Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet

No, not an actual adult from Floral Park - but thanks to an old high school buddy who let me use her Halloween picture for this post. It does fit the topic nicely.

Except this time the trick was on the kids.

Last night was a shocker - I estimate that less than 100 kids came trick-or-treating. At least on my street.

And why should they? A view down Riverisde Drive showed a long line of dark, dark houses - no porch lights on, no beacon for a child to know that a lollipop or a Snickers bar was in the offering. Which, on Halloween night, is basically tantamount to saying, fuck off, you little bastards.

I looked at one house that was dark, where the family raised six kids - what, when they were young, they came trooping by for their treats (I know - every Halloween since I moved here in 1995 I have handed out candy) but now that they're older and grown, the parents cannot do the same for the other children of the neighborhood? Or is it a way of blowing off the other children of the other neighborhoods of Santa Ana. You know, the little brown ones living in apartments along Bristol?

I heard of a good trick this morning - require both parents to escort their young'uns through the street so no one is left at home to hand out candy. I did not realize my neighborhood was that dangerous to warrant such protection. Oh wait, it's not - hence why my daughter and her friend went off by themselves and arrived home safely 'round nine o'clock. I guess other girls are just not that trustworthy, and lack the common sense to avoid whatever trouble may occur.

The crazy liberal lady down the block had her usual "Halloween haunt" in her front yard, with digs at Conservatives and Republicans . . . but at least she had it and was welcoming trick-or-treates. Mind you, despite what people may think about Orange County, my neighborhood is chock full o'liberals. And here I thought they believe in hand outs!

My neighbors across the street were dark, for a reason - their teen daughter was diagnosed yesterday with H1N1 flu . . . so the husband brought the candy they were going to give out to me, so I could distribute it and the kids would not be cheated. Please keep Evania B. and her family in your prayers - today is her sweet sixteen and what a miserable way to spend it, in bed and sick.

My daughter reports that other streets had a few more homes with the porch light on, handing out treats. Good - I hope that was the case throughout Floral Park. But it still seems to me that whereas once kids from around Santa Ana descended on my neighborhood to revel in Halloween, they no longer because too many adults have adopted an apathy toward keeping a tradition alive.

Oh, not that trick-or-treating is dead in Floral Park! The local mother's group hosts a Halloween party for the kids, complete with trick-or-treating . . . a week before Halloween.

So why bother with October 31st?

You know what's needed? A good, old-fashioned "egging and shaving cream" attack . . . let's revive THAT custom for these people!