The cool October breeze kissed my cheek as the outside world passed me by. Halloween night, a time when anyone and everyone, can dress up and enter a new world. Though, that night I would not be frizzing up my hair and knocking on doors as I had planned. No, I would be, in what seemed to be a smart car, small compact room. Filled with the roaring shrills of children. Alas I got there. My uncle Wero’s church in Glendale. I could already see it some bad kid jumping around, and throwing a piece of hard candy at my head while running away laughing. Yet when I walked in all the kids had been sitting patiently to start the night festivities. The station I would be working at would be a simple penny toss for a small prize that is if they made it.


At first things were slow, then all of a sudden two ,GROWN, adults walked in fully dressed in a cowboy get-up hooting and hollering “Ya‘ll ready to some fun tonight! We have so many fun activities set up for ya‘ll!” their attempt at getting the kids excited worked because all the kids shout back “Yeah!!” while pumping their small fist in the air. After that odd display the kids were dismissed to have some fun. They had yet to reach my station that I had time to win a cake, that is until I started to them poke their small heads in from the petting zoo. Their faces were cheerful and happy to be there. Some had slight ketchup stains at the corner of their small mouths. Not one person was having a bad time.


The small children now started to line up at my station, and I was ready for business. A miss here and there. Every time I would find myself pouring a new batch of fresh pennies into their hands urging them “go ahead just one more time”, just so they could win their prize. Then the occurredd to me, we weren’t missing out on Halloween we were having our own little fun laughing, throwing pennies.


Every kid left that night with bags full of candy and smiles on their faces. I found myself also smiling to their joyous laughter, and looking forward to next year. Not one child had left my station without a candy or two.