Those halloween nights bring good times.

A great evening for the kids. My daughter is 13 so she didn't dress up, but she took out her niece and her little brother (brother by choice adoption - you know when you claim someone as your family member) around the neighbourhood. The street is full of parents standing at the beginning of driveways as their kids make their way to the door-ways yelling "trick or treat". I even heard Halloween apples. I know people no longer give apples. It's all store package sweets.

As a kid I remember my Mom buying the big box of apples, the McIntosh box. No candies just apples. We never thought about anything else. Some people would bake treats, like cookies or make popcorn and put them in paper sacks. I still saw some popcorn when my big kids were going out Halloweening. I don't know if anyone would let their kids eat anything that was not store packaged these days. And that is pretty sad. People would put effort in making treats for kids. It's the crazies and mean people that have changed the way we think. We can't afford to trust the treats of kindly strangers. You might have a pin stuck in the apple or a razor blade in one of the treats. It's drilled into the heads of parents and kids, that no one should eat the treats until Mommy or Daddy has looked through the loot.

I remember in the Reserve going to Aunties and Uncles houses. We would make sure to go to our relatives places. It was like we had an obligation to go there. It was a good feeling. I remember some of the relatives had some good loot. We used to think that White people were rich and some of us would go into the town and go Halloweening. We would get a sucker or a one of those black cat candies at the White homes. They would make us sing and stuff. We had to take off our masks. Some of the kids that had Dads that worked at the mill, they went to school in the town. The kids who went to the town school would tell the other kids in the Reserve that the White people had two bowls of candy, one for the Indians and one for the town's kids. I don't ever remember any of the White kids coming into the Reserve to trick or treat.

It was just the way it was between the town and the Reserve. The more time goes on the more things stay the same. The memories are still sweet. Going out with your family and friends. Lots of people walking around. Some being driven home to home. Even big people went out. Sometimes some sneaky bugger would put a potato in your pillow case. Lots of apples. If you got a bag of chips or something like that it was a major treat. My cousin Bepkins and his wife Girly always gave good stuff. He was working in the mill and made a good living I guess. They weren't cheap. The air was crisp and the night was bright. I don't hardly remember too many cold nights when your were a kid. Funny.

Story about the night: I saw the craziest thing. This couple of parents were walking around the neighbourhood with their little kid. The kid was about 3 and was dressed up. The strange thing was how the woman was dressed up. I age them at about 30 (from the man's looks). The woman was dressed up as a Rastafarian. Maybe she was Bob Marley. Anyway her face was done up black. Like shoe polish black. She had on a red green yellow hat, with the dreadlocks hanging out. She also wore a gown of sorts. I was kind of blown away when I saw her, but stupid me, I didn't say anything. I just walked by and mused to myself about it. I told my wife what I saw and she put her hand to her mouth and exclaimed "no way, your kidding?" "What the hell". In any case I missed my opportunity to say something, and I should have.