Post-Halloween Nostalgia

The day after Halloween. For myself (and the little bro's) it was probably more memorable than the costumes of the day before. You see, L'il Bro G had a completely different candy retention policy as did myself and L'il Bro B.

In times past, by now Li'l Bro B and I had scarfed down the more desirable treats, leaving only the remnants of such things as raisins and sunflower seeds. With stomachs heaving we would be satiated.

For about twenty-four hours.

Li'l Bro G on the other hand would inventory his loot. I'm not kidding, he would count and write down how much he had of each type of goodie and then decrement the count as they were consumed. He also rationed what he had so it would more than likely last until Christmas.

And of course, there was always the danger of predatory scavengers a.k.a. his brothers.

The Easter Bunny could have taken lessons from G. He would stuff sweets in nooks and crannies that the DEA wouldn't have thought of. He would have hid Mars bars on Mars if only he had the technology. Inevitably, one or two items would be discovered (after a long and purposeful search) and scarfed down immediately.

This would provoke a conflict when G found what was missing. And he checked every damned day. Accusations quickly followed by outright denials devolved into finger pointing. Then the first sugar-fueled punch would be thrown.

The damage to our dental work came sweets, but not in the form of cavities. A Hot Wheels track section could take out an eye. A thrown baseball could cripple at twenty feet. Noses were broken with a well placed throw of a Weeble. Thinking back, my dad could have saved a lot of trips to the hospital by buying Nerf products.

By the middle of November, detente would be enforced by dad invoking the tried and true ritual of "Santa only brings presents to Good Boys". This would signal the start of the Cold War.

Assets moved about in a byzantine method of redirection, falsified information and dirty tricks. Alliances would be struck only to be the victim of double- and triple-crosses before either party even left the room. The pall of fear and mistrust came a full thirty days after Halloween and went much deeper and invoked a greater sense of dread.

By the end of November, we had three powers fighting and aligning over a limited pool of resources, a la 1984. But December was close at hand. With it came candy canes. And G's meticulous record of the number and location of the same on the tree.

And we knew when the others were sleeping....