We have been doing the Halloween candies donation for as long as we have resided here, partly because my mom loved it. She always loved seeing the kids when they came around. I could almost hear her laughing over the cute ones. There were always a couple of kids every year that she would find irresistible and wanted to empty the entire candies store just for them. After mom passed away, we carry on with the tradition.
This Halloween was no different but there was an interesting episode at the tail end of the evening.
It was about quarter past nine when we thought no more kids would come by. Then there was a series of very rapid bell rung. I opened the door and saw about ten kids. They were all colored kids and did not seem to be from our neighborhood. They were also in a rowdy mood. It started routinely as candies were transferred from my basket into their bags. A couple do not even have bags, they just pointed to their pockets. Then one yelled, “I want O-Henry, not those”. I complied. Then another yelled, “I want Reese”. I complied again. By then things began to get a bit chaotic. I saw a couple of hands poking out from behind the kids in front and started grabbing handfuls from my basket. Before I knew it, almost the entire basket was emptied. I had a smaller backup basket but seeing the chaos I signaled the end. So the last two kids just stood there and obviously stunned. One exclaimed, “What the Hell, …”. I said, “Watch your language, young man.” The other kid was smarter; he immediately said coyly, “may I have some candies, please”. I passed out the candies to both of them and when they were leaving I told the “bad mouth” kid, “I want you to watch your language, not for the candies but for yourself.” He looked at me as if he understood. I was not so sure, myself.
I used to think these ill manner kids were just not taught properly at home. But then I realize there was likely no one at home to teach them. Some may not even have the luxury of candies other then Halloween.
That was my Halloween Flight 2010.
