Halloween Soup

When I was a little boy, we lived in Marietta, GA. This would have been around 1977 or so. Back in those days kids REALLY did the trick or treat thing. This was in the days before the Razor Blade Apple and Rat Poison Popcorn Balls. Back before the Trick or Treat is not Complete til you went to the hospital and had your nightly haul X-Rayed. As we prepared the house to give out candy, everyone was busy. I was in charge of setting up the spooky sounds record on my "Hi-Fi." All the scary things had to be staged around the front door and everyone was keeping an eye out for "The First Trick or Treater." We lived in a neighborhood so they tended to migrate like herds of buffalo up and down the streets. With all of our preparation, one tiny detail had been overlooked: Dinner. And apparently it is not a good idea to use your candy as dinner. So we were in a bind. Suddenly my mother remembered: She'd made a big batch of her beef and vegetable soup a while back and had some still stashed in the freezer. It was easy enough to pull it out and heat it up in a pot as we worked. There were no microwaves back then, and we were probably better off because of it. You just don't get soup like that from a can. Big chunks of beef. Not that "stew beef" garbage you by pre-cut at the store, which is really just the scraps and leftovers after they'd carved off "the good meat." Lots of different veggies. Corn, green beans, lima beans, I think there was okra. All in a yummy tomato flavored broth. It had always been a yummy meal. But that Halloween, it was cold outside. And with the door constantly opening and closing, the house never really seemed to stay toasty. And if you were the one working the door, you caught the brunt of the cold air as it whipped in the doorway. A big bowl of hot soup was the best thing ever. I bet if all the ghosts and goblins knew what we had inside, they'd have suffered through the scalding hands, if we'd have just ladled some soup into their cupped hands. I don't remember a lot about that Halloween, but I remember the soup. Apparently everyone else did, too. Next year has Halloween approached, a request was made for more soup. And the Halloween soup tradition was born! These days isn't the same when it comes to trick or treat. Because the world is now filled with scary people, and not the kind of scary you find on the discount racks at K-mart beside the fake blood. Parents now take their kids on "strategic" trick or treating. They know in advance where they'll go and who lives there. Heck I have even seen trick or treating from a car. Mom pulls up, you run to the house and get your candy, then run back to the car where you're whisked to the next house. I miss the trick or treating, even though I am probably too old to go by myself now. (And who says there's an age limit on trick or treat anyway? I like candy as much as any 8 year old.) I miss trick or treat, but I miss the big steaming bowls of soup even more.