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.
11 comments:
This is me every year with my haunt. I get about 5 kids every year. I'm all in this year. But no one comes. This might be my last full haunt. Ugh. I love this horrible hot furnace time of year because I take on a new project to help me cope with the heat and start watching tutorials on haunt tequniques. I'm like Chalrie Brown and Lucy with the football.
Don’t stop!
This is an awesome Halloween memory even if you didn't get first place. Something like this wouldn't have gone down very well in my grade school since my 3 sisters and I all went to a private Catholic school. I still love your photo by the way, it's very cool.
I was always jealous of those kids whose moms made their costumes. My mother had 6 kids - it was all she could do to get laundry done. Do you still have that old devil costume??
Thank you, sir!
I wish!!
Love the photo as well! It wasn't just the lame long-sleeve t-shirts of those costumes: the masks were awful! Could barely see through the eye holes or breathe very well, the rubber bands to hold them in place often snapped off on one (and only on one) side, and they got really hot! I remember one year wishing I had worn makeup instead. Of course, the following year, couldn't wait to see what new ones came out...
I misspoke about the costume 'shirts' (was thinking about the jammies). They were that slick, fire-retardant material that ripped easily. I think the picture on the front of the costume was dumb, too: as if the mask wasn't a dead giveaway lol
You deserve Honorary First Place just for this story!! It's wonderful. And actually, your mask was quite horrifying. Plus I like the swirling flames(?) on your shirt. Hail Satan! Ha (-;{
You are hilarious!! and thanks!
I too was the devil one year. I was very proud of the tail, so when someone took a photo, I would pull it around front so the cape didn't hide it. It looked less like a tail than a phallus and the photos look inappropriate to my adult eyes now. As a kid, the thought never entered my mind. The Devil must have made me do it. lol
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