Halloween: a Gun and a Girl

Guess which one was most dangerous.

It was an interesting Halloween night--I was 14 at the time. I decided I was too old to trick or treat, but too young to stay in. So after re-stocking drinks in my grandma’s store, I headed for the nearby sub-division to meet up with friends. It was a quarter-mile walk in the pitch black. Perfect for a spooky night. I never would have guessed what awaited me.

As I neared the subdivision, I heard a commotion near one of the houses. I rounded the corner of the house and saw a man in his 30’s pointing a very shiny handgun at four boys who were huddled together. I was out in the open and he pointed the gun at me briefly. Without thinking about it, I continued walking normally, gestured towards the kids and asked, “What did they do?“, as if I was not a kid myself. He turned the gun back towards them. I walked over next to him and he explained his mother’s house had been egged—and he was tired of her being harassed. I introduced myself as the grandson of the woman who ran the little store down the road (everyone knew her). I told him I’d talked with his mom many times, she was a nice lady (she wasn’t), and I was really sorry it happened (I was).

Then I turned to the only one of the accused I knew:

Me: Andy, did you and your friends throw the eggs?
Andy: No.
Me: Do you know who did?
Andy: We saw guys running that way just before we got here.
Me: Okay, you two go look for the other guys and try to get names. You two help Mr. Wilson clean the egg off his mom’s house.

Mr. Wilson put his gun away, apologized to me for losing his temper, and then they all did what I told them to do. Thank goodness!!! That’s when I realized if you act confident, people will usually cooperate. It all happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to get nervous. But I did feel shaky as I went in search of my friends. That’s when I encountered the girl.

She and I had recently started talking on the bus and at school. I had just started this new thing where I actually talked with people. It was a conscious decision to change my behavior. I’d been VERY reserved up until then. She was dressed as a flapper for Halloween. Being a gentleman, I offered her my coat. She didn’t accept--she didn't want to hide her fringe. We talked, walked with the group, and looked out for the little ones. When it was time to head home, she wanted to tell me something. We walked off to get some privacy. She said her family was moving out of state that weekend and she wanted to kiss me good-bye. It was quite an experience—my first real kiss. I didn’t have anything to compare it to, but it was nice. My opinion on that would change later.

Soon, I wasn’t feeling great. By Thanksgiving I had pneumonia, which led to the discovery that I also had mononucleosis and an enlarged spleen. One of the flapper’s friends confirmed she had mono when she kissed me. I was very sick. Our doctor wanted to put me in the hospital, but my parents were frugal regarding health care (you did not want to be one of our pets). I didn’t return to school until January--there were rumors at school that I'd died. =)  I wasn’t supposed to exert myself, but I joined the wrestling team. Boys have no sense!

Was it sweet that she snuck out of her house to kiss me goodbye? Or was it thoughtless to give me mono? After being so sick, I decided it was the latter. Oh well, at least it was a memorable first kiss--and it was kind of awesome to get a month off from school. See, boys have no sense!!! ;P

When you read the title, would you have guessed the girl would turn out to be more dangerous than the gun??? LOL!