Making the Rounds

Last Tuesday night was Halloween and, like usual, Sam and I made our usual rounds - mostly in Mom and Dad’s old neighborhood, which we've been doing ever since forever ago. Sam doesn't get particularly excited about Trick or Treating, but he clearly enjoys it. Every year, I wonder why that is.

I know one of his teachers from his high school lives along the route. Sam likes to see her every year and she makes a big deal out of seeing him - which is nice, but also a little odd. Back when he was in school, there was a time where I had called his classroom to complain about her (over some incident that's not worth getting into here.) Sam was unaware of it but, ultimately, I ended up talking directly with her about what I considered to be a problem. Back then, I didn’t know that this is who it was, or if I did, it didn’t make a difference. Anyway, that was several years ago and she’s always been very nice to Sam ever since, and maybe outside of that incident, she always was. Either way, Sam enjoys seeing her.

The other place Sam likes to stop is at a house a little further down the road. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this place before. An older woman lives at this house. It used to be this older woman and her mother, but the mother passed away several years ago. Anyway, this woman gives away small stuffed animals instead of candy - which is right up Sam’s alley. This year, she was not only giving away small stuffed animals, but also a toy to go with it. The toy, in Sam’s case, is one of those plastic guns that shoots small ping pong type of balls. Unlike the stuffed animals, this is not up Sam’s alley, but he took it anyway, I'm sure to be polite.

So I get that he likes to see his old teacher and he likes to see the stuffed animal lady, but afterwards, he likes to keep going, collecting more candy. I’m not complaining, I enjoy walking around with Sam, but the thing is, for the most part, Sam doesn’t eat any of the candy.

Whatever his reasons, we finished up at those houses, plus a few more, then we headed home.

Back at home, Sam got out of his costume and went up to take his shower - but first, he slung his bag of candy over the post of the dining room chair, where it still hangs - and probably will for quite some time - right next to the bag of candy that's been hanging there since last year.