Tuesday, November 01, 2005

The good witch

Traditionally, G and I each carve a pumpkin for Halloween. This year, he lobbied hard to forgo the tradition since our schedule is extra full right now. But I lobbied right back, and we compromised on a single pumpkin. So last night I attempted a speed carving of the pumpkin. I did pretty well. I wish we had timed it, because from the time the knife hit the pumpkin to the time the candle was lit couldn't have been more than 15 minutes. That includes "gutting," designing, and cutting. I was impressed, and I think G and his parents were too (they were my audience). I wish I had a picture, but G took the camera with him today. I'll post it later.

So once the jack-o-lantern was lit, we expected the flood of costumed kids to appear. Alas, no flood. Only four children came trick-or-treating. The first trick-or-treaters came as a group of three, all about six years old. These were our first, so I inspected their costumes carefully, trying hard not to be a stupid adult (see yesterday's post).

"So you're a witch."
"A good witch."
"Oh, okay, a good witch."
"And you're a fairy."
head nod
"And what are you?" This was directed at the boy of the group, who was dressed in a black suit with a dragon printed on it and a black mask with kind of a neon green skeleton-y skull on it. I really had no idea.
"A dragon ninja."

Why didn't I get that one? So obvious.

Now keep in mind that these poor children had to dodge the construction debris that litters our front porch. We have a veritable lumber yard on our porch because we can't throw perfectly good wood away until we're sure we don't need it and because that's where it won't get wet.

So as the good witch was walking away from the door, past the pile of lumber with tetanus-laden nails sticking out, she said, "I think they might be doing a little work on the house."

Yep, just a little.

No comments: