Part 1
Giving up on any trick-or-treaters materializing on her front porch, Jennifer Matthews settled into the comfiest end of the couch under a fall-themed afghan when the first intrepid soul rang the doorbell. Taking a break from mindlessly scrolling through Netflix selections, the yawning thirtysomething made her way to the door in zombie-like fashion. Apropos for such a sleepy Halloween. More than two decades had passed since the holiday elicited anything more than a glimmer of interest. At least the entire godawful bag of seasonal “Cauldron Skittles” won’t totally go to waste, she figured, lazily unlocking the deadbolt
Chris let slip a tiny groan as he pulled the dusty Halloween decorations from their cardboard box homes. Some, like his first grade construction paper jack o’ lantern, had not seen the light of day for years. Any magic the holiday might have possessed at that age had vanished. Peeling his old artwork from the bottom of the box, Chris felt stuck himself - seventeen, living with his mother and older sister in a new town he could hardly call home, hundreds of miles from his friends in Minnesota.
”Where do these go?”
”Put the usable ones here in this pile and I’ll go through the others later,” Kari instructed
The humming line of eager Star Wars fans, many decked out in various stages of cosplay, snaked past the restrooms, around the corner, and terminated near the entrance to a lonesome theater showing the new Chipmunks movie. Despite arriving an hour early, Justin and Katie found themselves bringing up the caboose — at least until another posse of makeshift Yodas, Lukes, Hans, and Leias claimed the spot of shame. The young couple bided their time with small conversations that drifted off into nowhere as they stood sandwiched between a 40-year-old Boba Fett and a chatty Italian family all sporting matching Force Awakens shirts. The evening h
"I'm on my way, I'm making it..." - Peter Gabriel, Big Time
The walk across the front yard and to the neighbors' doorstep, basket of lovingly-wrapped baked goods in tow, felt like a miniature trek. In the age of instant social media communication, the idea of actually appearing at a stranger's door with smiles and well wishes for the minor achievement of simply having moved into the neighborhood seemed as anachronistic as the bun in her mother's hair.
“Mom, do we have to do this? Haley pouted, almost visibly shaking at the thought of missing a second of her boyfriend's birthday soiree. “This is straight out of Mayberry.”
Part 1
Giving up on any trick-or-treaters materializing on her front porch, Jennifer Matthews settled into the comfiest end of the couch under a fall-themed afghan when the first intrepid soul rang the doorbell. Taking a break from mindlessly scrolling through Netflix selections, the yawning thirtysomething made her way to the door in zombie-like fashion. Apropos for such a sleepy Halloween. More than two decades had passed since the holiday elicited anything more than a glimmer of interest. At least the entire godawful bag of seasonal “Cauldron Skittles” won’t totally go to waste, she figured, lazily unlocking the deadbolt
Part 1
Giving up on any trick-or-treaters materializing on her front porch, Jennifer Matthews settled into the comfiest end of the couch under a fall-themed afghan when the first intrepid soul rang the doorbell. Taking a break from mindlessly scrolling through Netflix selections, the yawning thirtysomething made her way to the door in zombie-like fashion. Apropos for such a sleepy Halloween. More than two decades had passed since the holiday elicited anything more than a glimmer of interest. At least the entire godawful bag of seasonal “Cauldron Skittles” won’t totally go to waste, she figured, lazily unlocking the deadbolt
Chris let slip a tiny groan as he pulled the dusty Halloween decorations from their cardboard box homes. Some, like his first grade construction paper jack o’ lantern, had not seen the light of day for years. Any magic the holiday might have possessed at that age had vanished. Peeling his old artwork from the bottom of the box, Chris felt stuck himself - seventeen, living with his mother and older sister in a new town he could hardly call home, hundreds of miles from his friends in Minnesota.
”Where do these go?”
”Put the usable ones here in this pile and I’ll go through the others later,” Kari instructed
The humming line of eager Star Wars fans, many decked out in various stages of cosplay, snaked past the restrooms, around the corner, and terminated near the entrance to a lonesome theater showing the new Chipmunks movie. Despite arriving an hour early, Justin and Katie found themselves bringing up the caboose — at least until another posse of makeshift Yodas, Lukes, Hans, and Leias claimed the spot of shame. The young couple bided their time with small conversations that drifted off into nowhere as they stood sandwiched between a 40-year-old Boba Fett and a chatty Italian family all sporting matching Force Awakens shirts. The evening h
"I'm on my way, I'm making it..." - Peter Gabriel, Big Time
The walk across the front yard and to the neighbors' doorstep, basket of lovingly-wrapped baked goods in tow, felt like a miniature trek. In the age of instant social media communication, the idea of actually appearing at a stranger's door with smiles and well wishes for the minor achievement of simply having moved into the neighborhood seemed as anachronistic as the bun in her mother's hair.
“Mom, do we have to do this? Haley pouted, almost visibly shaking at the thought of missing a second of her boyfriend's birthday soiree. “This is straight out of Mayberry.”
Heh heh. I'm a non-techie type who's been blundering around DA for almost a year now, and blunder is the word. You probably already figured out to Watch Areg5 and check out the folks who respond to his postings. That's what I do. Find somebody I like and check out the other folks who like them. You can get pretty lucky that way. As to getting Watchers, that's a big mystery. I write everybody who Watches me a nice little note (folks tend not to read long notes) and give them a Llama Badge. As of today, I got 99 Watchers. No big thing compared to some folks but it pleased the heck out of me.