I was undecided about going to the Greenwood trick-or-treat today. Yes, it's tradition; yes, it's my neighborhood...but the morning was gray and damp. Plus the ice rink was hosting a Halloween party of their own, so there were cupcakes and pizza and orange streamers at ten in the morning, and I had my lesson, deconstructing toe loops, to the strains of the theme from "Jaws." Kids spun until their cat-ear headbands flew off, tripped over their long Dia de los Muertos skirts.
The clouds blew off, leaving a blustery bright fall afternoon behind, and so I took myself to Herkimer. The gorilla seems to have moved upstate where he can run and play, but Frankenstein was on duty at the ale house as usual. And it was a slow start...but I sipped my coffee and had an excellent pain au chocolat, and settled into the goofy glee of bewigged, bewildered toddlers, just like every year.
Golden leaves tumbled down the street in the wind, and dry-ice smoke billowed from a cauldron of...something, outside Prost beer hall. Mary Poppins was practically perfect in every way, but had to hold onto her hat with both hands in a strong gust. A small UPS driver in uniform was followed by an even smaller Santa--package delivery is still a legit career goal, I reckon. Louise Belcher's bunny ears kept her head warm. A dad dressed as Lt. Dangle from Reno 911! may have regretted his choices, jogging in place in his tiny tight shorts against the chill. The medical profession was well-represented this year, as was the general "bloodied ghoul" contingent.
One little kid was a campfire: cardboard-tube logs and flames were attached around the hem of a sweatshirt, and he or she brandished a couple marshmallows on a stick. Long blonde hair stuck out under the Seahawks helmet of #26, Shaquill Griffin. Iron Man's drawn-on Tony Stark goatee was a bit smudged. Inflatable T-Rexes waved at each other across the street, while an inflatable poo emoji had figured out how to incorporate their bulbous costume into some funky dance stylings.
A mom carried her lobster-dressed infant in a huge stock pot. Cookie Monster tripped over a break in the sidewalk, but jumped back up undeterred. It was a lovely morning in the village, but would no one rid the villagers of that meddlesome goose? An unconscious parrot in a stroller went by. Simba towed a fire chief down the street by the hand. Olaf the Snowman's felt stick-fingers blew around in the breeze and kept adhering to his lollipop. A kid ran by with a rudimentary costume, but he was carrying a king-size extra-long pillowcase for candy and I admired his chutzpah. Dream big, little man. Another kid peered out the flap of a big blue cardboard US Mailbox. Two Elevens...es sported their best 1985 Gap finery, but the lone Scoops Ahoy! employee I saw was headed in the opposite direction.
My favorite thing, this year, was the number of combo/mash-up/hybrid costumes I saw. Wonder Woman also had on pink fairy wings. Spider-Man's dinosaur-head hoodie stuck out the neck of his spidey suit. A tiger chugged down the street in a cardboard-box locomotive, and sure, yes, why the hell not? Be whatever you want to be, kiddos, be everything at once, be the firefighting ballerinas and cowboy veterinarians and figure-skating novelists, ahem, that you aspire to be. The world is your oyster-zombie-construction worker.
