Sunset

I can remember sitting around the dinner table on Halloweens past, watching the sky grow orange, then dark. My mother would keep reminding us we weren't going to miss anything, that everyone was eating dinner at that time. And I can remember always being in a nervous panic about my costumes - I feel like I was caught off guard every single Halloween I trick-or-treated. Lord knows what I was thinking about during the weeks leading up to Halloween when all the other kids were planning and buying and making their costumes. My costumes were horrible. A scarecrow (my sister drew a stitch line down my face), a gangster (my father's old suit), a trash bag (a black trash bag stuffed with newspaper with holes for my face, arms, and legs), and a Mexican (a sombero and poncho and a John Waters' mustache).

After dinner we'd look out the window and see movement at the end of the block. We'd yell to our parents "There're kids out now!" Then we'd run around getting our costumes ready in a blur. Wish I could relive those moments each year when we first left the house and felt the cool evening air of the 31st. Old pillow cases strong and ready.

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