Photographer Unknown
The saddest Halloween memory ever- this is a picture I took on Halloween in 2017 and on that day it was in the mid- 60’s.
Photo A.M. Moscoso Halloween 2017
The Sun had been shining all day long.
It was sad.
Very. Very. Very.
Sad.
Magician
Mikuláš Galanda
My Great Grandfather was a magician back in the days of Vaudeville, he was pretty good too. My Mom said he was very handsome and that he had dark eyes which me and my brother inherited from him-anyway that’s what my Great Grandmother said.
After hearing stories about my Great Grandfather’s Magic shows, I wanted to be a magician to in the worst way, but in the 1960’s little girls were encouraged to get married and to have babies and if your husband said it was ok, you could have a little part time job.
So to get around that reality, I said I wanted to be a magician for Halloween and when I got to the neighbors door I would perform my egg and cup trick.
One time one of our neighbors said to me that wouldn’t I rather be a Magician’s Assistant? That way I could wear a pretty dress.
I was about 6 at the time and told her- after I put my egg and cup prop away and made sure that the candy from her bowl was in my treat bag-
” Nope. ”
” Well, why not ” she asked me.
” Because. Assistants don’t get to saw people in half. ”
She looked down at me and hugged her bowl of candy to her chest. She looked down the walkway to my Dad and shook her head.
I thanked her for the candy and I bounced across the walkway to the next house to perform my magic trick.
” What did you say to her? ” my Dad asked. “Anita. What did you say to her? ”
My Dad didn’t really want an answer and I didn’t give him one.
First Published 2008
Republished For #100DAYSOF HALLOWEENHAPPY-#21
Photo A.M. Moscoso
” How did you get so good at carving pumpkins? ” Aubrey asked her Grandmother on that last autumn evening in their golden sweet smelling and warm kitchen.
” Practice.” Enid told her Granddaughter as she delicately put the tip of her butcher’s knife against the side pumpkin’s blank face. ” Lots and lots of practice.”
She pushed the knife into he pumpkin’s flesh and as she broke the skin she told Aubrey, ” I love that smell.”
” That pumpkin smell?” Aubrey wondered out loud.
Enid looked over the pumpkin and said, ” That what?”
” That pumpkin smell.”
Enid shrugged and then pulled the knife up and dropped it down into the pumpkin in one clean motion after another.
Instead of answering her Aubrey, Enid hummed.
When she was finished she put her knife down and wrapped her fingers around the pumpkins stem. She took a breath, closed her eyes and smiled as lifted and heard the pop and rip as the top of the pumpkin’s skull came away in her hand.
Enid opened her eyes and sighed and then she answered her Granddaughter. ” No. I don’t mean that smell. I mean that other smell.”
” I can’t smell anything except for Pumpkin.”
” Really?” Enid said, ” You can’t smell that?”
Enid set the top of the pumpkin’s head down and she reached for a large wooden spoon and plunged into the pumpkin and began to scrape it out.
” Go ahead. Take a sniff. You really can’t smell that?”
Aubrey leaned over the pumpkin and sniffed.
” What is it? What should I be able to smell?”
As Enid stood up she picked the knife up off the table and said to the back of her Granddaughter’s neck as her stealthy shadow crept across the table:
” Why. The Fear of course.”
#100 DaysofHalloweenhappy-Autumn Must Do
Artist Unknown
Last Autumn I made an effort, but I didn’t quite pull off jumping into the season with the enthusiasm it deserves.
This year I want to hit the ” Ber ” months head first- so where do I start?
Do I bake more? Decorate more? Craft more? Read more?
Do I visit graveyards and cemeteries and haunted houses?
There are only a few weeks left in August and I’m feeling the stress.
What do I do?
I’ve googled it, facbooked it, instagramed it and I’m not finding any ideas that scream
Halloween.
I think my Muse is holding out on me and I do believe the place to start is there. Well. Here goes nothing-
amm