Show I 1 d ro r. r I It If Seems T To Me MeDy Dy Joseph B B. B Roberts Roberta tr vA 1 1 i 1 Halloween C COPYRIGHT 1976 Contemporary Fe Features turcs Syndicate Inc I suppose our memories of the good old days are exaggerated all out of proportion to what they really were Its It's a trick of the mind to salvage the good moments from the past and let the rest go I do believe belleve however that Halloween was a happier more exciting event in the small town where I spent my youth than it itis is most anywhere today For one thing the people in my town made much more of Halloween than people do today I guess because they didn't have masquerade balls or a Mardi Gras to go to Halloween was was was' the only time they had an excuse to dress up in funny costumes put on masks masks' and give their inhibitions a night off so they made the most of it Some had private parties or went to the dance at the Country Club but most of the people simply gathered on Main Street after sundown They stood around in g groups ou trying to recognize each other and whooping with laughter when they did Some Som who were proud of their costumes or just wanted to make sure they didn't miss any anything thing would parade up p and down the sidewalk first first on one side of the street and then the other The merchants merchants's kept their stores storeS open and and rd sold old all kinds of Halloween stuff sti f and good things to eat at and drink It was just like a big party to o which every everybody dy w was s My fondest memories of Halloween however however however- are are not of downtown but butout out in bur our r neighborhood neighborhood neigh neigh- where ys I ran around with and rid 1 I believed it was our our mission to fo pl play y the role of spooks and goblins goblins' and do what mischief we co could ld Our hero was the tn unknown unknown genius who one Hall Halloween had put the coach's Model T Ford on top of the press box in the football stadium nobody ha ever figured out how he did it it took and a a crane r r e to get it down i now jN W 10 J Jilt JJ in rr our dreams w we might have haves equalled that magnificent stunt but never did our pranks come close I 1 guess our greatest achievement during the years I l' played out on Halloween was taking an old mans man's outhouse from his backyard and leaving it on the front porch of a school principal we didn't like Mostly though we did dumb things like taking somebody's porch and hanging it on a nearby fence or telephone pole soaping windows and ringing door doorbells ells and running away before they could c uld be answered The height of excitement was when some irate citizen called the police and we had to spend an hour or or orso so in escape and evasion tactics Actually we didn't have to spend ten minute a avoiding voiding capture After endless ummer summer nights of playing Cops and Robbers w we knew every hiding place and escape route in the area and there wasn't one of us who couldn't outrun the fleetest cop copon copon copon on the force but being chased by the the cops ops was the absolute best of Halloween thrills I suspect too that the police enjoyed the game They used to dash around on the streets in their patrol cars flashing their spotlights on fleeing figures and giving a halfhearted chase on foot n now w and then As far as I know w they never caught one of ofus ofus ofus us or even ven wanted to We li lived Cd in a simple world of inno innocence ence back then The people in our town knew knew us us or our families They may not have loved us but for the most part th they y tolerated Us us After all it it w was was s as much a part of Halloween for us to play pranks as ash It was was for people to dress up and congregate on Main Street We never never knowingly did a mean mea meanor or harmful thing to anyone anyone and it w snot unusual to see us out the next day helping people retrieve their furniture and wash the soap from their windows v vI 1 I guess uess the custom of tri trick k or treat followed by children today is a calmer more sen sen- sensible sensible sensible sible way to celebrate Halloween Society is n no lor longer ger able to tolerate innocent pr pranks and the police dont don't ha have time to chase boys for fun Nobody even dresses up and goes goes downtown anymore Im I'm glad things were diff different when i c wul q Jill l I ul I ii l i Joseph B B Roberts Jr grew up in Yazoo City Mississippi |