Trick or Treat

When I was a child, at Halloween

I’d go out to trick or treat,

With Pam, and Sam, and Wriggly Ann

Just us in the dark, cold street,

We’d knock on the doors of folk we knew

And they’d give us a sweet, or cake,

But those who wouldn’t come to the door,

We thought they were cruel, or fake.

 

We’d look for a gnome, or garden tool,

We’d sneak right into their shed,

Stand up a rake, and play the fool

Stick a pumpkin there for its head,

And then we’d giggle and run away,

Go to the house next door,

And sometimes,  eating the proffered cake

We’d laugh at the neighbour’s roar.

We’d finished the street one night, and turned

To a place called Shady Lane,

It wasn’t a place we’d often go

For the folk there were insane.

They hated children, they hated pets,

We thought that they’d ate our dog,

Had lured it off on a misty night

When the town was covered in smog.

‘Let’s trick or treat the Lavorsky’s,’ said

The pipsqueak, Wriggly Ann,

‘Only if you will knock on the door

While we stand back,’ said Sam.

The house was dark, there wasn’t a light

And the Moon was hid in a cloud,

It loomed up there in the darkness like

A monster, wrapped in a shroud.

She knocked three times and we all stood back

Were getting ready to run,

With only Ann on the welcome mat

We thought he might have a gun.

The door had creaked and a hand shot out,

Grabbed Wriggly Ann by the scruff,

Then hauled her in and the door slammed shut

And Pamela screamed, took off.

I looked at Sam and he looked at me

As we both stood still, in shock,

‘Maybe they’re going to have her for tea

Like they did with our poodle, Jock!’

We skirted round on the garden path

Til we came to their rustic shed,

Opened the door, and there on the floor

Was Mrs. Lavorsky, dead!

Her eyes were wide, and shone in the dark

Her jaw sagged open and slack,

Her hands in a rigor mortis claw

Were raised, as if to attack.

And Sam had screamed like a little girl

(He never could live that down),

He fainted, fell right there on his back

On Mrs. Lavorsky’s gown.

Her husband didn’t know she was dead

Til the police came round that night,

But then he left her, there in the shed

For the hearse to collect, first light.

While Wriggly Ann was safe inside

Was stuffing her face with cake,

That Mr. Lavorsky’d laid on out,

The last that his wife would bake.

 David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

A very eerie piece that demands to be re-read, well done, good read.

[Tate Morgan]

I knew you would come up with something lol This is after all your weekend is it not? Well done That woul;d leave a mark on a child hahah Trick or treat sometimes turns on the tricksters doesnt it?

[Alicia Schroeder]

Bittersweet and creepy.. Kept me in suspense the whole time.. I love your writing :)

[R Smith]

they say you can't improve on perfection David, they have'nt met you! Great rewrite :)

[Marie]

Wriggly Ann must have been very brave or very greedy or both. Did she know about the corpse why she stuffed her little cheeks with cake?

[R Smith]

thank God you survived but smashing people's things, maybe you deserved it :)

[MomzillaNC]

Well… I must say, I'd not want to go Trick or Treating after that either! Great tale with a surprisingly tame ending, but a great kiddie scare!