My Personal Countdown

Well, it's officially October and we're already -- at least in my neck of the woods -- well into Halloween season. I've seen some neighborhood houses decorated with plastic gravestones and inflatable ghosts for at least a couple of weeks now. My nightly walk with the dog has begun taking on an orange hue, as people have been tacking up decorative lights of that color.

Normally, I take some time in early October to start touting the notion of handing out comic books instead of candy for Halloween. I actually start usually in late August or early September rifling through the back-issue bins for ultra-cheap comics to hand out. One of my semi-local comic shops often has a long box or two of comics for a dime apiece!

I've been handing out comics at Halloween for several years now. The first year or two confused people: "What the...? A comic book? I thought you could only give out candy." But I've had kids come back in subsequent years excitedly shouting, "You're the guy that gives out comics!" It always surprises me how gratifying that is. I highly recommend the comic book instead of candy route if you get any trick-or-treaters around your way.

This year, though, the porch lights at Case de Kleefeld will be darkened for most of the Beggar's Night festivities. We've been super busy at work and I've been leaving later than usual. Plus the hour-long drive home, there's almost no way I can get back home before the doorbell would start ringing. I suppose I could put in for a half-day of vacation (since I've got a lot built up after NOT being able to go to Great Britain like I'd planned) but I'm still emotionally not exactly eager to go home to an empty house every night. The ol' "Honey, I'm home" bit isn't nearly as sardonic when the only one who hears it is your dog.

(And, contrary to popular imagery, my dog does NOT rush eagerly to the door when he hears me pull into the garage. More often than not, I have to call him by name to wake him out of his mid-day slumber, after which he groggily stumbles his way down the stairs, only then realizing that he needs to go to the bathroom. By the time he comes back in, he's woken himself up by chasing away an errant squirrel -- or bunny or feral cat or neighborhood child -- and the novelty of my returning home has decidedly worn off.)

Which is all to say that while many comic fans will be counting down issues of Countdown this month, I will be counting down the days until my house is pummeled with rotten eggs or toilet paper or whatever it is that kids ransack Halloween-less houses with these days.

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