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Along Life’s Way
Trick or Treat?
By Lois E. Wilson
I’m sure you’ve noticed how much decorating and promoting for Halloween
has grown. Houses are adorned not only with pumpkins and cornstalks,
but with scarecrows, witches, ghosts, cobwebs, anything that fits the
theme. This is the story of the Beggars’ Night our family fought a
battle.
Over the years, we have lived in places where beggars that came to our
door numbered over a hundred and other places less than ten. At one
time, we resided in a home which was in a plat of about twenty houses.
It had no through streets, so it was perfect and safer for masked
children.
Our two sons went out begging and finished their plat round early. They
wanted to be home to hand out treats and to see the costumes of the
other beggars.
The doorbell rang; my son and I went to answer it. Two beggars with
painted faces, garbed in yellow rain slickers and hats, were on the
threshold. I recognized them as the brothers from two houses away. They
were younger than our boys and had been the source of several problems
in the neighborhood. They were known as being mischievous scamps.
Each boy was holding out a can container. As I reached to put a treat
into one of the cans, the boy opened it and a critter jumped out
landing inside our house. It quickly ran into the living room and
disappeared. My son yelled, “Mom, it’s a mouse!”
I asked the boy, “Did you do that on purpose?” They laughed and ran
down the driveway.
Thus began the “great mouse hunt.” We looked behind doors and
furniture, under couch cushions, everywhere, and found nothing. The
house being of open design meant all other rooms had to be searched
thoroughly too. We found no mouse. I pictured myself trying to sleep
that night with a mouse loose in the house. It was not a comforting
thought.
Exhausted, we all sat down to rest and watch the boys’ favorite TV
show. Midway through it, our oldest son excitedly observed, “Dad, the
drape just moved—up at the top, near the rod.” The drapes were lined,
and my husband discovered the mouse was caught between the lining and
drapery fabric. They gathered the drape’s hem trapping the mouse as
their Dad unhooked the drape. Then they took it out into the yard and
shook it until the mouse ran free. I said, “We won!”
I was wrong. We received a trick from the slicker brothers and a trick
from the mouse which left us a yellow spot on the drape. After
recalculating, we were forced to check that night’s conflict off as a
“loss.” After all, the mouse had completed a “Hail Mary” pass. You may
groan here.
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