If you have been hanging out here any length of time you know I enjoy walking, and I enjoy being out walking at night, going against some occasionally strongly worded advice about the dangers of walking at night. Except for this particular night, and maybe one or two other nights, I have never felt like I would rather in my house cruising the net.

After driving all day, I stopped for the night in a smallish midwest town. I had been driving for longer than I wanted to think about, and all I wanted was a bed and a pillow. Or so I thought. I stopped on the edge of what appeared to be the older (cheaper) part of an old town. The part of town where the homes and businesses were decayed a little more than the rest of the uneventful looking town. Did I mention it was Halloween Eve?

I got what seemed to be a very good price for the night, a little under $25.00, and they promised a soft bed with clean sheets and towels, hot water, and  a continental breakfast in the morning, if I were up no later than nine o’clock. I was happy with the soft bed, clean sheets and towels, and hot water. They could keep their watered down coffee and stale donut.

I carried in my small bag and backpack which holds my laptop and a few books in it. I locked the door behind me, opened my bag took out my tooth brush and tooth paste and went to try out the shower. The water was hot, the shampoo was okay, and the towels worked as advertised.

Now I was hungry. I dressed and headed out the door to see what was open. I walked heading to where the newer part of town was, or where I thought it should be from the lights and sounds of cars in the distance. I figured there had to be a little coffee shop, or diner in the town, as it was still almost light out, they should be open for at least another hour.

Dinner was uneventful, roast chicken, potatoes, corn, coffee, and water. Too much coffee it turned out. By the time I was ready to leave, I was feeling the caffeine kicking in. So much for a long days drive. I decided to walk around and see what the town offered.

It was pretty much like any small town, a few streets, and small open city center turned into a day park. I walked around the outside of the little park, looking in the windows of the closed stores, seeing what they may have in the windows that was unique. Turns out there was not much I could see that I wanted. Most of the stores had displays of items people use on a regular basis. There was no undiscovered bevy of interesting trinkets in any of the windows.

I decided it was time to head back to the hotel, so I turned down the street towards the edge of town. As I walked I noticed the town did not spend a lot of money on street lights. That was okay as the walk over was level and uneventful. About the time I thought I was almost to the hotel, the town ended and turned into a county road heading somewhere.

I realized I turned the wrong way when I left the diner. I decided I could hook a left and come out around the street where the hotel was. There was tired tarred street with abandoned houses on the left side, and woods on the right, but no street lights. The good thing was there was no traffic either. I headed down the road, liberally taking up my fair share of the pavement as I walked.

About fifty yards down the road, I thought I heard walking behind me. I slowed down and it slowed down. I sped up and it did too. I was about to turn and see who was following behind me when what looked and felt like a large furry paw came to rest on my left shoulder.  “Keep walking”, a voice said. Adrenaline kicked in almost immediately and I started to walk faster in spite of myself.

The paw like hand had claws at the end. “A little slower if you please”, it said. I almost filled my pants as I made myself slow down and partially turned to see who ever thought they were being funny. What I saw in the darkness was not funny at all. It looked like a large dark cat walking on two legs. Only it was in the shape of a very strong person.

As I tried to comprehend what I was looking at, it said in that voice it had, “Trick or Treat,  a Fool to eat!” That was it, whatever muscle I had used a few seconds earlier holding back my pants from being filled gave way, and I was a soggy mess from my waste down. “They always do that”, it said in that same disquieting voice.

I didn’t know what to do as the hand-paw grip tightened ever so slightly. Think, think, I told myself. Yah, think when I could hardly keep from collapsing in a quivering stinky, soggy mess on the ground. Think I commanded myself!

“Trick or Treat”, ha, ho, how do you know about “Trick or Treat”? It was the best I could do in the middle of a panicked terror. “I have been doing this a long, long time”, the voice echoed. Oh no! I thought to myself, it has been doing this a long time. I am dead! Any second will be my last.

“What do you like to do when you are not doing this”, I asked? “Scaring people”, came the reply, “I like to scare people”. Think! I shouted inside my head. “How do you scare them”, I asked?

“I talk to them from the bushes. They can’t see me hiding. At first they think it is funny, someone they know, then they get scared and their voices start to shake. They always run away, sometimes whimpering! It is lots of fun, but it is over much too quickly. I don’t do it often, because they might catch me if I do it too much.”

To be continued….