I live in an apartment complex at the edge of campus. The apartments are designated for graduate students and students with familes. Many residents are foreign students. So the resident life staff tries to make Halloween easy for those without much experience with American holiday customs.

Thus they had a Halloween party for the kiddies this afternoon, Friday October 29th. After the party was to be a group trick-or-treat, stopping at all the apartments that had volunteered to give out candy. Naturally, I'd signed up. I liked candy when I was a kid, and now that I'm an adult, this is a perfect excuse to eat the left-over stuff myself.

When I signed up, I was told that they were going to start trick-or-treating at about 6:30, when the party was over. Mindful of that schedule, I was in my room doing calisthenics this evening. I was figuring on finishing at about 5:20, getting a quick shower and changing into costume, and I'd be all set for the kids.

At 5:10, I'm nice and sweaty, doing leg-lifts, when the doorbell begins ringing insistently, the way kids do when they think pressing the button will make candy appear. Kind of like lab rats who have learned which button dispenses food. My roommate is in his room, and apparently notices none of these goings-on.

I jump up, yell "Coming!" (which does not stop the doorbell), rip open a bag of candy, run to the kitchen, dump the candy into a bowl (some falls on the floor- good thing I'm pet-less!) and then run with the candy bowl to the door.

Outside is a herd of perhaps twenty kids, with half that many doting parents. Almost all of the parents are using either video cameras or still cameras. As I begin doling out candy, I am painfully aware that I am:

• Unshaven (it's my day off!)
• Wearing a sweaty t-shirt and sweatpants
• Unshod

I hope the parents think I'm dressed up as Rocky or something.

The kids didn't care what I looked like, since I was doling out candy. I had Mini Reese's Cups, so I was giving two per child. One girl, perhaps five, politely said "I only need one," and handed her second piece back. Something ain't right with that child. Or, more likely, her parents spent a great deal of time impressing on her the rule that 'you take only a single piece of candy from the bowl,' and my actions were on obvious violation of that rule.

To conclude, it was fun seeing all the costumes, although being in a herd made it hard to distinguish who was what. But I was embarrassed about being unready for their arrival. I hate this feeling:

Posted by: Boviate at 04:57 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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