Another Halloween

Quiet night passing out candy with my mother and cousin.  This was after spending half the day kibitzing with my cousin and her brother after taking my mother to the cardiologist.  There we got three more appointments.  At two, I told everyone I needed to go to the gym and the house and to the store for more candy so I could get back in time.  I wasn't with my phone when my mother called confused.  

"I don't know which pills I'm supposed to take.  Call me."

I had put out her two o'clock pills when I left.  Everyone heard me say, "Here's your two o'clock pills."  Later, I got another call I didn't hear.  

"Where are you!"

She was with my cousin, but she now has separation anxiety, I guess.  She can't stand for me not to be around to tell her what to do.  

So. . . I hurried back to my mother's house with a bucket of chicken.  In a little while, the kids were hitting the streets.  

The kids were cute and sweet, and so were the parents.  Polite, friendly.  The usual.  Then, again, as usual, the older kids and parents bringing kids in cars from other neighborhoods began to show up.  They were not as polite, not as friendly, and they would take handfuls of candy and dash.  We were running out of candy, so when the kids came up, I would say, "Take one or leave one.  We're running out of candy."  The sweet kids often reached into their bag and dropped a piece of candy into the bowl, and I would have to say, "No, no. . . tonight is your night. . . ."  Some kids are just built that way.  It can break your heart.  

Mom's ninety year old neighbor, Marlene, showed up in costume giving out liquor to the neighbors.  O.K.  I futzed the photo up a bit.  Had fun doing that.  

My mother and cousin are up now and talking.  I can't help but hear them.  The chatter keeps me from thinking.  I have lived such a quiet life, a little babble drives me to distraction.  

I was washing dishes the other morning and began to laugh.  It occurred to me that I had been a spoiled little brat as a kid.  I didn't make my own bed, didn't do dishes, didn't mow the lawn.  I played sports and read.  Now, I thought, it was time to pay up.  The bill always comes due.  I am paying the tab now.  

Temperatures fell into the forties last night.  It is a clear, chilly morning.  I want to go into it, but. . . .

I need to go make breakfast.