Halloween 2010

I totally forgot to buy Halloween candy this year!  I figured since it was a rainy Sunday and during a school vacation, I would be ok.  But promptly at 19h (7 pm), the doorbell rang!  We all panicked!!  What should we do?  Turn out the lights and run for the back of the house?  Answer and hope for the best?  Scream and run around the house like maniacs?  After choosing the latter for a minute or two, I settled on some really yucky candy that Nathan and Celia had rejected...licorice and candy flavors just unknown to Americans...maybe French kids were different!  There was a really scary skeleton, a cutely horrible witch and I'm not sure what the other kid was going for...They hungrily grabbed at the bowl of candy that I offered.  Then throwing out Happy Halloweens to everyone and they disappeared into the night. 

Not 15 minutes later, the exact same scene occurred again!!  What to do?  I had stupidly given ALL of our candy to those monsters!!  I yanked open the snack drawer and quickly rejected the meringues still left from Jeff and Janet's visit in July, the Melba toast languishing for eternity, the pistachios and slivered almonds that probably wouldn't go over too well...finally my eyes guided by some miraculous force lit upon the Pomme Potes...apple sauce in a really convenient portable little package that you almost drink like juice...  I grabbed the huge Costco sized box and ran for the front gate.  The monsters had refused to give up hope and were still there.  Maybe they had seen my frantic darting through the front kitchen window!  I apologized that there was no more candy and said I hoped the Pomme Potes would appease their monstrous need for sweets.  There was no grumbling, but only a Merci and Bon Soirée thrown over their shoulders as they commenced their assault on the dark house next door...Phew...another disaster avoided.  We feverishly served up the Sunday night roasted chicken and vegetables and fled to the back of the house to find asylum in front of some mindless TV leaving the front of the house dark and unguarded.  Not 20 minutes into the feeding frenzy, the doorbell rang again!  These French style monsters were relentless!  They did not care if the house was completely shuttered and dark!  They leaned on the doorbell even though Jazzy yelled at them to stop!!  We cowered in our chairs furtively looking at each other trying to decide whether we should confront the monsters once more or continue to tremble in fear.  The smell of the chicken decided for us!  Bon appétit and Happy Halloween!!