Beggar's Night

I watched each and every one of them walk to the door...their expectant eyes wide open as they traced their path to the doorbell.

Trick Or Treat...Trick Or Treat...

It’s no big secret that I’m a sucker for a cute little kid in a Halloween outfit. And the early night has been filled with a parade of Harry Potters, robots and even some ambitious ghouls decked in swift-bearing roller blades.

But the first time I reach for the door and don't find a smiling face peering straight back from the other side, I’m somewhat puzzled...

Until I look beyond the shadow of the first step...

And see the wide-open eyes cuddled under the H U N N Y bag floppy hat.

She has a complete and total grasp of her little plastic bag…yet she's safely straddled into her stroller that accompanies the sure and steady grip of her doting mother.

Certainly, one of the first or second stops on her short tour, she's ready to go home after the quick and sure possession of the candy she's chosen to accept.

As for me, I’m ready to choose her the winner of an already too long of evening - a steady procession of too old and much too many kids with no more manners than a simple grunt of "What do you have?"

Later.... sitting down and prepared to watch the opening pitch of an already-forgotten World Series...

I hear a gentle tapping on the door.

Not the urgent push of the doorbell that brings the barking and howling of two dogs that have already had their share of ghosts and goblins...

But a slight, gentle tapping on the door.

A quick look at the clock advises me that beggar's night is almost near its 8:00 PM curfew.

I approach the door expecting to find a few flagrant celebrants.

But instead...as I open the door...there approaching the front step is the cutest little "puppy" of a boy...wrapped inside a costume so dearly crafted...but certainly made with several years of "comfort" to spare.

He stumbles up the step...

And with two floppy ears that beg to be hugged...he softly whispers

TWICK NOR EAT...

And standing beyond the door is his father...bathed in quiet, but proud embarrassment.... and the obvious offender of this gentle tapping.

"We had a late start...I hope it's not too late."

I look down at this hallowed canine...my thoughts racing back through the many years of watching my own children approach a neighbor's house...standing behind trees with careful anticipation...

TWICK NOR EAT...

Hoping there's a sucker for a cute little kid in a Halloween outfit.