Halloween In The 21st Century

For the second consecutive Halloween the number of trick or treaters at our front door was down from the previous year. Despite the overall decline, the usual suspects emerged out of the darkness including witches, devils, fairies, princesses, ghosts, cowboys and girls and people dressed up as urinals. Yes, that's right, every year at least one unabashed youngster dresses up as a urinal and cruises our neighborhood. When the child in question rings our doorbell instead of extending a plastic jack-o-lantern, pillow case or paper bag for the candy, he or she points to a depository clearly ringed by a toilet seat. As of this writing, the transaction is not accompanied by a flushing sound, but, no doubt, that will come when a new, improved version of the outfit containing an embedded microchip hits the stores.

This year's assortment of revelers did mark a new departure in behavior, however. At least six of them arrived at our door throughout the course of the evening and extended their containers with one hand while talking on cell phones with the other. Like those people in a check-out line who reach into their wallets or sign a credit card receipt while simultaneously carrying on a conversation on their cell phones, these youngsters were too otherwise engaged to utter the usual "Happy Halloween" or "Trick or Treat". Instead, they gathered up their goods and, still chatting away, moved on with just a nod.