Boo! Mike's Big Scare

There is a coffin in my closet. Painted black with "Do Not Open" in blood red lettering, it stands most of the year holding books downstairs next to my study. When Halloween comes, it joins several skulls, a disembodied arm, a couple dummy bodies, and an "Evil Bob" tombstone in my yard. All fake, all fun.

My boys have enjoyed my passion for Halloween all their lives. There have been home-made Halloween videos, spook houses in the basement and long nights trick-or-treating. This year, my older son twice has asked me when I was decorating our yard. His brother inquired as to what horror movie I was adding to my collection, another annual rite (The Grudge, I think).

This all has rubbed off on my nephew Mike. Last Halloween, he wanted to join me in "scaring the kids." I wasn't sure about adding a live ghost to my inanimate yardscape of horrors. But, what the heck. I dressed him like a couple of the other unholy evil ones lying about and sat him in a chair.

Not long after the trick-or-treaters began arriving, a curious kindergartener with mother in tow slowly approached my nephew. Rather than jump up and say "boo", Mike just moved his head a bit to get a better view through his rubber mask. That didn't bother the tyke, but his mother let out one long horrific ear-splitting shriek. If she were an actress on the set of one of Alfred Hitchcock's movies, I'm sure the master would have said, "Great, cut, print!"

That lady's mother, the kid's grandmother, was at the time on my porch, helping to collect treats for two other of their brood. The grandmother commented matter of factly, "I told her I thought there was somebody in that one."

After they left, Mike walked into the house. "That freaked me out," he said. Ditto here.