come we will retell this tale repeatedly.
Each year the story will grow, if you know what I mean!
I've already got a new version for next year It goes like this.
"When we were aware of the dastardly deed, we ran after her and I (the grandma) tackled her to the ground. As she was flailing through the air the bowl flew out of her hands as Nancy caught it, candy and all. I sat on the crook until the police arrived. Upon their investigation 20 such bowls were found in her car parked at the end of the street. All the neighbors rejoiced at getting their property back and we became Halloween legends. The woman was a recent escapee from prison and she was returned to serve out 25 Halloween years."
Yep, it's not just the young whippersnappers that can PRETEND to be a superhero one night a year!
