The Lark: Vol 3, Issue 11, October 2023

An oldie but a goodie!

Treats and Tricks of Autumn

by Lorraine Kaul

Autumn was my favorite time of the year when I was a child. I was especially in awe of the many colors that filled the air, like miniature fireworks lighting up an already sun-lit sky. In the Fall, the weather was usually just cool enough to play hopscotch, jump rope, four-square, and all my favorite summer games without sweat.

On my two-mile walks home from school, I had plenty of time to marvel, skip, and run as I zigzagged from one side of the road to another, chasing the wind-blown leaves, those twisting tricksters as they whooshed and whirled around me in a calm and chaotic array. They would sometimes taunt, tantalize and then glide away, just out of my reach. Their alluring performance made the long walk both fast and fun!

I loved stomping on the dried, crisp, and rustling leaves lying on the ground. They curled and snapped like fried pig skin chips, my favorite snack.

Consumed with crushing every dried and curled-up leaf in my view, I pulverized them into tiny dust crumbles! I liked the crunch they made while being transmuted by my fierce trampling feet! It was an appeasing feeling, possibly a stress relief, although I don’t recall feeling much stress then. I was more energized and invigorated. The world was mine and opened to all fun and adventure that my imagination could conjure!

Although I genuinely enjoyed the grandeur and brilliance of the falling leaves and the pacifying crunch of the dried ones either lying or frolicking on the ground, what I liked best about Fall was Halloween.

Halloween is a time of gimmicks and greed! I probably spent the month of October fantasizing about how much candy I would amass on Trick-or-Treat or Beggar’s Night. When that night came, I was ready! As with every Trick or Treat night, I went out “begging," as we called it, with a group of my friends and my mom. My mom chaperoned from a distance so I could have independent fun with my friends but still have an adult nearby.

We carried pillow sacks to hold our hoard. A paper bag wouldn't do. We started in our Hollow, a tiny community resting snuggly between two mountains in southern West Virginia. Homeowners would stand at the door and drop one piece of penny candy in each child's sack. It was a poor neighborhood, and families could not afford to buy much candy. Some made popcorn balls, and some gave apples from their tree. Most had their porch lit up, indicating they were participating in the giving.

Some kids did not do their “trick or treat begging” in our Hollow. They wanted to get out fast and into wealthier communities, where the treats were better. Many kids were chaperoned by adults and expected to visit all of the neighbor’s lit-up houses first. It was considered respect for those adults waiting to see the excited children in their various Halloween costumes. The artistry of carved pumpkins and the ingenuity of the carefully crafted scarecrows were on display, especially for us.

Once our group left the Hollow and crossed the tracks into the wealthier community, not only did people give more than one piece of candy, some gave the large five-cent candy bars! When you hit a house with giant candy bars, chips, homemade fudge, and sometimes a small toy, that was considered the jackpot! Everyone who hit it told the other trick-or-treaters to run to that house before their stash ran out. I cleverly prepared for jackpot houses.

My pillow sack not only collected my candy but also carried an extra full-size sheet with holes cut for eyes to convert into a ghost costume. It also had another sizeable full-bodied piece of black cloth with a hole cut out for the head, a half mask, and a Witch's hat. I could hit a jackpot house two additional times! How cool was that? I would go behind a car or the side of a home, and like magic, I'd put the sheet over my head, go back as a ghost, then beg at a couple more houses, and go back to the jackpot house again as a Witch.

I always knew that I would never fill my pillowcase with candy, but by using the additional space to hold my alternate costumes, I could get more of the best treats. I'm unsure if my mother knew of my extra costumes because she usually followed our group about a block away. If she did know, she did not let on. After all, I tricked for treats, and that's what the night is all about. Right?

A note of caution to modern-day trick-or-treaters; don’t try my method today. I guarantee you will be captured by someone’s camera, show-cased on their watch or cell phone, then sent directly to the web. Most importantly, you don't want to pee in their backyard, no matter how bad you need to go!