28 October 2018

[Bess Tuggle] - Memoirs of Surviving Children: Happy Halloween!


Halloween is coming up, so I guess it’s time for some spooky, scary or silly stories.

“The Great Pumpkin” is the first that comes to mind. I love Charles Shultz, may he rest in peace. The Great Pumpkin isn’t really scary, but it’s a tradition for me. After watching the movie I want to snuggle with Woodstock, fight with Linus over the blanket, Lucy can kiss our rears and we’ll all hide in Snoopy’s dog house. Not sure where Charlie Brown is gonna hang out, but I bet he’s got the doghouse basement scoped out. I have to watch that show every year. Our dog won’t let me “Beep” anyone, myself included, with love from Lucy’s influence, but I’m sure Snoopy will be hiding to avoid the “Beep” if we all hang together.

Trick-or-Treating is the next that comes to mind. When my boys were little they each had home made costumes until I got a little smarter, a little wiser, or old enough to know better.

There comes a time when Trick-or-Treating is no longer fun. With houses in the neighborhood about half a mile apart, it’s a whole lot more fun to build a campfire, skip the costumes, the hike between houses and make ‘em “Trick-or-Treat” me on the front porch. They got more goodies at home and we didn’t have to take their candy to the E.R. for the free X-Ray before they could eat ‘em.

The most fun was the Halloween hay ride. We, pretending to be adults (names and ages of the guilty withheld, with pride, that the tradition is being handed down), took great pleasure in terrorizing the kids. All the kids. Sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, neighbor’s children… Any that decided to show up were fair game.

There was always plenty of hay on the wagon – bales to sit on, loose hay to play in and burrow through, but the tractor had a problem. It decided to stall out on certain parts of the trail, and each place it stalled was haunted. The ghosts and goblins LOVED it! They hid in ditches, sneaked through the woods and dropped from the trees, frequently with a chainsaw (chain removed) to add fright to the night.

Following the hayride there were always plenty of snacks around the campfire, smores, hot chocolate, mulled cider and a couple more ghosts and goblins ready to play.

Getting older doesn’t mean growing up. Happy Halloween, y'all!!!





A jack of all trades, Ms. Tuggle has been a Covington resident since the late 70’s. She's been a K-Mart cashier, cabinet builder, vet tech, office manager for a beef cattle ranch and water well company (where she was able to hold benefits for D.A.R.E. and Scouts), a court reporter, business manager, assistant at a private investigation firm, legal assistant, convenience store clerk, landscaper and elementary school substitute teacher.  Her greatest pleasure is being a wife, mother and grandmother.  Her stories are all real, and all names will be withheld to protect the innocent, and also maybe the guilty, depending on the crime & the Statute of Limitations.  

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