Boo

When I was young, we lived in a big old house. Built in the late 1800s, it had history. There were rumors of the families that had lived there. Of tragedy and mystery. But we didn't know anything for sure and at that age, I didn't really think about those sorts of things.

My first floor bedroom was across from the door to the unfinished basement. More of a cellar, really, it had a dirt floor and crumbly brick walls. We almost never went down there. Only in tornadoes. And in Kansas, that was more often than I care to say. Even then, we were none too excited to open that door and descend those steps. None of us had ever had a bad experience down there, it was just a general unpleasant sense that everyone that went down there felt.

The first time something unusual happened to me, I was 8. I lay in my bed. The light in the bathroom across the hall was on and both my door and the bathroom door were open. I don't know what I was thinking, not sure how deep my thoughts were at that age, but I am certain that I was very awake. Quite suddenly, the blankets on my bed were roughly pulled off and under my bed. With the fearlessness of a child certain there are no monsters, I leaned over the edge. My head nearly touching the floor, I looked under my bed, fully expecting to see my sister playing a trick on me. But there was no one there.

After that, I would lay in bed at night staring at the partially cracked door to the basement. A door that wouldn't close all the way, no matter how hard you pushed on it. I stared and I waited. There were no repeats of the sheet snatching but few were the nights that didn't involve troubled dreams and I never truly felt comfortable in that house again. Mercifully, we moved a few years later.

Over the years, a number of other unexplained things have happened to and around me. Shifting shadows, noises, doors opening and closing, objects moving, voices. Some houses have a stronger presence than others. One apartment in a fairly new building I lived in when I first moved to Maryland was particularly active, while some older places have been entirely quiet.

The rational side of me says there are no ghosts, that bumps in the night are no more than settling or wind or little living creatures working their way through walls and floors or perhaps even an over active imagination. But the emotional side. The side that remembers my name clearly whispered into my ear when I sat alone on the sofa watching television. That side says there ARE things we can't explain. And that side will insist on a nightlight this all hallows eve.

As it does every night.

Happy Halloween!

The End Of An Affair

Dear Reese's Peanut Butter Cup,

We've had a good go of it. I think we both gave it our all. At first, it felt like there was so much of you. It felt like we would never come to the bottom of the bowl. I was certain that we shouldn't, but isn't forbidden fruit always the sweetest.

I cherished every moment we spent together. I savored every nibble. Your allure is easy to recognize. That enticing contrast of salt and sweet. How could I resist you?

But then things turned sour. First, it was a queasiness that just wouldn't go away. Then it was a giant pimple on the side of my nose. I don't even want to think about the havoc you have wreaked on my thighs. But it was when I saw my one year old daughter sucking on an empty wrapper that I realized it was time for this affair to end.

So, goodbye, sweet Peanut Butter Cup. I'll cherish these times we've spent together. I do hope that we can be friends, perhaps we can get together from time to time for a bite.

I'll always love you,

Cara

PS - We'll always have outer space.

Friday Top Ten II

There are a lot of things I love about Halloween, it just might be my favorite holiday. Some people say its a dumb holiday to call your favorite, to them I say show me another holiday where you don't have to worry about family gatherings, you get to eat like a model on furlough and you can dress in whatever you feel like, no matter how bizarre. However, there are some things that drive me crazy:

1. Teenagers who work the neighborhood with no costume and a pillowcase. You can't slam the door on them, that is unless you prefer your car gets shoe polished.

2. Gaining five pounds because you ate all of your kid's candy. I mean, you can't throw it out. That would be wasteful.

3. Spending $6 to get in and then $2 for each tiny pumpkin at a "pumpkin patch" that is just a field where they threw out a bunch of pumpkins.

4. Finding the jack-o-lantern that took you two hours to carve splattered all over the street by neighborhood punks. (Do I sound like a cranky old lady? Who says punks?)

5. Seeing one of the signs on your neighbor's door that sex offenders in Maryland (MY STATE!) have to post.

6. Stores already have Christmas stuff up. Can't we just enjoy each holiday as it comes?

7. Spending four weekends sewing a costume for your kid and then have them be embarrassed because they don't have the latest one from Toys R' Us.

8. Parents who take their less than one year old baby out trick or treating. Yeah, that's all about the kid.

9. Spending $30 on candy and then having no kids come because they're working the townhouse community down the road.

10. The giant pimple that turns up on your chin because you ate all of the leftover candy that didn't get handed out.

What's your least favorite thing about Halloween?