For some oddball reason, we decided to make a dummy for Halloween and put it in a lawn chair on our front porch. The body consisted of coveralls and a red plaid shirt stuffed with old clothes.
The head was a plastic Spider Man bank shaped like a head with a squared base -- it was a prize I won for selling fundraising items at school. We tucked the
base into the body and tightened the collar. Apparently the face of Spider Man was not "scary" enough, so we put a ski mask on it.
It scared some too well, the wee ones in particular. Despite parental assurances and accompaniment, they did not want to brave our "dummy gauntlet" for the sake of candy.
I cannot imagine their reaction had we attempted to animate our inert friend somehow.
Our house was definitely not the scariest house in the neighborhood. That honor went to a man who dressed as Dracula each year. Opening his front door with a black cape
held before his face, à la Bela Lugosi, he handed out treats to those children with enough daring to trek up to his dimly lit porch. Indeed he was a shadowy figure, but like us,
he did a little something extra to liven up the Halloween spirit.
