Once upon a time, a family of six went trick or treating together. The father drove his car with all four children dressed in some manner of costume. The costumes were certainly home-made as this family was fairly poor. The four children carried big brown paper grocery sacks to hold their cache of Halloween candy that they would be receiving. Father drove the children into the small town that they lived in (this little family lived way out in the country with houses few and far between). The three older boys walked with their little sister down sidewalks and up to front porches that had their lights on. The boys rang the doorbell and when the doors were opened, "Treat or Treat" was chorused loudly. We soon had our bags half full which equalled lot of candy and popcorn balls. The little girl was five years old, and her brothers were almost 7, almost 9, and ten years of age. Suddenly, a pick-up truck with three high school boys stopped near the children as they were leaving another house with their sacks of goodies. The little girl was in front of the boys walking towards their car. The high school boys ran towards the little brothers and stole their sacks. The little sister ran as fast as she could to her parent's car and jumped in with her sack. The brothers also ran to the car and jumped in crying.
Father started the car and took off after the high school boys' truck. The chase was on and it was fast. We finally ended up at a dead end and the edge of a cliff. No pick-up in sight, but dust was flying. They didn't go off the cliff though. We never knew where they went.
The family returned to their home in the country with only one sack half full of candy. The little sister had to share her candy with her three brothers. She was somewhat disappointed 'cause it would have been a huge load of candy and lasted a long time. Father was certainly mad about those rotten high school boys stealing candy from children. But Mother had been so afraid that they were after the little girl and very thankful that we were all safe.
The little girl that grew up of course was me. My husband and I never celebrated Halloween with our children. We always took them to a Hallelejuah Night which was a dress-up in costumes at church with games and candy and prizes.
