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The past few years I haven’t been as enthusiastic about Halloween as I usual- ly am. I think I’ve figured out why. Last year, my wife Amy and I visited her parents the weekend before Hallow- een and joined them in their church’s “Trunk or Treat” event. Everyone parked their cars, pulled out lawn chairs and gave candy to a parade of 100 or more children. It was bright and sunny out, too hot by my standards. Most folks giving out candy had some sort of gimmick. The older couple next to us had a sort of bean bag toss; theoretically, kids who managed to lob a bean bag into a hole got more candy, but in practice everyone got the same amount. Halloween isn’t a competitive sport, after all. My wife’s father Bill, who is a da Vinci of mechanical engineering, created a device out of an old STOP sign and some metal to scare the children a little. In order to reach the candy, they had to step onto the STOP sign, which triggered some store-bought Halloween decora- tions, making them cackle and shudder. Toddlers seemed most afraid of it; other children were so enamored of the shaking that they forgot to get candy, and we’d have to stop them before they hurried away. That tiny, harmless scare made me realize why Halloween isn’t as good as it used to be. It has been defanged. It’s not frightening any- more. One of the great (by which I mean minor) disappointments of my life is that Halloween has changed in that one important way. Back in the 1970s, I was free to wander through my small town with a few other costumed friends, collecting candy from familiar people and strangers alike. Such freedom has vanished in these more dangerous days. I remember watching a cartoon version of “The Legend of Sleepy THIS HALLOWEEN, GO FOR A WALK WITH YOUR COSTUMED KIDS ... IN THE DARK. Ken Raymond kraymond@ oklahoman.com BOOK EDITOR Ala ommovirtem perevit. Ingulos forum Romantem nes ario vivividis Multidemque quodius tim acia videre, vehena, vis Cit, ut faciaet ingulab essilis, nosta, tarehem ressulia esti tum, quid consules cerbit. Bit vit im nequer prae me ete cam niu etius, et? Go intim et C. Serei invo, es? qua L. Us es bonirtis, nos se con te mor los mus, quid coente, urnum publintres inaressa rei consulocae cavendam con se vivitis senemque obunum ponsula ompes bonsum vervivitrem octus; nostrus num inihiliur urbem nonsimilici intiam imus senatius, senteror ideo in Etrum SEE FRIGHTS, PAGE XXX
