In my endless pursuit of that one scary childhood Halloween costume, I found the above silly photograph. I immediately felt sorry for the “Teddy Bear” Masked Man with his humongous, orange plastic, pumpkin pail. And why shouldn’t I? “Gritty” must have traveled down my mom’s ear canals as “glitzy” before the brain processed it into the word “grizzly” thus resulting in my being dressed out as a cute and cuddly Downy-type bear. (Snuggles? I’m guessing.) But this can’t be the case. It isn’t me. Who it is I don’t know.
My brother and I, although one year apart in age, were often mistaken for twins due to wearing matching clothes. If he wore plaid pants and a striped shirt, I wore plaid plants and a striped shirt. Our parents theorized that being fair meant giving us the same things. However, at Halloween we were able to pick and choose our costumes within reason.
If my brother said, “I want to be an Indian,” then I’d think of something within the same theme and say, “I want to be a cowboy.” But as we grew older, both of us took a more convenient route and became standard hobos, mixing and matching whatever we saw fit.
So which kid am I? Both hobo-like characters have matching Little Caesers Trick-or-Treat bags. It wouldn’t be fair if one of us had a larger sized bag that held more candy. Am I the tall, lanky, down-and-out red-nosed pharmacists advertising Hall’s cough drops, or the big-eared, big-nosed, white-collared pilgrim hobo? It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had once participated in Disco Elementary’s “Thanksgiving Day” extravaganza. My mom had stitched together the black robe with white collar just for me. It must've been a positive experience, why else would I wear it again? I’m grateful that I didn’t have to wear a hunter’s orange reflecting vest that night, or if I did, that my dad never snapped the picture.
9 comments:
In this one, hard to choose between "twins." Is one of you slightly taller than t'other?
My experience was completely different -- two older sisters and a much younger brother.
Lovely.
So you are sure you are not the bear? Enjoyed the read MW :)
So you were a hobo pilgrim? :) I am so gonna have to go diggin' up old Halloween shots, no telling what my memory's been protecting me from!
I was the werewolf of London, last year, an awesome (read expensive) mask, my black coduroy suit and black kashmir buisness trench coat, a chinese menu and a fishbowl margaurita glass that I wrote trader vic's on the side of.
We scared the crap out of the Ram's Horn employees after the party. But I must say, they were pretty relieved not to get robbed.
I came as a f*cked up writer and the taller guy was my depressed banker.
Those are very creative and imaginative costumes unlike the dude in the plastic mask.
Even underneath your masks, I can see you and your brother look alike. Is the person in the teddy bear mask a girl, by any chance?
Jim, Well we know that you were the Hobo Pilgrim at the right of the picture. I'm still trying to figure out who was the Bear?? Nice picture for the Halloween season!! --Bro, Ron
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