esrosedotblog

HALLOWEEN

Here is an opening line to make you close down and look for an excuse to be somewhere else: "When I was a kid................." But, in this case I think that it is a good thing.

When I was a kid, Halloween was as special a time as it is today. There are a lot of people making out that Halloween is bigger and better than it 'used to be'. But, that ain't so.

Everything that there was then, is with us now. Maybe not the Haunted Houses; the commercial kind. We had real ones! There were parades. There was candy. They had not invented razor blades in apples yet, but there were people you would not dare to visit; dark porches, outened lights. (Yes: 'outened'. I grew up in Eastern Pennsylvania; the Penn-Dutch influence in the lingo).

When I grew up and went off to college, Halloween became unimportant; of no significance; beneath the dignity of a young adult. But, when my own kids showed up, the holiday came alive again. I got to relive the fun of closed doors, the anonymity of the mask, the crunch of the leaf, the chill of the air. Yeah.

With all this prep, it wasn't too far a leap to get into Homo-Halloween when I came out of the closet. If you are queer, Halloween is the national holiday. The traditional tricks or treats are not necessarily at the same level, but they are there for the ambitious. There were parties everywhere. One would not lack for a social opportunity to dress up.

This still plays itself out in Palm Springs, though we do not engage with it. There is something about Halloween and palm trees that isn't quite right. There is a chill in the air; at least by our definition. There is a full moon tonight. There will be lottsa' people in costumes down on Arenas Way; the mini-gay bar/shop strip. But the smell of the leaf is not the same. There is no crunch. It is all costumes. True, there are the hot-boyz to look at. The well garbed gay shows a lot of skin on Halloween. But we can see the hunks any day. It is a winter resort, after all.

Now, we live in a neighborhood with few kids. There will be no trick or treaters. Down the hill, the teen age neighbor kids have decorated their house to a fare-the-well. I enjoy watching it develop. They do a great job.

So, I am thinking of taking Franklin out after supper. We would not ask him to wear a costume. After all, he is already 'dressed'. It will be dark because we change the clocks tonight. There is a black cat down the street that he loves to 'hunt' and sometimes encounters. That will provide a dollop of suspense. Maybe between the cat, the dog, and the two of us, we can scare up a little Halloween magic. I even know where there are some crunchy leaves; a rogue maple someone put in their yard. And the moon. We have most of the stuff to make it work! We might even knock on some doors. Trick or treat!