The Governor has declared no trick-or-treating till Monday, Nov. 5th.
We made the classic ghost with a sheet with a pair of scissors for the 4 year old, and my 8 year old has forgotten about his "army man" costume upstairs with the black leather combat boots (size 3 - I couldn't believe it either!) And, although we have power, the doorbell has not rung.
Traditionally, we have one of the "Haunted Houses" that people drive to visit. Last year after Irene, we had a generator running to play Bach organ music and power the strobe and spot lights outside, while we ate pizza by candlelight inside. It was a fun power outage then. . .
This year it didn't matter that we were one of the few who retained electrical power. The streets are empty. The fearful winds, dangerous downed power lines, and tragedy of this year's Super Storm were too real for fake spookiness to be enjoyed.
So, I sit here in Northern Jersey, in a relative oasis of normalcy (having power), posting and reading on Daily Kos, waiting for next Monday, when my children will dress up: one as a ghost and the other in head to toe camo and wonder if the world will be able to handle the irony of their costumes while the National Guard searches for bodies submerged under an ocean that reached beyond its boarders temporarily, but just long enough to be truly frightening.
I don't think we'll be complaining about kids without costumes, or late night doorbell rings this year. And frankly, I hope we run out of candy.