Our three-street, 127-house neighborhood (subdivision is so declasse) is the "family" community on our island, chock full of young doctors and engineers pushing their spawn down the sidewalk-less streets in designer strollers.
Harrison Pointe (note the extra e to prove how fancy we are)was created (developed is a word for subdivisions) in the 90s after folks had discovered that land is a finite resource on this retirement resort island. Thus the houses are Levittown close and New Haven grand.
The community planner (not developer, you're starting to get the hang of this aren't you?) was likely looking for maximum return on the dollar, but inadvertantly created a trick or treater's haven.
House after house of guilty parent professionals in close proximity is a goblin's delight. Parents throughout the region have discovered this is the place to dump their children for a big haul. Police help with the crowds and residents are largely closed in for the trick or treat duration.
No one warned us the first year. Even though we had always overbought in the past, we found ourselves scrambling through the cupboards for boxes of raisins, coughdrops and loose change within the first few hours.
We learned our lesson and started stocking up with a few bags of candy each shopping trip starting in September. As with any major purchase, it was easier to pretend you weren't spending too much money that way.
We don't bother answering the door, but station ourselves outside listening to the Phantom of the Opera with Smokie the Lab dressed in her pumpkin suit.
One year it was margaritas, another champagne, tonight it will probably be wine again (you get a little parched saying "You're welcome" over and over again).
Four giant bowls (each would hold about 25 pounds of shrimp under other circumstance) are overfilled on the dining room table and the porch is strewn with candles and lights.
This will be our last Halloween here, so we're going out in style. No coughdrops or raisins tonight.
We'll warn the people who buy our house about the expectations associated with the property.
Or maybe not...
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Copyright 2004 Judi Griggs