Candy-Seeking Children of Adams Morgan Fail to Appall

Our block closes for Halloween so children can shake residents down for candy without fearing for their lives in the 6-8 p.m. dash for the last available parking space. The residents of our co-op do something of a tailgate for the evening, lounging on the front walk with candy for the kids, thus avoiding the horror of peanut-butter-and-chocolate-smeared ruffians running roughshod through our building. So color me surprised that of the hundreds of kids who made their way to our walk, a full 85 percent of them were polite--at the very least mumbling a thank you or "Happy Halloween." Not being one for the kiddies normally (I just don't have that much to talk to them about) I was pleasantly surprised. This would not extend to the little cheerleader making her second pass at our generosity who instructed me as if she was in the midst of a bank heist to "Hurry up, before that dog comes over." Nor the two full-grown adults walking around with backpacks to get candy, gesturing vaguely to a child in the melee who may or not have been theirs. All in all though, a delightful evening.

*Special props to the boy who couldn't have been more than 10 or 11 walking around in a horror mask and carrying a bag that had "Bush's Foreign Policy" scrawled on it. Even better? His mother insisted it was his idea, not hers.