Trick or Treat

Tomorrow, I'll get back to my series on the New Right. But tonight, I thought I'd just write you a few sentences about something else. -

Riley took the kids trick-or-treating. I stayed behind to hand out candy from a big metal bowl. I've never understood the people who don't adore Halloween. We are playing together as a community. Isn't that something? It's got to be something.

I love Halloween for personal reasons too. I spend most other days of the year with my hands full of the wrong stuff and my mouth full of the wrong words. But on Halloween, I know what to give and I know what to say.

I usually hide from knocking at the door. I am afraid of whoever is waiting for me to answer - a friendly neighbor, a persistent pest control salesman, missionaries. But on Halloween, I feel such joy every time there is a tap tap tap.

Knock and ye shall receive! Answer and ye shall receive!

"Oh! You are such a good princess! Your Highness, take as much candy as you like."

"You made your costume all by yourself?! You're amazing! Are you allergic to peanuts? No? Great! Extra Reeses for you."

"That's the best bunny costume I've seen all night. Excellence must be rewarded take some extra candy."

A teen girl walked up with three younger siblings. She asked me to guess each costume. Her siblings' costumes were easy - knight, Rosie the Riveter, and the Grim Reaper. I couldn't figure the teen's costume out. This made her very happy.

"I am dressed up as my Dungeons and Dragons character! And don't worry about the Grim Reaper, she won't come for you tonight. But she will within the next three years!" And she laughed and I laughed too. There's no one I understand better than the awkward oldest daughter. I am one myself.

Like, I almost responded,

A Grim Reaper costume on Halloween is actually quite apt! In Irish tradition, the death knock is a death omen. The story usually goes like this! There is a loud knock - usually at the front door, usually late at night. When the person runs to answer the door, no one is there. Sometimes this happens three nights in a row. Death knocks thrice, ha! Sometimes it happens just once. And then soon after the last knock, the person who answered the door learns a loved one has died.

Who was knocking? Some say it is the spirit of the dead person, some say it is Death. So, I guess really, if the Grim Reaper is knocking at my door - I am not going to die, but someone I love is going to die. And isn't that worse? It's also pretty dark when you think about all the doors this sweet Grim Reaper has knocked on tonight!

I wonder what happens when there is a knock at the door but the people inside don't even try to respond to it. Like, are the rules here? What if a mother is bathing a child and just can't go to see who is knocking and so never knows it was no one? Or what if she has on noise canceling headphones and the knock goes completely unheard? Can the death of the loved one be postponed?

Also, maybe we've got the whole deaath omen thing wrong! Maybe the knocking isn't a portent, maybe it's a possibility. Maybe we don't have to be afraid. What if you could see who or what was knocking? What then? What if you opened the door in time? You know?

Instead, I just said, "Extra candy for all of you!" Because I've learned to not say most of what I think.

I am sitting here, writing this to you, while I eat candy from the bowl. It's been an hour since the last knock on the door. And, I don't know..maybe it's the funny little exchange with the D+D girl or the nature of the night, but I think I'll go to sleep with my headphones on. Just in case.

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