by Cheryl Burger

Created on: October 31, 2008

It was a wet and rainy Halloween evening, and I was not up to much decorating for the kids.Then at the last moment, I bought so much candy the word got out, and the the little banshee's were knocking at the front door. They looked in as to see if they were going to tricked or scared little girl silly, and there was nothing. I got to feeling real bad, as this is something I always enjoyed as a kid, scaring others and seeing their reactions.

Just then, I had an idea shoot through my head! I asked my husband if he would be my monster. He asked me to repeat that, and I did. Then I explained to him exactly what to do, and what not to do. The kids were scarce now, because none of them were getting startled. I pulled out the black light from my old Hippie days, and this made all of the dust and dirt show up in my little home, and the cobwebs now made a good effect and added to the ambiance. I told my husband to stand like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and not to move at all. I looked out the window feeling some remorse, as to where all the kids went to. Just then a healthy knock almost scared me out of my knickers! I told my husband to follow my lead.

Just then I opened the door and there was our neighbor, Jack, with his two little boys all dressed up so cute. They must have been five and seven at best. Jack looked in and saw the monster I had displayed in the middle of my living room under the blacklight, and asked me what that was. I told him I was taking an art course at one of the local colleges, and that was my project in class. He told me it looked real, and asked me what it was made of. My husband was playing along better than most could imagine. I told him it was a composition of paper mac-he and metal hangers, and it took me three months to get it where it is now, and it was so time consuming. He asked me if he could just touch it, it looked so real. I told him, " Jack, if I allow you to touch it ,then I will have to let others ,and I just worked too hard on it." He then told the kids to tell me thanks for the candy. I handed Jack a candy bar too as they turned around.

Then I said to him, as he looked so disappointed as he started to turn to leave, I called him back, and told him to let his small boys stand there, and pointed to an area next to the monster. Just as Jack reached out to touch the Hunchback, my husband let out a subtle, "BOO!" Jack lit out our front door, taking the door with him tearing it off the hinges, and in his scurry left his two little sons behind, as he ran up the road. I was yelling at him to come back, as I was laughing so hard along with my husband, and his boys were crying because daddy left them behind. So I turned on the lights and showed them it was just my husband. And an extra candy bar brought the tears to a smile. Jack came back declaring he wasn't scared, and I just told him, "No jack you weren't scared, heck you just left your kids with a monster and took our door with you too!" We all started laughing, and then the next batch of tricksters were about to have their wits tested too, because now my husband got the Halloween bug and it bit him hard. But you know what? Old Jack never brought his kids to our house again for Halloween, I often wonder as to why? But it wasn't a total loss, I got a new front door out of the deal. Happy Haunting!

Learn more about this author, Cheryl Burger.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.