Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The Truly Horribles

The stars of Orion marshaled the last night of October to feast on those who walked alone with the frost coxing them indoors to a warm fire.

I was going to start a story for you with that as its first line but found it too frightening. Let’s start again.

The Truly Horribles were misfit spirits. They really wanted to frighten people but didn’t have the knack. To begin with, they didn’t look frightening, or even like spirits. They looked more like lumpy clowns in soiled baggy green pants, red suspenders to hold up the baggy pants, polka dotted blue shirts, purple bow ties (imagine, bow ties in this day and age!) and yellow bowler hats. Downright silly! They tried walking like zombies, with their eyes wide, their tongues lolling, and their limp hands straight out in front. People laughed, “Look the circus must be in town and the show can’t be very good. Just look at those foolish clowns.”

They tried disguises. When they wore sheets they forgot the eyeholes and couldn’t see. When they wore costumes over their clothes they looked like balloons from a Thanksgiving Day parade. When they put on invisible paint no one could see them.

Even their tricks for Trick or Treat were lame. They would ring a door bell and forget to run and hide. When they threw a pie it ended in their own face. When they tried to roll a garbage can down the hill, they would run in front and ended up crashing into the stone wall at the bottom. When they chased someone in the cemetery they would trip on the tomb stones.

To top it off, the Truly Horribles weren’t really even spirits. They were the misfit boys from down the street. None they less, they wished everyone a Happy Halloween, and I do too. BOO! So there!

Friday, October 3, 2014

M'slle Hepzeba in our back yard

A social outcast crept into our back yard a night or two ago. She was ill and hungry and in need of solitude. We gave that to her as best we could. She has wolfed down sunflower seeds and shuffled off under a neighbor's porch. Nature is what it is, and we can't foresee her future, nor ours for that matter. Perhaps Pogo and Albert will come to her rescue.