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| << October19, 2006 - Hearts and Humor - The Beginning of the End - The End |
October26, 2006 - Hearts and Humor - It's My Day >> |
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Hello, Gang. I received so many wonderful comments during the week I wrote about Georgia. Some of the comments were about the series and some were for other stories. It's been a long weekend for Ginny and I. I just barely got this story done. If it is OK with you, I will post a series of your wonderful comments tomorrow night. For those of you who acknowledge Halloween, here is one of my memories and what I learned. Thanks to all my new members. I pray I can write the words to keep you a member. Mike Keep on Waving I Stood In The Rain My hand slipped, giving the black cat a lumpy nose. Fur rose on it's back. It's fluffed tail stood straight in the air, as it hissed at a ghost rising from the ground. I grabbed an orange crayon and began to trace the outline of a Jack-O-Lantern, careful to stay inside the lines and not make the same mistake I did with the cat. I wanted my Jack-O-Lantern to be perfect. On my right, Rosemary was almost finished. She was fast and really good. She was the best colorer in our four-room school. My crayon twirled in small circles, carefully filling the pumpkin with orange. I reached the teeth - the hardest part. Everything was fine, until the last tooth. My crayon caught in a crease in the desk under the paper. The crayon followed it and caused me to go outside the lines. To correct my mistake, I made that tooth bigger than the rest, ruining my pumpkin's toothy grin. Then again, maybe it made it scarier. The bell rang. "Be careful tonight, children. Have fun trick- or-treating. I want you to write a story about your evening when you come to school tomorrow." I rushed home and burst through the door, "Mum? Mum, when can I go out?" "Michael, I've told you a hundred times this week, you can't go out until it's dark. Do your homework first. When you're done, you can have your supper and then get dressed." The smell of fried bologna and boiled potatoes drifted to my room. My stomach growled, as I completed my additions. "Michael, supper's ready." Mum called. I closed my scribbler and rushed to the table, ready to eat and get my costume on. My thoughts were on the night ahead, as I spread butter on the steaming potatoes and then smothered the bologna and potatoes with Ketchup©. Normally, this was a meal I savored, but it was Halloween. I woofed my dinner down. "Mum? Time to get ready?" I stared at her anxiously. The sun slipped behind the tress across the street. "Ok, I guess it's time." Mum helped me dress. Like most years, I was a hobo. We didn't have fancy "Star Wars'" or "Ninja Turtle" costumes back then. We had plastic masks of scary, old men handed down from my older brothers. I slipped on a black pair of pants several sizes too large for me, and threaded my arms through the sleeves of a plaid checkered shirt. Mum helped me feed a piece of rope through the belt holes and tied it tight around my waist. My winter boots completed the outfit. We adjusted the mask on my face - eyes aligned with the holes. "Be careful!" Mum called after me. I tilted my head, held the railing, and tried to see the steps through the holes in my mask. My pillow sack was slung over my shoulder. In a few hours it would hang like an anchor, slowing me down. I knocked on the door." Is Justin ready?" I asked. "He sure is!" his mom said. "He's been waiting for you." Justin Gilkie was my best friend back then. We planned to walk through the whole village of Sambro. He was dressed as a pirate and had a real sword from the nose of a swordfish. The scars on his mask, with red paint for blood, look real in the growing twilight. "How much do you think we'll get?" Justin asked. "If we walk all the way to 'The Basin,' We'll have more than we can carry." The Basin was on the other side of Sambro. "I hope we get lots of candy and chips. I hate it when we get too many apples." he said. "I heard Martha's mom is giving candy apples." I said. "OK! I like those, but regular apples seem cheap to me." We reached the end of the point, and began to walk from house-to-house. Friends joined us. Sweat beaded on our faces under the masks. Between stops, we'd lift the masks to cool off. In a few hours, we walked dirt roads, climbed steep hills, stumbled back down them, and knocked on doors until our knuckles were sore. I stood behind my friends, as Justin knocked on my door. My mum looked out and began handing out candy. "Michael! You can't fool me!" My face turned red under my mask. "Let's try my mom." Justin said. She caught on too. **************************** "I'm tired." I said. "Me too." Justin replied, his mask resting on the top on his head. The elastic band holding it, tangled in the hair at the back of his head. "I got enough! Most houses are out of stuff anyway. Let's go home. My legs hurt. Sweat rolled down my spine, and my feet ached from the heavy boots. I wanted to go home and see what I got. "OK! Let's go home. Tomorrow, let's get up early and look for firecrackers the big kids dropped. I wonder whose outhouse gets turned over?" In my bedroom, I spilled the contents of my pillow cloth onto my bed: chocolate, sweet candies, potato chips, and so many wonderful things. I stuffed it back in my bag and hid it from my brothers under my bed. ******************************** I stood by a light pole and watched little kids run from their parent's cars to the front door of our house. They knocked, gathered the candy my mum handed out, and rushed back to their parent's cars. Heavy rain beat down on me. I was thirteen - a year of change. I wanted to be little and gather candy. I wanted to be older and join the big kids in their mischief - lighting firecrackers, throwing rolls of toilet paper over tree limbs, or even rolling over an outhouse. The rain beat down. I walked home. "You miss going out, don't you?" Mum asked, as I walked in the door, dripping water on the floor. "No, I'm OK." She looked at me and handed me a bag. "I saved some for you." I went to bed, cherishing the bag Mum handed me. ************************************* It was the first big change of my life. I was too old to trick-or-treat. Toys were left in a box under my bed. Cars, dating, and freedom were in my future. I was at the in-between stage. Years later, I learned that night was the beginning of many changes. I'd grow comfortable, think everything was right in my life, and once again stand in the rain. I went to work and learned layoffs were coming. I wanted to stay where I was, comfortable in my surroundings. The future was unknown. I stood in the rain. A job offer came. It was in another province. I didn't want to move from what I knew. I stood in the rain. I met new people, experienced new things, settled down, and in a few years, another job came to an end. I stood in the rain. Dressing up and knocking on doors ended a long time ago. Today, I stand in the rain, knock on new doors, hold out my pillow cloth, and wait to see what treat life will fill it with. Michael T. Smith To read more of my stories, or to sign up to receive weekly stories, go to: http://subs.zinester.com/86758 http://archives.zinester.com/86758/110785.html http://subs.zinester.com/86758 http://archives.zinester.com/86758 |
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| << October19, 2006 - Hearts and Humor - The Beginning of the End - The End |
October26, 2006 - Hearts and Humor - It's My Day >> |
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