Trick or Treat Report 2008

We always enjoy the annual Trick or Treat night. This year, our city had proclaimed it to exist from 7:00 until 8:30 p.m., a ninety minute window of opportunity for kids to gather all the sugar-coated product they could rustle up from homes where the porch light shone.

I had predicted a bumper crop of kids. Easy enough to predict. In this economy, in this part of the world, what family would not jump at the chance to receive free entertainment and free candy for the kiddies? I also expected to see more homemade costumes than usual, and I think I was right on that count as well. Times are hard; eighty more jobs up the road in the next town were just today officially announced to be heading to Mexico by the end of '09. Makes me wonder if there were fewer households turning on their porch lights too.

We were out there on the porch swing, Linda (with a rabbit costume on, except for the ears), the dog (with rabbit ears on, although they kept falling off), me (with a Cat in the Hat hat on), and two bowls with various candy products. The final tally shows that just about 200 kids visited our porch within the 90 minutes, or a bit over two a minute. Of course, they come in big clumps separated by down time, but still, that may be a record number for us.

I try to take note of the most popular costumes. It is a pop culture survey of sorts for me, just to see what's cool with the kiddies. (It goes back to the year a friend and I made trick or treaters sit down in his parents' living room and fill out surveys about what they were supposed to be, favorite candies, etc. I am a closet sociologist or something). And this year it was definitely a mixed bag. I would guess the most popular, among the boys at least, was some sort of medieval knight type deal, and many of them were carrying makeshift swords or hatchets. Not sure what that was all about. Can someone help me out with that one?

There were a couple Batmen, perhaps reflecting the popularity of the movie this summer, and an assortment of dragons. Some local sports heroes (one Cleveland Brown, a couple Cleveland Indians). A few witches, a couple angels, a handful of hippies, one pirate, only two guys doing Munch's "The Scream" this year (it was a bigger item last year). One Ninja Turtle. Just one. Three or four guys done up in camo. I pretended I didn't see them.

My favorite group included one kid with a big inflatable body suit, looking to be 400 pounds, saying "personal trainer", and another kid dressed up convincingly like a mustard squeeze bottle. Originality points for that one.

So no real trends this year. Thankfully, no Sarah, Barak, John, or Joe gracing our porch steps, although considering how frequently they've all been stumping Ohio, it would not be surprising to see them working the trick or treat circuit.

Once again, I was impressed with the civility of the evening. I would say 90 percent of the kids said "thank you" or "happy Halloween" to us. Many of them were prodded to do so by watchful parents. It kind of restores your faith in America's future, clothed as they were.

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I need to sneak in a brief memorial to Tony Hillerman. He was a mystery writer who died over the weekend at age 83. His books were auto-buys for me, and I would read them rapidly (and I read very few books rapidly) and pass them on to my father. His books made the American Southwest very real to me - with stories set mainly in the deserts, mountains, and tribal lands of New Mexico. His story telling was nice and easy-going but it moved the plot right along, and he knew how to create sympathetic, human characters with real feelings and foibles. I will miss Lt. Joe Leaphorn (retired) of the tribal police, Detective Jim Chee, and the various supporting characters. I felt I knew them pretty well. And I admired the fascinating way in which Native American practices and lifestyles were woven into the storytelling. Thank you, Tony. Ahéhee'.

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