Halloween

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Good morning bloggers,

Halloween arrives on Sunday and with good weather it promises to be busy day in the neighborhood with droves of little ones escorted by parents collecting every variety of sweet thing. Pictured are the three Lavin girls — Grace, Sarah, and Kate — posing in a rehearsal with their chosen outfits. During my childhood in Buffalo this holiday was hardly peaceful and was a time when the prankish boys would get back at people they considered crabs. I was part of a cohort of about twenty boys living in our inner-city enclave who crowded our street with noisy games from school end to well into the evening with a welcome break for dinner. Many of the residents would sit on their porches or stoops in the warm temperate days and be entertained by the street games of the seemingly inexhaustible youth. Others, like Mr. Hocklbourne or Mr. Gershon, were not tolerant at all and seemed to have the idea that they were entitled to some quiet at their home after a day of work. These crabs would yell and complain and would put in an occasional call to the police. A patrol car would appear and race down the street in an attempt to actually grab one of the culprit boys. The first time this happened we panicked and ran into the yards, over fences, leaving the street deserted. Later, with the challenging sauciness of youth, we lingered staring down the approaching patrol car but taking slow steps towards our exit path, and then, at the last moment, we rushed pellmell to escape any pursuit. Anyhow, Halloween provided the moment to make the crabs regret their past actions. Clay was inserted in doorbells to keep them ringing, eggs were smashed on any cars foolishly left in reach, hoots and unearthly screams were aimed at their houses. Looking back I can see that what we did seemed bad at the time but was mild compared to the real maliciousness featured in some neighborhoods.

On the home front we are prepared with little candies which we hand out from a big ceramic jack-o-lantern. Bernice has put on a cat-in-the-hat hat or a witch hat. We will see how it goes this year.

Bernice continues with her exercises but, unfortunately, there are ups and downs in her condition. Some blood tests on Monday are needed to check on some recent developments.

Enjoy the weekend,
Merwin