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Halloween CandyOctober 30, 2006 Some years only a couple of trick-or-treaters come to my door; I don't think there've ever been more than 15. Skiff Ave., however, is generally swarming with them, and Skiff is just down the road in one direction and an even shorter distance up the road in the other. Parents pile their kids into the SUV and drive into town from wherever they live -- I imagine down up-island roads where the lots are so big and expensive they don't have near neighbors, and the ones they do have don't stay much past Labor Day. Why don't they venture more than a couple of houses into the neighborhood? Maybe they sense that there's a there here and that -- since they don't set foot on these roads between November 1 and October 30 -- maybe they don't belong. Maybe I give them too much credit. Before she moved to Wisconsin earlier this fall, a friend of mine lived in Old Schoolhouse Village. This smallish neighborhood follows a horseshoe-shaped road whose two ends open onto the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road between the Blinker and the high school. It's centrally located and the off-road parking is good. Every Halloween dozens of big, late-model cars discharge costumed kids to trick-or-treat at houses where neither they nor their parents know anybody. The candy bill for residents can be daunting. I decided I should have some candy on hand, just in case, so I stopped by Reliable on my way to the barn. I plucked a box of dog biscuits and a canister of raisins for my cart, then some Sleepytime herb tea which I forgot I needed last time I was in Cronig's. At Cronig's the 20-teabag box was on sale for $2.99; at Reliable the regular price was $2.49. That's pretty typical. At Reliable the aisles are narrower and the selection less extensive; it used to be that it wasn't open on Sundays but Cronig's was, but now Cronig's isn't either. For the better prices I'll happily put up with the inconvenience -- and I see more people I know at Reliable. That's where I get about 80% of my groceries. Over by the candy section a metaphysical discussion was going on. Noting that the selection looked a bit picked over, one woman said she always bought the day before because that left her less time to eat it herself. "I only buy the kinds I don't like," said another. Asked I, "But what if no one comes and you get stuck with it?" A man was putting his haul down next to the nearby register. "Some years I don't get anybody," he said. His haul included lots of chocolate. "Where do you live?" I asked. We all laughed. At home I arranged my selections in a blue-glazed salad bowl: Hershey kisses and mini Reese's cups on a bed of KitKat bars. Of course I had to sample one of each, to make sure the quality's up to snuff and that no one's snuck in any anthrax germs or microscopic razor blades. Bring on the trick-or-treaters. If none show up, it's all good.
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