Halloween was the best holiday ever when I was little. Next to Christmas, that is! I remember when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old and when my Mom and I got home from trick or treating there was a special bag of candy and a plastic skull on a black stick that rattled when you shook it. It had been left for me by a family friend while we were out. I had that thing for many years and it always fascinated me. That was probably what started my fascination with horror movies and Stephen King books.
I remember a couple of costumes in particular. One was a brides outfit. It was beautiful (I thought), long and white with a filmy veil and white "silk" gloves. The next outfit I particularly remember was a brown bear. We had found a bear mask somewhere and Mom made me an outfit out of an old fur coat. She'd even cut back the sleeves and used one to make me a fur cap to cover my head.
And, of course, there was the candy! When I got old enough to go out with friends and without my Mom, we would walk from one end of town to another until our bags of candy were so full we could scarcely lift them. In fact, one year, my brother Kevin's bag of candy was so full that he ended up dragging it. When he got home there was a hole in the bottom of the bag and he had lost a good deal of his stash. The rest of us had to share ours with him. That was ok, though. We had plenty left over!
