But not this year. Call it the weather, call it exhaustion, either way, he chose not to participate. To ensure no callers, he turned out all the lights in the house, drew the blinds, turned off the porch light, and even drug the wrought-iron bench which sits on the porch in front of the door. They weren't disturbed all evening.
It wasn't until the next morning that my mother found in the small town paper, a full page announcement with a photograph of every registered sex offender in the county and the clear instruction: "IF YOU ARE A REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER TURN OFF YOUR PORCH LIGHT DURING HALLOWEEN."
I arrived home, changed into something warm, and