Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Here’s the story that broke

Here’s the story that broke my heart.  Chad came downstairs to find his parents waking up in front of the television in their southern Maryland home.  “Did they catch the sniper?” he asked eagerly.  With exhausted relief his parents told him, “Yes they did.” Chadwick, joyous, started jumping, gleefully cavorting round the room.  (This will be the last year he pretends to still believe in Santa.) “Hooray!” he shouted. “Now we can go trick-or-treating!”

I’ve blown off halloween for more years than I cared to observe it as a child.  This year I will be thinking a lot about children for whom this opportunity is more of a gift than a right.  I used to wonder about drugged chocolate and boobytrapped apples; I never wondered if I’d be shot in the street with a sack of dumdums in my hand.  Time to enjoy the hell out of the event this year.