Saturday's Portfolio column about trick-or-treaters in Iowa brought back childhood memories ("No Joke: Trick-or-Treaters Must Perform," Oct. 31). My father, who grew up in Nebraska, insisted that my brother and I would need to perform at each house if we wanted to trick-or-treat.
We laid low until I was in the first grade and learned a Halloween song in school that I thought I might be able to teach my brother, who was 4. That year we trotted up to the neighbor's house for our first trick-or-treat ever, and started into the song. My father kept watch at the curb. The woman at the house was both flustered and confused and kept telling us we didn't have to sing, but I told her that indeed we did or we would not be allowed to accept any candy.
At the end of our performance, I turned to my brother and asked if he wanted to keep singing, and between us we decided that one song was all we had in us. We never trick-or-treated again, but spent all of our Halloweens handing out candy to our friends who always felt very sorry for us.
LANI WALKER
Mt. Lebanon
Posted
Nov 05 2009, 09:48 AM
by
Susan Mannella