One Halloween when I was around 9 years old instead of Trick-or-Treating my mom decided to throw a Halloween party for all of the neighborhood kids. My little brother and I were friends with every kid in the neighborhood, so the party was huge. There were kids everywhere. My parents invited their friends over, too. So the parents had their “hot toddies” while the kids played games, told ghost stories, ate candy, and had fun.

Sometime during the evening my older brother, who is six years older than me, showed up to our little party. He was all dressed up. We couldn’t see his face; He had a mask on and a wig, and a hat of some kind. I think it may have been a top hat. We couldn’t see his face but of course we knew it was him. And we all thought it was so cool that he was there. He didn’t say a word the whole time. I think he was trying to act creepy and scary but we all thought it was funny.

This carried on for about an hour or so. We were eating candy, enjoying the games. All was well in our little world.

Then the front door opened. And in the door walked my big brother. What? How could this be? Isn’t this guy all dressed up in the mask and the top hat my big brother? All of the kids in the room looked at my big bro with wide, surprised (and slightly confused) eyes. We were frozen, like deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Together, our little heads all panned over to look at the “other guy,” all of us simultaneously realizing the horror of the situation. The guy in the mask and the top hat, the one with whom we had been chummy all night long, the guy that we assumed was my big brother was not my big brother. The “other guy” was, indeed, a creepy weirdo.

This realization hit all of us at the same exact moment. The room was dead quiet. It was at this moment that the “other guy” seized the opportunity to say, simply, “Boo.” And then total chaos ensued. Every single one of us screamed at the top of our lungs and took off in every direction possible. There were kids everywhere. There were kids sliding down stairways, running in circles, finding hiding places, all while screaming at the top of our lungs.

Eventually I ended up downstairs in the basement where I found my best friend hiding in the closet, shaking with fear. We hung out downstairs for awhile and then eventually ventured upstairs again. We found out that the adults played a trick on us. The “other guy” was my best friend’s dad. Her dad was generally the quiet type and we never once suspected the “other guy” to be him in the least bit. It was a brilliant scheme. And I’m sure the adults had more fun than the kids that Halloween night.

*Note: I originally posted this in 2006. My older brother read it and said that he had no idea this was happening and was not in on it at all. I always thought he was in on the trick but he just happend to walk in at the right time.

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