“Sweetie, now are you sure you don’t want to take your glasses off for tonight?”
I shake my head firmly. Mom sighs and casts her eyes to her sewing machine, as if to suggest that her hours dedicated to my Indiana Jones costume were a waste. Stepping in, Dad chides her for her competitiveness, reminding Mom that it’s only a Halloween costume.
My prescription isn’t actually that bad. Even though I’ve been wearing glasses since I was 6, I can see well enough without them to get by for a few hours. And yet, there’s absolutely no way I’m leaving them at home.
Not tonight of all nights.
The evening’s trick-or-treating starts off being mostly uneventful. As usual, I go from door to door with my younger sister, eagerly collecting our fill of sugary treats.
Before we can reach the last house on the street, however, we run directly into a band of neighbourhood kids. Dressed to the nines as ghouls, witches and the like, they respond to me with their standard greeting. A fist strikes me hard across the face, sending me crashing to the ground and my glasses skittering sideways. Pointing and laughing, the bullies unleash taunt after taunt.
“Had a feeling we’d see you here, nerd!”
“No explorer I know wears glasses, geek!
“You should have come as an alien instead, four-eyes!”
After crushing my basket under their feet, my tormenters take off towards the final house, clutching fistfuls of stolen candy. My little sister, mortified, runs straight home.
Unbothered, I gather my spectacles and polish them against my sleeve. Just like I do at the end of every Halloween, I sneak towards the break in Mr Tillman’s fence, positioning myself directly in front of his living room window.
From my vantage point, I can’t see what’s going on at the door- but I can hear the doorbell. I hear Mr Tillman greet my neighbourhood “friends” and hear their impish cackles turn to horrified screams. I hear the swishing of tentacles, the snapping of beak and the scraping of fingernails against floorboards. And finally, as the turmoil moves into the living room, I see…everything.
For the next hour, I sit back and watch with pleasure as my favourite neighbour devours some treats of his very own.
I know that wearing glasses while trick-or-treating can be an awful hassle.
But some things are just worth viewing in HD.
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Credits
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