Yesterday evening, just before sunset, as the wind howled and the snow-and-hail mixture pattered against my windows, I gradually realized that the doorbell was not going to ring--- when suddenly it did. A kid in a vampire costume was standing at my doorstep with his father. The kid looked nearly frozen. I stared at them. The father nudged his son and hissed through his teeth, Say it. The kid barely managed to utter trick or treat through his violent shivering. I held out my bowl of candy. Wow, what a nice... costume... I said, astonished. Um... arent you cold? Dont you think you should get indoors? Take the candy, the father commanded his son. The kid selected a Snickers, but the father reached out, took a handful of candy and dumped it into the kids bag. Come on, he said, weve still got three more blocks to hit up. Dad. Im freezing, whispered the kid. THIS IS YOUR CHILDHOOD, shouted the father. I watched as they turned and walked down the sidewalk in miserable silence, through the hail and wind.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 00:23:30 +0000