HEINRICH AND HALLOWE'EN

HEINRICH AND HALLOWE’EN

By Troy Lynn Pritt

Over the years, Heinrich the cat learned to hate Hallowe’en. When he was a young and foolish kitten, he ran around excitedly following first one group of trick-or-treaters and then another. He playfully chased the discarded candy wrappers blowing around in the yard. He learned that being a black cat had certain advantages on Hallowe’en night. He could hide behind a tree and jump out at a group of children, arching his back and hissing. The children would squeal, scream, and run away.

He discovered Hallowe’en wasn’t all fun. There was one Hallowe’en when some older boys decided to get back at him for scaring them when they were younger. Several of them came after him with Hallowe’en  masks covering their faces. There was a full moon which meant he couldn’t use darkness to evade them. They put him in a sack with several caramel apples. The more he fought to get out, the more the sticky caramel tangled and matted his fur.

As he grew older, Heinrich spent much less time in playing and more time in napping. Hallowe’en became a noisy interruption to his nocturnal slumbering. There was no place in the house to get away from the repeated sounds of the doorbell ringing, and childish voices squealing “Trick or treat”.

Last year, when he gave up on trying to doze, he decided to have one more fling at scaring the pesky demons. He slipped outside through a group at the door receiving its candy dole. Heinrich found a place to hide until the next gaggle of gigglers arrived. When they were huddled around the door, punching the door bell, he knocked over the broom. The sound was like the report of a gun. When the kids jumped away in fright, he arched his back and hissed like a Bengali tiger. The little monsters ran away in panic.