Halloween in Brooklyn

In honor of Halloween, I decided to post another memory jogger. Do you remember this little episode?

In the olden days, one of the common Halloween pranks was “soaping windows.” You would take a bar of soap and draw all over the windows, forcing the occupants to wash the windows if they ever wanted to see through them again. This was generally reserved for the stingy souls who did not “treat” the trick-or-treaters.” Ron made an exception, in the case of the Meers family, deciding to soap their windows on general principle because, Shelia Meers, who was about Ron's age, was mean and nasty.

We knocked on the door and yelled, “Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!” The Meers complied, but when they closed the door, Ron went to work on their windows with a bar of soap. As we were walking away from the house, evil Shelia Meers began screaming, “They soaped our windows!” We fled the scene of the crime, by running across the street and hiding behind the mobile homes. We were home-free until Anna started crying, giving up our location. Mrs. Meers began screaming threats about calling the Marshal and having us all put in jail and Anna, being only six or seven years old, lost it.

Ron tried to settle things down by offering to clean the windows. Because we were all in costume, Mrs. Meers didn’t know who we were. And even though she was screaming at us, she was not brave enough to pull Ron’s mask off. “You was treated!” she yelled, as Ron cleaned the windows. She continued her diatribe while Ron was washing and we were watching. When we finally walked away, Ron told us that he was holding the mask on his face by biting it with his teeth.

Chime in...Do you remember?

Cracked Corn

Church Street, where we lived, gently ascended, over a two block stretch, to Mill Street. In front of our house, the ground sloped away from the street providing a bank where you could duck out of sight if it was dark outside. In the Hubbard's yard, across the street, the bank was even more pronounced and provided an even better nighttime hiding spot. This was important given the fact that we often needed to run and hide.

RD (I will protect his identity by using only his initials) got a hold of some feed corn, the kind that is dry and hard, and got some of the neighborhood boys together for a little nighttime trouble making. The boys laid on the side of the road, shielded by the bank and waited for cars to drive by. At just the right moment, they would pop-up and hurl a handful of feed corn at the passing car. A shower of corn would hit the car causing all kinds of racket, usually scaring the beejeebers out of the driver. Sometimes the driver would slam on their brakes, roll-down the window and scream obscenities into the blackness. The boys rolled around in the darkness, hands over their mouths, trying to keep from laughing and giving away their position. (I have no first-hand knowledge of this, I'm simply relaying what I was told.)

RD got more than he bargained for when, after whipping a handful of corn at a car, the driver not only brought his car to a screeching halt, he jumped out and went looking for the perpetrators. When he started moving toward RD, RD jumped up and started running. The angry driver ran after him. RD panicked and ran into the house (our house!) The angry driver FOLLOWED HIM INTO THE HOUSE! My Dad came to the rescue, threatening to call the police if the man didn't leave immediately! Because my Dad was obviously an important FEDERAL employee, the angry driver realized that he must comply.

Dad had some words with RD but I can't remember what happened after that. I will leave it to the rest of you to fill in the blanks.

Capture the Flag

Do you recognize the building in the background?
What was the name of the Scout Troop that met there?
What was the name of the troop leaders?
Do you remember Snipe Hunts, Indian Dances and "Tapping Out?"

Get busy and respond or I'll write embarassing things about you!
(And don't think I won't...does Mae, Wooba, Shelia and Glenda mean anything to you boys!)

With Love,

Brother John