Trick or Treat

 
      More Letters From Paradise
          Trick or Treat
Halloween is a very big deal here in Hawaii. It's maybe more important than Christmas, what with our Asian population. Many of our friends make it a point to walk down Kalakaua Ave. just to look at all the crazy people. Stores here are filled with costumes and all the other stuff. In our condo, residents donate candy which is handed out to the kids by the guards in the front of the building.

Thinking back to the events of Halloween in my past, this is the way it was: It was only the second time you were sure to get candy, the other being Christmas. First you armed yourself with a large bag or gunny sack, and a bar of soap. The "Fels Naptha" laundry brand was favored because it was a large bar. The use of canning wax was not used because we knew it was much harder to remove from window glass. Costumes cost money so a ten cent mask such as the Lone Ranger wore was fine. Larger masks costing not much more were worn, but as they were constructed of gauze, they would get wet around your mouth. There were many hobos that night. Costume problem easily solved.

You began your hunt was early as possible so as to cover as much of the town before it grew too late. People handed out the usual candy, but sometimes home made popcorn balls and apples.

The evening found all the store windows covered with soap, and as there were some outside toilets, they were pushed over.
One time an outhouse was moved to the center of town and placed under the stop light.
None of us had to fear of needles in our candy, or the purity of popcorn balls.

       Aloha
       Grant