Trick Or Treat!

When I was growing up, my brothers & I were never allowed to go trick or treating. We used to hand out the candies to everyone who came to the door. There was some fun in that, seeing everyone's costume, seeing how laden down all your friends were w/ bags full of candy......

I didn't really care about the dressing up part, it was all the candy that I was missing out on! My friends used to share some of their plunder w/ me, but of course they kept all the good stuff for themselves, not that I blame them for that.

I always figured that my parents didn't want us out wreaking havoc on the neighborhood & generally getting into mischief. And they always made it clear they didn't want us begging people for candy. So one year my parents were gone the day after Halloween. I was home alone to sit & ponder the unfairness of life & came up w/ a brilliant plan!

I don't know exactly how old I was, but I know I was at least in grade 6. I decided there were probably alot of older people in the neighborhood that had candy left over that they didn't want lying around the house tempting them. So I thought I'd help them out by offering to take it off their hands.

I grabbed a few grocery bags & started out on my mission of generosity. I went all around the neighbourhood knocking on doors, ringing bells, & I believe my pitch went something like this, "Halloween clean up crew! Have any extra candy you'd like to get off your hands?"

After I had finished the first street, my friend April had come home from school & I enlisted her help. By the time we had gotten around the whole neighborhood we had 3 bags FULL of candy! We found that most people had not yet moved their candy stashes from the front door of their homes & would dump the entirety in our outstreched arms.

I ended up keeping my loot bag at April's house b/c I figured my mom might get suspicious if I brought all that candy at home. That one day made up for all the years of having to stay at home!