Spooky In Sicily
A vampire, eyedrops (with bad side effects), and a cat walk into a bar…
Halloween is a big deal in Reno-Weberland. Part of convincing Theresa to move to Louisville was fulfilling a vision of scary movies, a yard full of decorations, trick-or -treaters.
The weeks leading up to Halloween are usually fall of decorating, carving, and assembling an ever-shifting array of bloody, silly, or over-the-top paraphernalia, (including a seven- foot animatronic butler named Lurch, who now stays up all year and is decorated by season).
Our rock star neighbors have come to play a huge role in our kids' experience, with trick or treating uniting the generally older crowd (organized or mobilized by our community chief John, for a specific "not too late" time) and the under 5 foot crowd who get to stay up late and OD on sugar. During the first plague year, we made elaborate off-site plans with our pod. Pumpkins were carved with enthusiasm if not skill. On years it rained, we got wet because…the scare must go on.
Previous years of Halloween awesome
With Theresa the the fam back in the States, it fell to the kids and I to self organize. We planned an all-day movie marathon + candy gorging with brief interruptions for lunch-dinner. Kids decided no' costumes. Many discussions were had about movie selections with a remarkable level of agreement on Black Widow and Hocus Pocus.
All week, the movie room worked for our limited selection of DVDs, but we could not connect for the promised Netflix. Our hostess kept saying she would come by to show us.
The movie room was clutch to our plans
I wasn't worried, just so long as it worked on the day.
Halloween started with the now normal (to us) gloomy rain with a new twist: no water in the house. My old school developing world habits reignited to fill a few buckets with rain water we had collected in pots from the leaking roof and from outside hoses so we could wash and flush.
Ava I set out to the bakery where we got blood covered (strawberry) cake and fresh bread.
Miraculously, as Sophia and I were playing with the movie room set-up, it started working! We loaded the movies in anticipation, and brainstormed a few others.
Paul and Ava wanted to hang out and catch up on school work, so Sophia and I went shopping. The candy selection was... not ideal, but I had squired away some emergency Skittles and Peanut M&Ms for just such an occasion.
Boom! This was going to work!
Except, it wasn't.
On our return, the internet had totally died (turns out city-wide from flood damage). In the States, this is not a big deal - off to Target for DVDs and order pizza for dinner. Except Sunday after 2pm in Sicily does not have either of these things. And the blood cake was terrible (to kid taste buds).
For some reason this combination of things compounded: far from home, not good candy, no neighbors/friends, no costumes, no movies, no pumpkins, no Mom’s insane passion for Halloween, no Lurch.
As we played our usual afternoon game of Euchre, it was the first time I heard any of kids say, "I want to go home."
It sounds silly to write it now, but that nearly broke me.
I retreated to the shower, sent some whiney text messages to Theresa, and regrouped.
Some WhatsApp messages to our landlady secured us at least one door to trick treat at (her sister, who lived nearby), which necessitated making costumes - which occupied some afternoon brainpower. The cell towers weren’t down so with a little effort (and a $100 payment to Verizon), I downloaded Hocus Pocus and Black widow (the agreed-upon movies).
Ava and I plotted a "candy hunt" complete with a map of the house with candy in each room. Kids were awesome with costumes - a cat, vampire, "Eye-drop bottle", and a Nerd (not hard for me) appeared.
We rang the bell at the appointed house at the appointed time gather a suspenseful couple of minutes with no answer, a lovely Italian woman appeared. Lots of mutual but friendly incomprehension followed.
A timely text from neighbors Rachel and Lucy Stack led to an hour-long costumed Facetime after dinner, which lifted everyone's spirits. We crowded around my computer for the first movie, which was kinda cozy. Attends, the twins were banished to their room, while candy was placed according to the house map, and another call with Theresa and cousin Mya kept momentum going.
Not exactly the big screen, but it’ll have to do.
Around 1130, some quiet snoring let me know the sugar crash had happened.
As Paul reflected while brushing his teeth, "not the best Halloween, but definitely memorable,"
Ok, I'll take that.
