Halloween

Well, this is old, blower, and I want to talk to you a little bit today about Halloween. Now Halloween has always been a big day down here in Wellwood, and I guess the reason might be, I think part of the reason might be that it's so deadly and dark down here. You know, when it gets dark out here in the country, it gets dark. There ain't no lights nowhere.

And except for the, you know, lights in my house, and I've got some lights in the barn, you know, where I go to milk. But other than that, there ain't no lights on pools out here nowhere. It just gets plumbed dark when it gets dark. And so I think that's part of the reason that the Halloween is so big down here, but the kids get a kick out of it, and they always pull in the pranks of people.

And now they, well, we've got some rules about Halloween down here that come about a few years back about, I guess it's been about eight years ago. Many of these kids was always pulling pranks, but they didn't know the difference between, you know, what was funny and what was harmful. And so one time they come down here to Uncle Fred's house and punched a bunch of holes in Fred's screams, you know, and his winter screams and screen door. And Uncle Fred, you know, he's got old rheumatism and neoralgia real bad.

And so it was, you know, it was dangerous for Uncle Fred. And they didn't know any better, you know, but Sheriff called him in. He called all the kids and had a meeting with them. And he said, now y'all are going to have to go down there and fix Uncle Fred's screams.

He said, I don't know which one of you done it, but I know that a bunch of you had a hand in it. And he said, that's going to cost you some money because Uncle Fred, he could pay for the screens, but he ain't going to because you ruined them. And he said, I want to tell you some more about this thing, about Halloween that you need to understand. He said, now we take care of you kids down here and we want you to have fun and we want you to celebrate the holidays and do anything that you want to do just as long as it ain't harmful to other people.

He said, now if you destroy property or if you bust lights or if you cost somebody some money, he said, that ain't a good joke. And he said, we don't want that down here. But he said, as long as you can do stuff, you do any kind of mischief that you want to do just so long as you don't cost anybody anything and it don't hurt nobody. And he said, that's going to be the rule around here.

He said, now can you live within that rule because if you can, you can celebrate Halloween down here. And if you can't, he said, we're going to put a stop to it. That's all there is to it. So the kids all knotted their heads, you know, and they said that they didn't say nothing, but they knotted their heads like they understood what the sheriff said.

So he said, all right, y'all can go. And he said, next year, just keep this in mind that we know people are going to do stuff. He said, I done it when I was a mowing and everybody else has to and said, we used to like to do stuff, but said, we didn't harm nobody. We didn't really cost anybody no money.

And he said, if you can remember that, then we're going to get along fine. That's all there is to it. So ever since then, they have pulled these pranks down here all the time. And it's funny to watch what they will do because they've got real good imaginations.

And spite of what I might have said in one of them interviews with old Brenda, book it, well, they have got real good imaginations and they will think of some of the damnedest things that you've ever seen as far as thinking of mischief that don't harm nobody and don't, don't cost them no money. But it is funny. And it's, I get a kick out of my really do and last year they pulled something on me and it might near scared me to death. And I tell you, I'm not, you know, I don't believe in no ghost, just nothing like that.

But they did scare the heck out of me. And I tell you what they done. You know, I've got this big old dog down here named Toby that he's just as friendly as he can be. He's a, he's got some great name in him and he's a great big old dog.

He looks like a horse and he's just a friend. All the kids play with him and he wouldn't hurt nobody. And he is kind of brown and white is what color he is. And so they're always playing with him and sometimes he'll go off with him and I don't pay no attention because I know he'll come back.

So the kids all like him and they play with him. So one day, one time on Halloween, this was last year as a matter of fact, they done this to me and they always pick out somebody and they picked me out last year and I don't know why but it was funny after it was over with but at the time it kind of scared me. But I noticed that old Toby was gone but I didn't pay no attention because you know, he's got the run of the neighborhood and so like I say, all the kids play with him and so I don't worry about him but he was gone and all the kids come by here about, oh, between seven and eight o'clock, maybe seven nine o'clock and it's dark down here in these woods. It really is and they had their costumes on and someone was witches and someone was ghosts and some of them was devils and some of them was things I didn't know what they was but they had a good time and I always give them sneakers because they like them snicker bars and so I always give them snickers and so they like coming down to my place and I give them, you know, they're four of them because I got, you know, I like spending money on them.

I get a kick out of the kids coming around and one girl come around and she said she was algebraic chocolate said she could need it. It was make her sick. I had never heard of that before. I didn't know that they were people that couldn't eat chocolate but she said she couldn't and I told her I said I'm just sorry as I can be but I said I'll have something for you next year but I said I ain't got nothing but snickers this year.

Well two, three of the kids said well we'll swap with her and say you go ahead and give her the snicker and he said we'll swap her somewhere else stuff that ain't chocolate and so I told him I said that that's just awful good of you to take care of this little girl that way and I told her I said next year when you come around I'll have something that ain't chocolate but anyway they took the candy and they went on off and I forgot all about it and I was just about ready to go to bed but I always set up late on Halloween because I'm afraid that somebody will come by and do some mischief and sure enough about 12 midnight I heard a racket in the road and I went out on a porch just I didn't have no shoes I would just have my britches and shirt on but didn't have no shoes on and there was a gang of kids on the road they was I just barely could see them because it was dark and they had them Halloween costumes on and most of them was you know black dark colors and and I couldn't see what couldn't tell one from another and there was this one of them and he was about ten foot tall and that's the truth I don't know how he made himself that tall but he said trick or treat and I said well I ain't got nothing I said yo was here earlier tonight and I said I give out all that I had and I ain't got nothing here I said now I'd give you something if I had it but I ain't got it and so he looked like it made him mad and he started making growling rackets and everything and he said I said trick or treat well I said I ain't got nothing I can't give you nothing well I wouldn't you know I know it was somebody just having fun and that didn't make me no difference but what did what happened was that he turned this he went over to the gate and he let had this animal with him and this animal was black and it had horns and it was a great big old animal and he opened that gate and turned that animal loose and it come in running circles around the yard well that like to scared me to death because I didn't know what it was it had a tail and it the tail dragged the ground you know and it would wiggly tail and it the tail would scrape around the ground because it was it was too long for the animal and I could they like to scared me to death and that animal was running around and around and around and all of a sudden he started barking and that scared me to but then I knowed I knowed it was Otobi's mark and what them kids had done is they had got Otobi and they turned him black somehow I don't know how they made him black but they did and they put horns on him and put a tail on him and that like to scared me to death for a minute it made him look like a devil is what they done and just for just for a little while that scared me I didn't know what what that thing was and so of course I decided after I figured out what it was that I would play along with them because I know they was getting a kick out of it so I said oh Lord I've got to get back in the house and they come in to laughing you know and and so they kept saying get him Jack get him and they making out like an old dog's name was Jack and I was calling oh don't Jack leave me alone and I run back in the house and and slammed the door you know and locked it and of course they was all laughing I was just playing along with him at that point because I know they was just playing a prank on me but you know for just a little bit there that I did think they'd turn the devil loose on me and so anyway that that was last year's Halloween and it's going to be coming up this year and they're going to be you know they just see what all they can do with all this if they can do but it's funny it ain't you know it ain't harmful nobody they didn't they didn't do nothing to me except scared me a little bit at first and that you know that's what Halloween is all about and I get a kick out of Halloween myself so I'm real curious to see what they're going to come up with this year but they always come up with some new stuff and it's so it'll be fun to watch them I hope they pick out somebody else besides me though so anyway I just don't I tell you that story and when Halloween comes along here I'll let you know what happens down here but I know it's going to be funny I'm sure of that.