every day is halloween

the scary season is not complete without at least one visit to a spirit halloween retailer.  and we did just that this afternoon, nick and i.  nick is going to be a MAD SCIENTIST for halloween.  anna's ordered him the lab coat, the goggles, the long black gloves and a bow tie.  this is the first year we are piecing a costume together instead of buying a costume pre-made.  the trip to spirit halloween was a reconnaissance mission to find a few more accoutrement's and make-up to make mad the MAD SCIENTIST.

what a delight to shop for halloween with a nine-year-old!  the world is fresh, and scary, in the eyes of a child.  nick is a great kid but there were a few of the animatronics that made him nervous.  as a middle-aged life-long freak of all things horror and halloween it is easy to overlook the things that go bump in the night.  i don't mean  i possess a jaded or exhausted world view of horror.  but a screaming zombie, however creatively composed, looks like another stiff toy.

not so for nick.  so i looked thru his eyes, and when he took my hand and said, daddy let's get out of here, i looked at the thing i was looking at with a fresh perspective.  i was scared too. and yes, we high-tailed it the hell out of the area.

it was a thrilling perspective, very like riding a roller coaster.  you are safe on a roller coaster but the thrills and scares of the ride quickens your blood.  same with the scares of halloween.  i wasn't at the store to scare nick.  i didn't look at things to scare nick.  i think purposely scaring children is an evil act.  when nick acted nervous around some of the things inside the store we avoided those things.  we bought a few trinkets for nick's costume.  i delighted in the items of the scary season.  nick reminded me of me when i was his age.  i was terrified of some things, and fascinated, at the same time.  some of us love riding the roller coaster even if it scares us and makes us sick.  halloween is that season for such thrills.  nick and i got thru the check-out without a hitch and when we were exiting there was a life-size zombie butler to see you off.  nick stopped me and said, daddy, press the button [when you press the button on these things that makes them go and scare].  i pressed the button.  the butler did not come online to scare us off.  instead we took his silence in stride and walked off into the parking lot and early evening sun.

boo