A Halloween Story

I am ??-years-old and I have never been trick or treating. Never. How sad is that? I also have never had a trick or treater knock at my door. Never. The former is because of where and when I grew up (there was no such thing as trick or treating in England when I was a kid) and the latter I guess because I have never lived in a suburban house in America, I’ve always lived in urban apartment complexes. I’ve always had candy on hand just in case (kind of - after the first year I learned not to stock candy I like!).

So I had to think hard to come up with my favorite Halloween memory to share with you. No surprise, really, that it was during my last couple years in Boulder, because, it seems, most of my fondest memories are from that period (as this post will attest). It was a Saturday and I think for once it was actually Halloween. It was the inaugural appearance of my spice girl/spice rack costume which has had many incarnations since and the usual suspects were there (you know who you are). We started at the Grove, followed, of course, by a stop at the Cellar. I was flirting with one of the guys who was on the peripheral of our group but who, for some reason, seemed especially cute that night (it was the conversation about Proust that got me, I think). Someone else decided, however, to be a major cock-blocker and so nothing came of it (not that night anyway; we did eventually hook up). Then somehow we ended up at an outside party in east Boulder. Outside. In Colorado. In the depths of winter. I truly do not think I have ever been so cold. How we got there I cannot remember, but I know we had difficulties getting home. A cab was eventually called and because I was the last stop I ended up paying the majority of the fare. Plus I left my trick or treat bucket there, which had a condom, a few fun-size candy bars, and a bunch of left-over pool game quarters in it. And the next day I woke up with a cold. But I had the time of my life; it has, so far, been the best Halloween ever and I wouldn’t change a thing about that night (well, I would have liked to have used the condom, but no biggie).