There are very few things that we dislike about Wolfhill but one is the lack of little children coming to knock at our door on October 31 each year. This year we plan to go into town to Bethany and Jeff's home so that we can give away lots of candy and see all the cute little ones in their costumes. This picture is of two of our grandsons Bradley and Ben. It was taken several years ago Bradley is now 12 and Ben is 11. Aren't they just the cutest bumble bees you have ever seen? We sure thought so! Ronnie has written a story about one of his favorite Halloween memories. All the grandchildren love Ronnie's stories so much that we have decided to make them available to others in the future.
"The Reluctant Robot"
I remember Halloween when we lived in town back in the late fifties. I was four years old and Uncle Leonard and Aunt Dorothy lived three houses south of us. They had four boys. Gene and Larry were in their teens and Robert and Max were nine and seven years old respectively. Robert and Max embarked before sundown carrying medium sized paper sacks and wearing cowboy costumes with hats and pistols in holsters around their waists. When they returned about half an hour later, the sacks were completely full. It was more candy than I had ever seen in one place at one time. I couldn't wait to go out and get my share.
Aunt Dorothy, who was always quick to get into the spirit of anything, had bought a robot costume for me. Robots were a hot item at about that time, but her boys were not interested in being robots, they were cowboys. Robert and Max had emptied their sacks and were getting ready to go out again. I don't know if they were going to the same houses again, or were going into new neighborhoods, but I do remember they they came back after dark with two more full sacks of treats.
The plan was for me to go with them , but I was having trouble walking like a robot. Aunt Dorothy assured me that the costume was only effective if I walked like a real robot. I had never seen a real robot before, and I don't really think Aunt Dorothy had. She had seen enough however to give me several demonstrations. She would hold her arms out in front of her and holding her legs stiff and straight, start walking slowly down the sidewalk. She would then stop and say"now you do it, just like that". I would give it a try, but I was not quite getting it.
Robert and Max saw right away that traveling with a robot was going to slow them down way too much, so they made a break for it, and I was left to trick or treat with Aunt Dorothy. We made our way down the length of the street. A very short robot strolling casually beside a grown woman walking stiff legged, with arms outstretched. I came in a while later with a haul of three popcorn balls, half a dozen pieces of gum, and about ten pieces of candy. I didn't think that robots were going to replace cowboys any time soon.
Aunt Dorothy is eighty four years old now. She is still full of life, and enjoys her grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Someone remarked recently that it looks like she wants to live forever. I said yes she does, and not because she is afraid of dying, but because she loves living.
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