'Letting the hounds loose' in my case would probably create a batch of kids wanting to pet the cute puppies, no matter how much they snarled and barked |
Then, I happened to look over to the side, and saw the giant sign the homeowner had scrawled out by hand – informing all of us candy-seekers to “Scram!!!” No candy, or anything available at that house.
I
DIDN’T FEEL like pushing it. My brother and I got out of there, and quickly
found many other places where the local residents were more than willing to
cough up the desired chocolates, sugary junk and occasional spare change that would
make for a Halloween bounty.
To
tell you the truth, I don’t really blame that guy (or whoever it was, I never
did find out) who didn’t feel like giving out any candy to the neighborhood
freeloaders who felt that Halloween was an excuse to beg publicly.
There’s
a part of me that jokes about using my father’s dogs to try scaring away any
kids who come near me seeking candy (not that they bite, it’s just that they’ll
make a lot of noise toward anyone they don’t recognize). But I'll confess to having a small bowl of Snickers bars and other candy available for anyone who shows up later Tuesday.
In
short, I always think of Halloween as something relatively harmless – and something
I haven’t really celebrated since the last time I went trick-or-treating; which
I think was at about age 7.
SO
I HAVE to admit to wondering what the heck is wrong with our society that
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan felt compelled to issue a statement
telling people to check the state registry of people listed as sex offenders
before letting their children loose.
You might just find out that someone living near you has something in their past they’d rather keep quiet about, but which Illinois law won’t permit them. It seems we’re far beyond the point in our society where we have to worry about that old urban legend about some kid getting cut up because they ate an apple with a razor blade inserted into it.
Which
is something I always wondered was just a myth created by parents to justify
confiscating some of the candy collected by their kids on the grounds they didn’t
need to be hyped up on so much sugar!
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