[img]958|left|Alex Campbell||no_popup[/img]Dateline Boston — This year on Halloween, I went trick or treating on Brook Street in My Town, USA. I think everyone should go to Brook Street on Halloween. I’d heard about it for years, but never thought to go until now, when I had an opportunity to take a couple of kids.
When I found out that we would have my S.O.’s kids on Halloween night, I immediately emailed a friend of mine. I asked him the name of that street he had told me about a few years ago. “Brook Street,” he wrote back, “See you there!” It was all the talk in my town. Apparently, it was the thing to do on Halloween. S.O. and I checked it out a week beforehand. I thought there’d be all kinds of decorations on the houses already, but there weren’t. Didn’t look like such a big deal to us. We wondered what all the fuss was.
Here We Come, Ready or Not
[img]990|left|||no_popup[/img]Halloween night came. We parked the car and began walking, S.O., a Viking, a video game character, and I. We started on a street off of Brook, because there were some houses that were decorated. It wasn’t quite dark, and there weren’t many people out. We turned onto Brook. No big whoop. This was the big deal we’d heard about? It started getting dark, and, strangely enough, that’s when we started seeing things.
Turns out, the Brook Street started a couple of blocks down. The town had blocked off the street with barricades. As we got closer, the street in front of us took on an eerie and magical quality. It looked like a movie set. Imagine, if you will, a Halloween fantasyland. It was dark, and there were hordes and hordes of children and adults walking around in full Halloween regalia. Witches, fairies, Ninjas, a giant raspberry (“I am not a tomato!”), pirates, sports players, ghouls, and every outfit imaginable walked from house to house, collecting candy. I don’t usually measure things in percentages, but I would say that 90 percent of the houses on two full blocks, both sides, participated in the evening’s festivities. I wondered if that was a requirement for residents. “House for sale—must love Halloween. Scrooges need not apply.”
And oh, the houses! About half of them were decorated. There were lights, posters in the windows, spider webs, and adults in costume handing out the goods. My two favorite houses were close to each other. One had a string of lights, skull posters in the windows, and bats flying overhead. Across the street was a house that had the sounds of thunder coming from it. Brook Street was like Halloween on acid.
We got loads of candy and walked back to the car, dazed but happy. It was a Halloween I’ll never forget. Only 11 months to go till the next one!
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at her new address, snobbyblog@gmail.com
