I grew up in a small Texas town in the 1940's. Everyone knew everyone and that wasn't always to one's liking. But sometimes it paid off. Like the Halloween when I was ten and had a hard time deciding what costume I would use for trick or treat. You have to know that I was the eldest of five and we weren't the kind of family who went out and purchased elaborate costumes for that spooky night.
When we were young Mama made us costumes and they were passed down to the children beneath us. But by the time I was older, I had to improvise, come up with my own costumes--like the year I was a hobo complete with Daddy's big work shoes, overalls dragging the ground, a flannel shirt, straw hat and freckles painted in black on the top of the red freckles I already had. It took some thinking this year but I finally came ulp with just the right costume.
The end of the war still had not brought much money into my small town. When you went trick or treating, you sometimes received candy but more than likely you received fruit from the local orchards, homemade cookies or popcorn balls wrapped in waxed paper. It didn't matter to us because we had fun trying to guess which of the masks or makeup covered the faces of our freinds. But there was one house we always visited. They gave money.
It was only a nickel but in those days you could purchase a Baby Ruth or Butterfinger candy bar, a comic book, a package of bubble gum with baseball trading cards, or an RC Cola for that nickel. These rice farmers (the Peltiers) were rich; at least we all thought so. They always drove a nice car and truck and went to Houston (forty miles away) to shop for everything. And theygave out those nickels on Halloween night.
On this Halloween I went up to their front door with my sack while my siblings and younger friends held back a little, sort of scared to be the first to approach their front door. I knocked, sang out "Trick or Treat" and prepared to receive my nickel. Mr. Peltier opend the door and his eyes were on the younger children--angels, bunnies and a ghost in a white sheet. He gave them a nickel each and turned to me. And stopped!
Then he began to laugh. When he called out over his shoulder, "Honey, you've gotta see this one," I can still remember my face turning red. Mrs. Peltier came to the door, took one look with wide eyes, and then her face broken into a big grin before she broke into laughter along with her husband.
Mrs. Peltier was a, shall we say, stout woman with big boobs. I had borrowed one of Mama's dresses, stuffed pillows front and back and belted myself in. Inside the top, I had used two of the biggest grapefruit I could find on Daddy's tree. I really hadn't thought about impersonating anyone, but there I stood.
To my surprise and delight, the Peltier's had a discussin between them and came to the decision that I deserved the prize for originality. Instead of a nickel, they handed me a dollar bill.
