Today, I will…
Listen to Halloween by Dave Matthews Band and A Nightmare to Remember (instrumental) by Dream Theater.
Think about the original Flatliners and how right-on-the-money spooky it was.
Try to justify waking early, in quiet darkness, with an astounding piece of writing, or altruism, or world-building innovation. (It probably won’t work, and my dreams were lousy, anyway).
Enjoy the crackle and crunch of dry leaves underfoot, coupled with the cold burn of autumn in my nose.
Recall when a gust of wind through leaf-stripped trees was powerful.
Dream about a house I’d build to look exactly like a woodsy haunted mansion, with purplish paint and crazy roof angles and twisted chimneys and vines and wicked statues. I’d put it at the end of a suburban street by the woods and host pumpkin-carving parties.
Dream about a similar house, all decked-out in Halloween imagery and decor, and make it a restaurant called Halloween. Year-round, servers in costume (nothing too scary) would serve delicious, family-friendly food with great names and nifty menus. Black cats would greet people on the front porch. Kids would each get one small souvenir. And I’d set the place just off a lonely highway heading southeast, where even the height-of-summer trees whisper to you.
Enjoy the decorations my wife and kids have put up–even the giant spider hanging over the front door. And when we go trick-or-treating, I’ll soak it all in, absorb and revel and sigh…and forget about being an adult.