Tuesday - Happy Halloween
Oct. 31st, 2006 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermoreThere was no drive to work today. I'm well and fine, but I had too much vacation accrued and I needed to use some before the end of the month, so I decided to take the day off and carve pumpkins. No, you can't see them yet. I haven't started. I went into town to vote early and get that over with, and then I'm going to have some coffee in the coffee shop in town, just to relax and write (on paper, not here).
I'll tell you a Halloween story, though, just in case you are hankering for one.
Back when I worked for the Toll Road Authority, my friend Priss had a 12-year-old daughter. We were discussing what our plans were for Halloween that year, and she told us about the time she took her daughter to a church "Fall Festival" instead of Trick-Or-Treating one October 31st.
Priss saw the signs for this festival when she drove past this Baptist church close to where she lived. It said all were welcomed, and costumes were encouraged. She decided it would be fun to take her little girl. When they showed up on the church grounds, though, they immediately felt a little out of place. All of the other children were dressed as bible characters or angels. Priss's daughter had dressed as a wicked witch, with a green face and a tall black pointed hat.
"Did they let you stay?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah, they just looked at us funny. But they let her ride the rides and play the games. They didn't say anything to us."
Until it came to the cake walk, that is. If you've never been in a cake walk, it works like this: a ring of squares is painted on the ground,and each square has a number in it. The participants stand around the ring, and music plays while all of the participants walk around until it stops. Each walker then stops to stand on a number. Someone pulls a number from a hat, and whoever is standing on square with the corresponding number wins a cake.
The little witch got in the circle with all the little saints and angels, and the music began. When they stopped and drew the number, to the dismay of the Baptists, Priss's daughter won. The witch got the cake, and the little saints and angles went without.
Impressed by her luck, she decided to play again. Again, the little witch walked with all the little saints and angles around the ring until the music stopped and a number was called. Again, the witch won.
Thrilled, she decided to play yet again. After she won that time, too, the Baptists spoke up and declared that three was the maximum number of cakes that anyone was allowed, and the witch was therefore banned from the cake walk for the rest of the evening. The next cake given away would go to a saint or an angel, or else.
"We had all the cakes we could carry, anyway," Priss said, "We went home after that."
We like to think that good always triumphs over evil. But maybe good and evil have to be judged on more than how a person is dressed. I like to think that little saints and little angles and little witches and little vampires are all equally deserving in their own way. If the witch kept winning, maybe she'd just been a very good witch, and maybe the little angels were a tad more fallen than their wire halos would lead you to believe. Whatever the case, Priss reported that all of the cakes were excellent, and they enjoyed them very much.
Happy Halloween!
I'll tell you a Halloween story, though, just in case you are hankering for one.
Back when I worked for the Toll Road Authority, my friend Priss had a 12-year-old daughter. We were discussing what our plans were for Halloween that year, and she told us about the time she took her daughter to a church "Fall Festival" instead of Trick-Or-Treating one October 31st.
Priss saw the signs for this festival when she drove past this Baptist church close to where she lived. It said all were welcomed, and costumes were encouraged. She decided it would be fun to take her little girl. When they showed up on the church grounds, though, they immediately felt a little out of place. All of the other children were dressed as bible characters or angels. Priss's daughter had dressed as a wicked witch, with a green face and a tall black pointed hat.
"Did they let you stay?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah, they just looked at us funny. But they let her ride the rides and play the games. They didn't say anything to us."
Until it came to the cake walk, that is. If you've never been in a cake walk, it works like this: a ring of squares is painted on the ground,and each square has a number in it. The participants stand around the ring, and music plays while all of the participants walk around until it stops. Each walker then stops to stand on a number. Someone pulls a number from a hat, and whoever is standing on square with the corresponding number wins a cake.
The little witch got in the circle with all the little saints and angels, and the music began. When they stopped and drew the number, to the dismay of the Baptists, Priss's daughter won. The witch got the cake, and the little saints and angles went without.
Impressed by her luck, she decided to play again. Again, the little witch walked with all the little saints and angles around the ring until the music stopped and a number was called. Again, the witch won.
Thrilled, she decided to play yet again. After she won that time, too, the Baptists spoke up and declared that three was the maximum number of cakes that anyone was allowed, and the witch was therefore banned from the cake walk for the rest of the evening. The next cake given away would go to a saint or an angel, or else.
"We had all the cakes we could carry, anyway," Priss said, "We went home after that."
We like to think that good always triumphs over evil. But maybe good and evil have to be judged on more than how a person is dressed. I like to think that little saints and little angles and little witches and little vampires are all equally deserving in their own way. If the witch kept winning, maybe she'd just been a very good witch, and maybe the little angels were a tad more fallen than their wire halos would lead you to believe. Whatever the case, Priss reported that all of the cakes were excellent, and they enjoyed them very much.
Happy Halloween!
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 05:50 pm (UTC)Actually, I have a truckload of Baptist kinfolk, and I have some affection for them in general. They are fun to tease, though. I just can't help myself.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 08:16 pm (UTC)