Photo A.M. Moscoso

What are you going to be for Halloween

my friends ask me every year.

And every year

I am mask- less, costume-less, I look the way I always do.

But they keep asking, in the hope that one day I will surprise them all and

wear a mask that shows the world who I really am on the inside.

” I’ll bet she dresses up like a witch, or maybe she’ll be a zombie or a vampire or a Pirate or a rabid dog or a murderous robot a bucket of toxic waste!” I think they’ve said to themselves or each other.

I turn up on Halloween looking the way I always do and I always disappoint but I am forgiven because I give out really tasty treats.

” One of these days you should wear a mask at least.” I’ve been advised.

I touch my finger to my face- the muscles that lay against the bones on my skull are doing their job- they smile on command, look concerned on command they wrinkle the my nose just right when I want to show I am really, really tickled by what I’m hearing.

To be honest, I like the mask I wear out to face the world each day.

It’s pleasant, it’s approachable, it makes me look dull and slow and ‘sweet’.

It’s the best mask EVER and I don’t want to take it off, not for one second because being that little puff of sweetness is, in it’s own way fun and it’s the best Halloween trick ever because it goes on all year long.

So what do you think? Should I take it off? Dare I take it off?

I know, if I show you where the string is- it’s just behind my ear- would you like to give it a little tug and see who I am under my mask

or to be more specific-

what I am.