All Treats: The Magic of Halloween

This evening, tonight, this very night, there were princesses on my porch. My porch at 406 West Water Street, Kerrville, Texas 78028. They were two and four and six and sixteen and plenty in between. There were dark Darth Vaders and Batmans and Poohs and one Snow White and, this year, a phenom, lots of PIRATES and GYPSIES. Love the pirates and gypsies. So much better than modern camo warriors and blood dribbling Hollywood goblins.

This year, rather late in the parade of made-up wonders, there was one cowboy with a six shooter, the first gun of the evening, and I told him so, even though he was three and not up to the anthropological significance of the observation. OK, some light sabers and a couple of bloody Ninja swords, but one gun, only ONE GUN all evening.

And you say "fine, of how many?" How about this: my count, accurately keep by an independent counter, was, on my porch, 364 people. One gun. And only one of those bloody masks that squirts blood when you squeeze a pump or push a button or whatever. That's a radical change from a just a few years ago when weapons and camouflage and those bloody masks ran rampant.

THIS, this was a peaceful Halloween, not wrought with much blood and gore, not a sinister serenade, but a night of more delicacy, of princesses and gypsies and delight.

364 people on my porch tonight. It was a hopeful and happy parade of people, and so this is a Halloween that gave me hope.