Little Monsters

In anticipation of the onslaught of youngsters that would be coming to our door last night, I emptied three gigantic bags of candy into a large bowl and waited. Er, by waited I mean kept reading my assigned text for Thursday's seminar class. Promptly at six I heard the telltale sound of footsteps clomping up our front porch stairs. Adrenaline pumping, excited for my moment of blissful interaction with the neighborhood's children, I dashed for the bowl, and proceeded to unlock the three locks that keep our front door shut. I had previously made the decision to let the first group of trick-or-treaters help themselves to the candy, and after that decide if I would need to change my tactic and dole the sweets out myself. Unfortunately, the first group turned out to be a mob of about 10 kids, sans costumes I might add (unless they were somehow stealthily covered by their winter coats...). Like ravenous little monsters on a rampage to collect and consume as much candy as is humanly possible in one evening, they dug in and scooped up as many packets of sour patch kids, swedish fish, sweettarts, and M&Ms as would fit in their hands. Which, let me tell you, was a LOT! My attempts to stop the onslaught were thwarted in the sheer quickness of the mob, and before I knew what had happened, they were gone. Sam came to my side during the commotion, and we both just stared at the now half-empty candy bowl dumbfounded. Visions of turning out the lights at 6:30 pm ensued. But, as it turns out, we only had two more kids come to the door. And they, poor things, the victims of a newly established rationing system, only got a few measley packets of candy. With still half a bowl of sugary goodness left, I know my fellow grad students will be happy today :)