Trick'r'Treat

This is a memory that I have of when I was around seven years old. It’s not the best memory that I have. It’s probably one of the few memories I have of my mother and her ex-husband taking us trick or treating together. Whether or not they were dressed up, I really don’t remember. The man wasn’t exactly that good with costumes when I was a kid. Nor did he really like anything fun that his kids liked. In fact, he kind of was difficult to have fun with at any rate.

But that’s not what we’re talking about.

What this is about is something that my mom and I don’t fully agree on. Neither does her stupid ex-husband who’s a jerk. So, his opinion barely matters to me. I remember that we were dressed up in different stuff. Me and my baby brother decided to do a duo costume. He was dressed up as Dracula, and I was dressed up as Dracula’s sister. It was before I transitioned socially at the very least. And I was thoroughly enjoying matching with my baby brother. Our other brother was dressed up as a jedi that year, I think. I can’t remember what his costume entirely was. But I know it was something from a franchise that he loved more than anything. Still loves to this day.

We all piled into the car and my mother’s ex-husband drove us to our maternal aunt’s home. Her late abusive husband always put up a ton of stuff for Halloween if I remember it right. Their house was probably the coolest house on the block in my book. Everyone else didn’t put even one tenth the effort they made. Though neither my Aunt or her stupid late-ex-husband dressed up if I remember. I remember her smiling when we got there. Though it’s a little after what had happened in the front lawn. Anyway, we all arrived at the house and there were a ton of cool blow-up decorations. Some stuff on the lawn was a little bit scary. When you were eight, seven, and six they were damn terrifying.

Just as a reference, I was eight years old while younger brother was seven years old. And our baby brother was six years old. We all made our way up to the house. There was a trash can that was super close to the sidewalk. Vaguely I remember thinking that my aunt’s late-ex-husband was lazy. As I thought that he hadn’t taken the trash away from the sidewalk like normal people would. Maybe. I could be misremembering and I know that I wanted candy in that moment. Trying to not look at the trash can that was really weirdly shiny for being probably old. This is where my memory of the moment, my mom’s memory, and my mom’s ex-husband’s memory differ. I remember that an alien popped up from the trash can and terrified all three of us. My younger brother ran across their lawn screaming at the top of his lungs. While my baby brother screamed and ran for the car. Locking himself inside in the back seat.

While my stupid butt stood there with my mouth open as I stared at the alien. Then my want for candy kicked in and I carefully walked around the stupid trash can and I hurried to the front porch. Where my aunt’s late-ex-husband was waiting for me as he laughed his ass off. I held out my bag as I said,’Trick’or’treat’.

Getting my candy when he came out and said,’Gee. You’re the only ‘brave’ one out of the three of you.’

Or something to that effect. We went back over to the alien to get a better look at it. And it wasn’t that scary from what I remember. My younger brother came over with my mom’s ex-husband as he was crying and got candy. My mom carried my baby brother as he cried onto her shoulder and he got candy.

My mom said that I had stood like a deer in the headlights for longer than I remember. And she remembered thinking ‘…yeah, you got no survival instincts’. And she’s not entirely wrong about that, I guess. I wasn’t really showing many survival instincts in the moment. Though she was worried that my younger brother might have wet himself. He hadn’t but I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had. I almost did in that moment. Our baby brother nearly did too.

My mom’s ex-husband decided that his then stepdaughter wasn’t the ‘brave’ one. Or the one with bad survival skills. He told people that I ran to the car crying and screaming. While my baby brother laughed and walked to the door to get his candy. Because saying the only girl at the time was ‘braver’ than his son was terrible. Though my baby brother corrected it a lot during that time. Saying that he saw me walk around the alien to get my candy. Saying that I was braver than him and our brother. Which made me feel a little better when he saw me as brave at the time. Still does now.