Halloween this year was like all Halloweens – thank God

Del Stone Jr.

I don’t know what I was expecting – fire, pestilence, world-ending earthquakes. It is 2020, after all.

In truth, Halloween was like all the recent Halloweens. Here are the highlights:

1. I was afraid the weather would be chilly and windy, but it was perfect – temperatures in the mid-60s and practically no wind. No bugs, either.

2. For the first time in memory, a full moon rode the sky. Patches of clouds drifted across its silvery face, lending a spooky effect. I tried to take a photo with my phone but I couldn’t turn down the brightness and got only a white patch in the sky.

3. I went old school on the jack-o-lantern. I wanted to replicate the look of the jack-o-lanterns in “Halloween.” According to my niece Liz, I achieved that goal.

4. We got our first batch of trick-or-treaters around 6. They seemed to come in waves. The last wave moved through just after 8:30 p.m.

5. The kids, as always, were very polite, as were their parents.

6. I did not take photos of the trick-or-treaters this year due to the meltdown by the millennial mom last year. Pity. I used to love taking their photos.

7. The neighbors on the corner were having a driveway party and they were the belle of the ball. Every batch of trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood came by their place, as did some of their parents and even the bicycle cops patrolling the neighborhood.

8. The real must-stop destination was the Port-A-Potty at the house under construction next door. No. 2 was the dumpster near the Port-A-Potty.

9. We gave out the good stuff this year – Snickers, Three Muskateers, M&Ms, Reese’s Cups, Smarties and Twix. I only ate about five.

10. Mom and I had our traditional Halloween night treat – Little Caeser’s pepperoni pizza. Mom hated it. She ended up eating diced melon.

11. Pickups and golf carts loaded with kids cruised by. They weren’t decorated as often as in the past.

12. One kid wore a full-body costume depicting the human musculature. When I complimented him on his costume he said, “Yeah. Sixty bucks!”

13. My favorite costume of the night – a girl wore an inflatable dragon. It even had a fan running underneath – either to keep the dragon at full inflate or keep her cool.

14. A man wearing no costume approached and explained, “I’ve been designated as the bag carrier.” I filled his bags with candy.

15. What would have made it a better Halloween? A giant cooler filled with iced beer, a grill loaded with brats and a spooky soundtrack playing.

16. Once again this year I failed to get our Halloween decorations put up. I was too sick and there were too many things going on, what with my sudden retirement and moving in with Mom.

17. There were two fireworks shows in the area. I managed to catch some spectacularly bad photos through the trees.

About the author:

Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”

Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.

As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.

Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .