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White Satin Ribbons
Halloween 2019: Make it count
Yesterday was Halloween, my favorite holiday. True to form, I got incredibly excited at the last minute and turned into a whirlwind to get everything done. This year, I pushed things even further than usual, not even having bought a measly pumpkin by 4 p.m.
B., his sister Maria, and I were at my daughter’s tennis match at Merritt, a junior college up the hill from our house, when it dawned on me that I had no candy, no pumpkins, and the sun was already slipping behind the wooded hill on the opposite side of the tennis courts.
Nina was still warming up when I bolted, hurtling down the hill, jumping in the car, and speeding to the nearest Safeway. The giant cardboard boxes containing “normal” (non-decorative) pumpkins in front of the store were empty, but I found two adjacent to the parking lot, and one of these had a few forlorn, smallish pumpkins sprawled on the bottom. I leaned in and grabbed three, raced back to the entrance of the store, tossed them into a black shopping cart, and began scanning for candy, sure they’d be out.
Lo and behold, they had plenty of candy. Without a twinge of regret, I loaded the cart with ten or so bags of mini-Heath bars, Kit-Kats, Almond Joys, and the like and made for the 15-items-or-less register.
