Suneson Scenes: A Dead Night of the Dead

Halloween. As I have documented hear in years past, a favorite of mine.

For 2014, Halloween, the Night of the Dead, All Hallows Eve. A night when the ancients believed that the world of the living drew so very close to the mystery that is the world of the dead. In fact, so close that it was possible that spirits from the "other world" could cross over into the world of the living. A night to seek shelter and to watch your soul.

I never know what to expect; but this year Halloween was on a Friday. Also the weather was clear and very pleasant. Should be a good turn out, right?

At my house, I put on a pretty good show. I make those trick-or-treaters earn their candy. I put up the usual large spider and web in front of the porch light.

My Halloween spider is ready to crawl down and
pounce on visitors who turn their back to
the danger on my porch.

I was late in getting the rest of the set ready, but I left work early in the afternoon to enclose the entry hall in white sheets hanging from rope lines. I set up a small table with a 5 burning candles on a silver candelabra, plus a grinning skull also lit with a candle in the cranium. I had an ax in a chopping block surrounded by bloody rags. The night before I had poured pink Jello into a brain mold and put the brain on a plate that covered the bowl of candy beneath it.

This year I donned a white gauzy skull mask and cloaked myself in a black robe and a black cape. My plan was to stick my skull masked head between the white sheets, almost unnoticeable in the back of the hall and hide my dark body behind the sheets. Once a victim wandered up to the porch and rang the bell, I would gargle gutterally and violently throw apart the sheets and appear before them to quiz them as to why they disturbed the dead.

I was just getting set up at 6:40 (still light outside) when the Mario Brothers came calling. Did not really have a chance to put on the full theatrical production. Then I waited and waited and waited. Finally Jayden, the neighbor kid behind us, came by with his whole family. He knew what to expect from previous years, so he was bit jaded. Grandma took a couple of photos on her iPhone before they moved on. Next was a couple of kids that paused in front of the house and stared in to the spooky candle-lit hall scene. They said, "Oh, this is the house!". Dad then said, "We're not going to stop and debate this time. OK, just keep going." Mom, suggested that maybe they should go up to see what happens. Instead (nobody listens to Mom), they quickly walked past. Mom shouted into the open door, "I love your house every year, but my kids are always chicken. Sorry."
After a long wait, the little girl from next door was carried by her father up the front walk. "See, it is only Mr. Mark, he won't scare you. Here we come Mr. Mark. Now, he won't scare you." Drat. That was it. I had 5 bags of good candy and only 4 customers. This Halloween Night is DEAD.

I had a good show ready. I was going to offer everyone "a piece of my mind" as I held out the Jello brain. After they turned me down, I would then offer then a nice "e-bowl-a [Ebola] candy". I even thought I might make the gold standard this year, a pants-wetting event.

Finally at 8:20, Sue, who placed the Papa Singh Take-n-Bake pizza in the oven. I disrobed down to basic dark sweats and a T-shirt, blew out the candles in the jack-o-lanterns and took down the sheets, extinguished the candelabra and turned off the porch light. Three bites into the pizza, the bell rings at 8:40. I get up from the well lit dinning room, flip on the porch light and hand out a piece of candy to a Raggedy Anne high school girl. I turn off the light and go back to dinner. One or two bites later, there is some Seuss character at my door. He gets a piece of candy. I douse the porch light again. Almost immediately, 9 Asian girls come to say "Happy Halloween". I scowl, then one of the more acculturated ones tries out, "Trick or Treat". That brings out the candy bowl and I ask them if they want to touch my e-bowl-a candy? One girl laughs at the pun, and I giver two packets of M&M's. But no one got to see the full scale production and no one wet their pants.

This Night of the Dead was really D-E-A-D.

I went pumpkin shopping at the last minute, the evening of October 30. But I found pumpkins for 99 cents each. I wanted to buy all they had at these prices. But I decided on just four. They were carved late in the afternoon of October 31.