Halloween Hide-n-Seek

Excitement mounted as evening approached that Halloween night. The flying witch piñata was filled with candy and toys and hung from the basement ceiling. The apple dunking barrel was hauled in from the garage and filled with warm water. Decorations had been put up days ago. This year the festivities were at Willy’s house. All the neighborhood children were looking forward to trick-or-treat, and to the party afterward. But it was the annual Halloween hide-and-seek that they were most excited about. When the clock struck 7 p.m. the costumed children rushed out of the house. They had three minutes to find a hiding place. Willy, dressed as Dracula, was ‘it.’

The half moon shone brightly in the clear night sky. Its light reflected off the layer of frost that covered everything, making the yard glow. Dry leaves crackled beneath the feet of the running children and swirled in the cold North wind. Giggles and screams could be heard throughout the yard. Wendy’s costume was a mouse. Wendy was only four years old but she knew how the game was played. The cluster of lilac bushes next to the back porch seemed to offer good cover. She stretched her small brown body to the cold ground to blend into the surroundings, pulled her long tail around her and trembled with excitement.

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Jerry chose a high perch from which to avoid the peering eyes of Dracula. He climbed into a birch tree with low growing branches. The leafless tree offered nothing in the way of protection from the cold biting wind, but that didn’t matter to this little hobo. He had his grandfather’s moth-eaten wool coat to keep him warm. It was the perfect touch to his costume. The hobo sat motionless and hoped Dracula would not look up.

Roger, in his red and yellow striped clown costume, decided the metal trash can next to the garage would make an ideal hiding place. He pulled out the half full bag of garbage, set it next to the can, climbed in and pulled on the lid. Suddenly, the lid came off. Roger looked up to see his sister in her bear costume. She was asking for his hiding place. He shook his head no. She stuck her tongue out at him and walked away. Pearl searched for another place to hide.

An over-sized pumpkin with skinny green legs ran to the middle of the garden. Randy’s pumpkin costume was so large that he could not see the ground at his feet. In his haste he stepped on something slimy. He slipped, falling backward onto a soft pumpkin. He sat down right there among the zucchini, yellow squash and other fat pumpkins. Tara laughed as she ran past him.

Tara had planned for months how she would win this year. She would dress like the scarecrow in the garden, pull it off the post and take its place. No one would know that was her out there. Now the time had come. Tara ran straight to the garden scarecrow. She grabbed its body and pulled. She was surprised how heavy it was. She pulled again and again, then stopped to rest and looked up at it. “Randy, come look at this,” Tara whispered. “This scarecrow Willy’s dad put up this summer, it looks almost alive.” She turned to find Randy, but he had not moved. Tara looked back at the scarecrow. She gasped and jumped back. “Randy, it’s looking at me!” She picked up a discarded fence post and swung at the scarecrow, hitting it in the head and knocking it to the ground.

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“Quiet Tara,” Randy scolded, “Willy will hear you. It’s just the moonlight playing tricks.” Tara took her spot against the post. She had done a good job with her scarecrow costume. Both were confident that Dracula would not venture that far out from the dimly lit backyard. Neither were prepared for what did enter the garden.

The warning cry went out, “Ready or not, here I come.” Everyone froze. Willy jumped from the back porch railing with a hideous laugh. He knew they were all watching so he flipped his long black cape behind him, then pulled one corner of it around his face and peered into the yard. From behind a nearby boulder Pearl burst into laughter, rolling on the ground like a circus bear. He tagged her out and walked away listening for others who might be snickering. Every few feet he stopped to watch for sudden movement and listen for snapping twigs or rustling leaves. The excitement of being the hunter, searching for his quarry, made him feel powerful. All of his senses seemed sharper than usual.

Now, leaning against the birch tree, Dracula surveyed the yard looking for possible hiding places. With all these dark shadows, he thought, they could be anywhere. A shiver crept down his spine when he heard the heavy breathing above him. Just as he turned to look up, the trash can crashed to the sidewalk making an awful racket. Dracula turned. The clown was making a run for it. Around the garage and across the yard he sprinted. His father’s size twelve sneakers flopped as he ran. Dracula’s cape flapped behind him as they hurdled the rose bushes, making him look like he was flying. Together they landed in a pile of leaves. “You’re out!” Dracula laughed. But the clown didn’t care. He couldn’t bear to be in that smelly trash can any longer. He sat on the back porch with the bear to wait for the others. Several times Dracula passed the lilac bushes, each time checking a different section of the thick cluster. The mouse laid rigid, closing her eyes tight, as if not being able to see would somehow make her invisible. Luck was with her again. He walked right past.

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The hobo’s legs were growing numb from crouching in the tree branches. He wiggled and slid along the branches trying to get comfortable. SNAP! Dracula jumped with such a start his whole body felt like one giant goosebump. With arms and legs flailing in every direction, the hobo landed right at his feet. “You’re out!” Dracula yelled as he reached down and tagged him. With all hope of winning now gone, the hobo pulled up his oversized trousers and limped to the back porch to sit with the clown and the bear to wait for the outcome. The scarecrow and the pumpkin had seen everything and fought to stifle their laughter.

Every nerve in the skinny scarecrow’s body tingled as she watched Dracula approach slowly from the right. Tara feared he had heard them laughing. She was sure her costume would fool Willy. She would not run unless he got close enough to see the garden scarecrow on the ground. Another movement caught her attention. She noticed a low shadowy figure in the garden foraging behind her pumpkin clad friend. The nutty flavor of pumpkin seeds drew the critter to the garden often. It bypassed the yellow and green squash in favor of the enormous orange one with seeds stuck all over the back side. An easy meal for a hungry raccoon. Tara could hardly contain herself as she tried to quietly warn him, but he did not hear.

Through the thick padding of the pumpkin costume Randy could feel clawing on his back. He turned slowly. His eyes grew large. A scream caught in his throat as he scrambled to his feet in an effort to run. Falling forward he landed on an over-ripe zucchini, leaving icky mush dripping from his face. Looking back he saw the raccoon lumbering toward him. His heart pounded as he kicked and clawed. He could not free himself from the tangle of vines which held him fast. The raccoon did not back down. All eyes turned to the commotion in the garden as an ear-splitting shriek pierced the darkness. Dracula was not sure which way to run. A gloved hand grabbed the pumpkin and began dragging him. “Get up. Get up and run!”

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“My foot is caught,” he cried out. With a mighty yank the frightened pumpkin was free. He looked like a creature from outer space as he ran in the pale moon light, with long vines trailing from his arms and legs. Puffs of white stuffing dotted the lawn with each step as he bounded toward the safety of the porch. Bending over, he placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “I know, I’m out,” he panted as Dracula tagged him on the shoulder. “Let’s go out for trick-or-treat before the party.”

“Aullie-aullie in free,” Dracula called out. The game was over. Everyone laughed as the mouse wiggled out from under the lilac bushes with a triumphant smile. Her pipe cleaner whiskers were bent in all directions, her ears hung over her face. The little mouse danced on the lawn. “I won, I won,” she sang.

“Hey, thanks for the help,” the tattered pumpkin said to the scarecrow as he wiped goo off his face.

“I screamed and ran!” she exclaimed. “Didn’t you see that other scarecrow get up off the ground all by itself? I was so scared I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. It helped you, not me!”

They all turned and looked wide-eyed in the direction of the garden. In the frosty light of the moon they could see the dark form of the lonely scarecrow where it lay on the ground. “Let’s check it out,” the little hobo bravely declared. Everyone started running toward the garden.

“Wait, I think it’s getting up!” Dracula shouted. “Let’s get out of here.”

As the children ran away in their torn and dirty costumes, the garden scarecrow rubbed the bump on his head and walked to the back porch.

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© copyright by Maryanne Hayes 2000. All rights reserved.