I entered a costume contest that was held in my grade school when I was in first or second grade. I was The Devil. Not some cool homemade sewn costume like a lot of the kids were sporting, but rather a cheap store-bought variety: a plastic mask and a vinyl/flame retardant outfit - the "shirt" displaying an image of the Devil himself. That part of those costumes I never understood. Why not make the outfit simply be the body/costume of the Devil? Meanwhile it was more like Lucifer was wearing a t-shirt sporting an image of Lucifer. (Same goes for Batman costumes - it was never his chest plate/armor back then. It was always Batman wearing a costume with an image of Batman on it.) Dumb.
So there I was in a Halloween parade marching around the school yard wearing my Old Scratch costume carrying a cool plastic pointy trident. I KNEW I was going to win first place. I have no idea what made me so convinced I'd be winning the prize for best costume (probably the Devil). The teacher walked slowly by the rows of children studying the costumes, pretending to make it a hard decision. Then she approached me.
ME.
I remember being nervous and panicked at the prospect of winning. I was already planning my acceptance speech. Probably something fun and light, with a few jabs of the pitchfork in the air towards my cheering classmates, just to let them know I was cool, yet humble and grounded.
Then she reached out and touched the shoulder of the kid next to me - wearing a homemade hand-sewn dinosaur costume. You know the one - big long tail, spikes running down the back, a face hole where the pointed toothy mouth should be... his mother made it of course.
Somewhere in the crowd of noisy, screaming kids, I'm certain I heard The Devil laughing his horns off.
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