Halloween for the Tolleys was a well-coordinated effort to amass as much candy as possible before sunset. General Patton couldn't have had a better plan.
We would rush home from school, change into our costumes, and hit the streets. We would start at the Wallow's house to our left, and keep going, till we hit the busy street (Pulaski). Then we would cross the street and continue collecting loot until we reached the coal yard at the end of our block before heading home.
To change costumes and do it again. Same route, different costumes. You would think it was hard to fool the neighbors on the second time around, but we were in Chicago and it was always cold on Halloween. The were no princess costumes, unless you were a Russian princess. All of our costumes involved masks and gloves, except for the classic "bag of leaves" costume, in which you stepped into a trash bag, filled the bag with leaves from the yard, and tied it at your neck. Taadaa! Bag of leaves. All the classics, like "bum" and "ghost" could easily be adapted to Chicago's harsh climate while offering a legitimate disguise for further candy pillaging.
So it was pretty easy to repeat the candy trek another time. Or more. By the end of the evening, we had pillowcases filled with the stuff. Everything from gumballs to little mini Baby Ruth's.
You could tell a lot about your neighbors by the candy that they gave out on Halloween. There were the old people, who gave out coffee flavored lozenges and Werthers hard candies. Sometimes you had a bank employee who lived nearby. They gave out bank candy, those little mints that you got when you made a deposit at the bank. And nobody could figure out the people who gave out peanut butter flavored MaryJanes. Sometimes you got a penny or two from people who had run out of candy. But the prize neighbor was the one with chocolate, and you never knew who that would be.
But all of it had to go through the final judge, Mom. Your Grandma would have to inspect every bag for razor blades or nails stuck in the candy by Mister Stranger Danger. You would think that we would have noticed a nail hiding in a Snickers bar, but Grandma had to make sure. After she was done, she would end up keeping a few pieces of candy for herself, just to keep us safe. Was it a coincidence that they were always her favorites?
Then, it was time to negotiate. All of us sat around with our bags of candy, trading skittles for lemon heads, and jawbreakers for charms pops. Candy became currency in the land of sugar high, and chocolate was the goal. Whether it was a Hershey's bar or a KitKat didn't matter. It was chocolate, and chocolate was power. When you had chocolate, you could pay brothers and sisters to do your chores.
Halloween will always be a happy memory in my mind. It was a time for creativity and footwork shared with my brothers and sister and I wouldn't change it for the world.
