"Goblin' Goodies"

October 1995

Has anyone noticed a wonderful change in the season going on over the past week or so, the crisp, cool breezes, golden afternoon sunlight and spectacular sunsets? Fall has finally arrived in Southern California and all these Autumnal signs rally my mind to but one thought, Milk Duds.

That's right! Autumn and Halloween goodies have, from an early age, become inextricably melded in my mind as one experience for all time. With each cool breeze comes the sensation of the chill experienced through a flimsy Collegeville costume as I adopted the persona of Casper or Yogi or a little "Wishnik" and scampered around in the cool night air. Golden afternoon sunlight harkens back to the anticipation and excitement felt in the time between getting home from school and the sunset's heralding the beginning of our annual neighborhood sojourn towards a sugary stupor.

After hours of pan handling door to door it was always our tradition to return home and begin the important task of categorizing our loot by type and desirability. This process also afforded us the opportunity to negotiate trade with our ghoulish cohorts helping us achieve our highest desirability quotient. This ritual always began with overturning one's vessel, be it a grocery bag, a plastic pumpkin, a pillow case or one of those wimpy plastic Trick or Treat bags that you got from your parents, (the latter of which was usually reserved for those social outcasts who also took to using a book bag or one of those plaid lunch boxes well beyond their peer deemed propriety) thus allowing the "rec. room" floor to become strewn with plunder. Piles of treats in descending order. Chocolate=Good, Licorice=Bad and a wide grey area in the middle.

The "A" pile consisted of "Big Ticket" items like Snickers (a primo treat in the days before Fun size, Bite size and new Microscopic size), caramel apples (the Cadillac of which is a brand called "Affy Tapples", a delectably tart green apple coated in smooth caramel and rolled in chopped nuts), Baby Ruth, Krackle, M & Ms, Nonpar.....Nonparrey......Nonpaerells....ehhh....Snow Caps and the like, as well as a couple of wrappers from the stuff that was just too good to wait for, (all high-end chocolate items of a covetous nature).

The "B" pile was reserved for candy corn (does anyone detect even the slightest difference in the taste of the ones with the white on the tip as apposed to the brown?), Sugar Daddies (one of which, carefully paced, could last until Easter), bits o' Bit-O'-Honey, Mary Janes and Milk Duds (all surely designed to extract any loose fillings that may be rattling around in the dark recesses of your mouth), and chunks of Chunky, (relegated to the "B" pile solely due to it's superfluous inclusion of raisins.

And speaking of raisins, the "C" pile became the realm of the well-intentioned "home grown" treats. Fruit, nuts, popcorn balls and cookies; all thoughtful, personal gestures of love, but how could these misguided souls, spending the days before Halloween in their kitchens working their fingers to the bone, compete with the formidable mechanized forces of Hershey, M & M/Mars, or Nestles? The poor things! For all that selfless work, they never really stood a chance when it came to treats.

Lowest of the Food (and I use the term loosely), Chain are the "D" list items. These were the things that everyone tried to pawn off on unsuspecting younger siblings, ("I'll trade you all five "Dots" for only one Three Musketeers"). Necco Wafers (a disgusting roll of chalky flavored wafers the worst of which is the grey licorice one), Circus Peanuts (large, ghastly orange, peanut-shaped candies with a distinctly fake banana flavor. Try imagining a mind that could come up with that one), Gumdrops (these may have been good in the 1800's, when there was no candy competition, but today, ugh!), Twizzlers, and Good and Plenty (no matter what color or shape it's still licorice and I say no, thank you very much.

And still, after the confectionery collation there would always be a couple of odds and ends that were impossible to place in a category. Little toys, stickers, religious pamphlets and, what's this, a business card for the Dentist who lives on the next block. Now there's an enterprising individual!

Now a days, autumn has become a time of reflection and renewal for me. A moment to take pause and try to put things into perspective before the frantic rush of the holidays comes crashing in. The imminent approach of this season and Halloween continues to hold a feeling of great fun and anticipation, but then, all these reminiscences come with a sort of nostalgic melancholia as well. Warm thoughts of a time when the smell of burning leaves was not an ecological offense. When it was safe for children to go out hand-in-hand with their friends into the evening armed with nothing more than a flashlight and the giddy expectation of goodies to come. When the lack of "treats" led to the harmless "trick" of soap on a car window or suds in a neighborhood fountain. A time when you could accept a cookie, candy or an apple from a neighbor, never questioning it's origin or contents, and it is my sincerest hope for future generations that we may someday return to a simpler way of life.

"Back to the cupboard with 'ya now",

Dave Pruiksma