Bark or Treat

I asked my mommy and daddy if it was okay and they said “yes” as long as I brought poop bags. So, I was dressed up as a butterfly and was happy. I had on green stalkings, green shoes, a gold shirt, and multi-colored wings, which my mommy made for me. Homi didn’t have a costume, but that’s ok. I would just tell people he was a weird looking bee and we were flying onto daffodils. I live in a suburb. I’m not sure what that means, but it’s nice. So, Homi and I go to our first house and I have an empty pillow case for candy and Homi has his leash on.  

Mommy and Daddy said to only ring the door bells of people’s whose porch lights are on. The people without porch lights on don’t have candy. So, we walk on the side walk and Homi pees on a tree in our neighbor’s front yard, then we walk up three stairs, and I ring the doorbell.

“Trick-or-treat,” I say as a thin white-haired woman opens the door. She smiles, but it doesn’t look like she’s all there. I mean her body’s there, but she looks like she’s thinking about something else or like she isn’t thinking about anything at all. Then, a middle aged woman walks from behind her and tells her to give us candy. The old lady still looks confused.  

“Come on, Ma. Just give the young boy candy.”

The middle-aged woman rolls her eyes, takes the bag of candy from the old lady and gives me two Snickers. I say, “Thank you,” and the middle-aged woman smiles and closes the door. Homi just looks at me confused.   

We keep walking. Then we see the next house: It’s a color between red and purple. It’s three stories tall, but the lights are on and we see a pumpkin. I open the fence and Homi follows and I ring the doorbell and wait. A white woman in a bathrobe comes and opens the door. The white tie belt around her waste keeps the robe on.

“Trick-or-treat,” I say and smile.

Then, I look at her house which is a mess. There’s unfolded blue-jeans on the floor and an empty open pizza box on the kitchen counter. There’s also a stink which smells like ash trays.

The woman says a cuss word and that she almost forgot. Then, she goes in the kitchen, opens the pantry door, and looks in the pantry. She kneels over to see if the candy is on the ground and I accidentally see some of her butt. Then, she stands up with a bag of M & Ms and hands me one. I thank her and she says I’m welcome and then shuts the door. Homi looks confused again.

So, we walk to the next house and Homi follows me. This house is white. I ring the doorbell and wait. Then, a lady opens the door and Homi barks real loud and tries to pull me in the house with his leash. I pull back real hard but he keeps pulling me with him. Then, I see she has a cat. So, I yell at Homi, “No!” And I pick him up by the chest since he’s a little poodle.  

“I’m sorry, Lady.”

Then, there’s an acquired pause and I say, “Trick-or-treat?” The lady quickly puts two treats in my pillow case and shuts the door.  

After sunset, Mommy and Daddy said I have to go back home with Homi.  

At the next house, I decide to hold Homi, so he won’t get in any more trouble. This house is blue.

I walk up the stairs and ring the doorbell. A sweet old woman comes and opens the door, but she has no hair on her head, but she seems friendly and smiles at me and Homi.

“Trick-or-treat” I say. She smiles her sweet smile and gives me a pack of gummy bears, which are my favorite. She then asks, “Is it okay if I give your little puppy a treat?” And at the sound of, “treat,” Homi’s eyes light up and he begins to wag his tail. I tell her, “Yea, sure. Thank you.” So, she goes back in her house and gets a milk bone for Homi and Homi gobbles it right up. Then she asks me how old I am and I truthfully tell her eight.  I’ve seen bald men before, but I’ve never seen bald ladies. She asks how old Homi is and I tell her seven.

The lady, her name is Wendy, says she used to teach kindergarten and really enjoyed it and then she said something weird to Homi and me. She said she was forced into retirement. I never heard of that before. Mommy and Daddy always said retirement was something they were looking forward to and saving money for, not something they had to do. Maybe she was forced to shave her head when she was forced to retire.

But, she was a really sweet lady and I told her I wanted to be an accountant just like my daddy and she smiled and said that was “sweet”. I thought about going to the other houses to get more candy but I decided to stay in this house until Halloween was over. She looked weird but she was sweet and kind. So, she didn’t have any hair. So what?  

She had a wooden table and wooden chairs with cushions on the bottom. We talked about what she did for fun which was read books, crochet, do crossword puzzles, and write letters to her friends and I told her I liked to eat out with Mommy and Daddy, play baseball, and pet Homi. She listened to what I said and not a lot of people do. They just try to get me to do things so they can do the things they want to do, even in school. She thought the things I said were important.

Then, at 8:00 pm she told me she loved talking to me but that I’d better go back home so my mommy and daddy wouldn’t worry. I asked if I could please have her phone number so we could talk more and she smiled and wrote it down on a small sheet of paper. She also told me I could have the rest of the gummies if I wanted them. I gave her a big hug and thanked her.

Homi and me kept in touch with Wendy for two years, then she died. She told me she wasn’t afraid of dying, but of how her friends and relatives would react when she died. I ate all the gummies she gave me, but saved the wrappers. I put them under my bed and when I look at them it reminds me of her. Homi and I learned to never judge a woman by her hair that day and would remember that.