There were just too many of them

...and there was only one of me. I actually ran out of candy.

I got to the house just after 6:00 (electric candles flickering eerily in every window) and the Trick-Or-Treaters were out in force. I dragged out my orange and black storage box (served as a table and as a reserve candy stash), my big salad bowl full of candy, my bag of Hot Wheels cars, Elmo superballs, and Hello Kitty bubble wand necklaces, and my white rocking chair with a raven wired to the headrest. I turned on the porch light to announce that I was open for business, and immediately started passing out candy.

The night was beautiful, actually a little warm, not the bone-chilling cold I expected from this past weekend's weather. Kids came in groups of two or three, or singly, or as groups of a dozen or more. The groups of a dozen or more I was actually most comfortable with - these usually had two or three adults marshalling them and were fairly well-behaved. Parents collecting candy for infants kinda freaked me out - ma'am, I know you're not going to give that little baby a Starburst or a Mr. Goodbar! (At least I hope you won't.) Worse were the 18-and-up boys...what the hell were they doing out? Probably just prowling for pumpkins to smash - I saw quite a few of those on the ride home - and collecting some candy as a side bonus. As for the 18-and-up fine young ladies...there were tragically few. And don't get me started on the 50-something woman dressed as a hooker who was accompanying two little kids. I mean, come on, lady, put some effort into it, don't just wear your work clothes!

By 8:00 I was down to a handful of candies, a few Hot Wheels cars, and two Hello Kitty bubble wand necklaces. I had tapped my reserves and called for my cousin to bring me some emergency candy from across town. But it was too late. Besides, the Trick-Or-Treaters had dwindled to nothing, at least for the moment. I killed the lights and trundled my stuff back into the house.

(In the original version of this post I forgot to mention my favorite costume of the night: it was a little blonde-haired boy, maybe five years old, dressed in a black Batman costume. With all the padded muscles it looked more like the Michael Keaton version than the Christian Bale version. But, and this is the important part, no mask. Instead he was carrying a bucket shaped like Batman's head, in the same color scheme as the costume and roughly the same size as the little boy's own head. "You look like the Headless Batman!" I told him.)

As Lisa pointed out, this is the first day of Hallowhog, the season of holidays that stretches from October 31st (Halloween) through February 2nd (Groundhog Day.) Get your Hallowhog cards ready! Remember, you've only got 25% of the year to get them out - so if you're late for this Hallowhog, you're actually early for next Hallowhog!