Pandemic Halloween

Pandemic Halloween 

We had 3 kids stop by our house for tricks or treats last year.  There was a pirate, a witch, and a little kid who didn’t know what she was dressed as.

The pirate kid was proud of his costume even though he didn’t have a hat or wig. He left them in the car his mom was using to drive him from one house to another. He said, “It’s just too hot for a wig. That’s why I’m not wearing one!” We gave him a mini package of Twix and a great big smile.

This pirate boy stopped by at about 7 pm. 

After that, it was quiet.

At about 730, I went outside and stood on the front porch for a while to see if there was anyone else coming. There was no moon yet, and all the houses on both sides of the street were lit up.  I think my neighbors, like us, were waiting for the trick or treaters. A car drove past going south toward the supermarket on Boonsboro Road. Other than that driver, I didn’t see anyone.

I looked across the street then at the house where 3 young girls live. It’s a big old house just like ours. Every year we’ve been in this town, the girls have made it over–even when the youngest was 1. She wore a pink and gold princess costume that year, and she had her big white cat with her. The cat didn’t wear a costume.

This year the three girls didn’t make it.

Their house had its lights on too.  I imagined that the 3 girls and their mom and dad were probably also in their home waiting and hoping just like us for kids to come to their door trick or treating.

It was the pandemic last year that kept the kids away.  Before COVID showed up, we’d have about 40-50 kids come by the house trick or treating.  They’d start coming around about 5 pm, just before we sat down to dinner, and the last kid would be ringing our doorbell around 9 pm, sometimes even later, just before we started getting ready for bed.  It wasn’t like that last year.  

I hope it will be different this year.  We all like Halloween, seeing the kids excited and rushing from house to house collecting candy.

People talk about how the pandemic is finally winding down, and that the numbers of vaccinated people are going up and the numbers of people sick from COVID are going down faster and faster.  I hope it’s true.  I’d like to see more kids come by this year for Halloween.

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My latest column for the Dziennik Zwiazkowy, thr oldest Polish newspaper in America! 

https://dziennikzwiazkowy.com/felietony2/halloween-w-pandemii-pandemic-halloween/

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