Trick or Treat?

The dogs barked at the doorbell.

Dusk was gathering early, now the clocks had changed. Living out here, in the middle of fields, I didn’t get trick-or-treaters. The two youngsters living up the drove didn’t bother dressing up for our few terraced houses.

I shouted at the dogs to stop barking and sought treats to offer. There wasn’t even a biscuit in the house.

When I lived in the suburbs, I’d always bought in supplies of sweets for Halloween to reduce the risk of having eggs thrown at the door. It didn’t always satisfy my night visitors, but I drew the line at encouraging extortion by handing out coins.

I remembered I’d emptied the last of my small change into the Poppy collection box at the newsagent.

The barking didn’t put off our callers who rang the doorbell again. Too late, now, to pretend I wasn’t here. I grabbed the fruit bowl and shut the dogs in the living room, close enough to release quickly if required.

I opened the door on two shadowy figures, reminding me I had yet to replace the porch light bulb.

One dark shape thrust at me a copy of the Watchtower.

“Are you ready to meet your Maker?”

May All Your Halloween Visitors Be Little Ones

… and socially distant

PS: I didn’t realise, when I sheduled it, that I’ve already posted this one – last Halloween. That’s really creepy – the way my memory’s deletes things at random. More pictures this year, though. (I couldn’t resist ‘Who ate all the biscuits’.)