Trick Or Treat

"Trick!" the lady said.

"Wait...what?!" the boy asked again.

The lady looked at him with confidence and said, "Trick. I want a trick."

"Um...er...okay?" he responded a bit confused.

He's never had someone responded with a trick, and definitely didn't have someone not give him any candy. He looks around and not sure correctly what to do; he pulls out a trick he remembers his dad doing to him. He reaches up and pretends to grab the lady's nose. Pulling back his hand with his thumb between his closed fingers, he says, "I've got your nose?"

The lady's jaw drops, she quickly jumps back and reaches for her face. It looks like tears are welling up in her eyes. She cries, "Give it back!"

"Give what back?" the boy asks, even more confused.

"My nose! Give it back, please!" she says.

A bit of unnerved, he reaches up and touches the lady's face and says, "There you go."

She wipes her eyes, and a big smile comes over her face.

"Thank you!" she says as she drops a big candy bar into his bucket.

The boy walks away, feeling he's being punked. That someone is hiding with a camera videotaping his reaction to what just occurred.  He looks down into his orange pumpkin-shaped bucket and sees the sizeable sized chocolate bar, perfectly wrapped, begging to be ripped open. This quickly distracts the boy as he walks up to the next door. He walks up and rings the doorbell. An older man opens the door with a bowl full, even bigger sized pieces of candy.

"Trick or Treat," the boy said out of habit.

"Trick," the elderly man responds back.

"Not again," the boy thought.

Someone has to be playing a trick on him. There is no way that two houses would respond back with the same response. He looks around.

"Alright! Where are the hidden cameras?!" the boy yells out into the neighborhood.

The man at the door responds, "Excuse me? What cameras?"

The boy spins around and looks up and sees the man looking around as well. The boy is beyond confused, and honestly a little shaken up. Why would anyone be doing this to him? He turns around and mumbles, "Trick or treat" again. The man looks back at him and says, "I had said trick."

"Are you serious?" the boy asks.

The man ponders that question for a second, and without hesitation, "Yes I am. You asked Trick or Treat, and I want a trick."

The boy once again has to think about what kind of trick he could perform. Then he a flashback of his dad performing the removable thumb trick comes to mind. He sets his bucket down and puts his hand out. With his other hand, he pretends that he removes his thumb. The metal bowl full to the brim with candies of all sorts drops the ground and lets out a loud clang. The man stares at the boy and the boy's hands and the thumb being pulled off and put back on. His draw drops.

"What is that?! Witchcraft?!" the man yells out.

The boy stops. He looks up at the man. He can't tell if he's being serious or not. He picks his bucket back up off the ground and holds it toward the man. The man steps back.

"You stay away from me, take all the candy you want, just stay away from me!"

Leaving the candy spilled on the ground, he slams the door. The boy looks at the candy on the ground and grabs the biggest one. He puts the remainder back into the bowl and walks off to the next house. The boy is beginning that Halloween is bringing out the weirdos. Or maybe...maybe he really is performing some magic. That can't be, it has to be the neighborhood he chose. He walks up to the next house and walks up to the door. He knocks twice. The door opens up, and another man stands there with a bowl full of candy. He looks down and smiles.

"Trick or treat," the boy says.

"Hmmm, trick, or treat? I think I'll choose a trick," the man responds.

The boy sighs and puts his bucket back down. He looks inside and grabs a lollipop and pulls it out. He holds it lightly in his hand and begins to move it up and down slowly and softly. The longer he does this, the more it looks like the stick of the lollipop is bending back and forth. The man squints his eyes, and then suddenly, his eyes widen, and he slams the door. 

From inside, he says, "That's a solid stick. There is no way that it can't bend like that. Take your wicked ways and go!"

The boy shocked, mutters, "But you asked for a trick."

The man opens the door, slides the bowl of candy out, and slams it shut again. This has to be the strangest night that he has ever experienced. The remainder of the night has gone on just as odd.  Each house, he knocked, asked the question, and was given the same answer.

"Trick, please."

He gives them a trick, and they either panic or freak out and give him candy.  The boy kept thinking why is this happening. The skills he's performing are nothing to be terrified about, let alone scare people. The boy stumped and a little bit exhausted decides to call it a night and head home with this bounty of tin foiled sugar-coated goodies.  As he is walking looking into his bucket, he notices a puddle, and something in that puddle catches his eye. He stops and glares into the small, captured water, and he sees it. The Great Charlie is what they called him. He performed at kids parties and company gatherings, and special events. The boy's mom had made his outfit to look just like him. He passed away when the boy was younger. He never got to know who is or was his father. He only heard stories from his mom and grandparents. In the reflection of that still water, he sees what has everyone so scared. In fact, it scared him at first. When he moved his hands above his head, there, standing behind him, was the ghost of his dad.