Another Year of Being That Book Guy on Mt. Pleasant. It's Amazing the Conversations It Strikes Up with Parents, While Kids Are Like, "WHERE'S MY #$#@$ CANDY?"

I had to close shop by 7:30. I pulled 200 books from my shelves and was on my third bag of candy, when I put the lights out. There were people on the street for another hour (I have no idea how anyone had anything left to give)

Two things I noticed this year: (1) very few houses in the neighborhood handed out candy and they left their lights off and (2) more and more people arrive via trucks and mini-vans. The car doors would open and they'd exit as if clowns in a circus car...they just kept coming.

I know it is nerdy to size up a kid, the costume, and the approximate age to hand out the right book, but that's the game for me. Sometimes I think I have the perfect match, and other times I'm way off, I'm sure. My favorite is when teenagers are taking their little siblings out and are waiting at the end of the driveway. "Yo, you have books for teens, too?" and when I say yep, they sprint forward and ask, "Can I have more than one?"

There are parents, however, who are ungrateful, and many of them come up and take a wad of candy for themselves. It really is something. 

And I was very aware of the number of families who walked up and smelled like unwashed clothes -- like weeks and weeks of indoor cooking, wear and tear, pubescent sweat, but not soap and water. I've not noticed this before, but it came to the doorway before some of the kids did. 

Of course, by 8 p.m. wanderlust (wanderlust?) tweens and teens hit the street using the F-bomb freely, pushing each other into the road, and screaming at the top of their lungs. There were no lights on at this point, so I'm unsure who they were entertaining or if they wanted candy.

One girl dressed as a princess asked if I had any books about dinosaurs or dragons. "I love those," she said. I gave her a book on unicorns and she left, but then I found one on dragons in my stack and ran after her and her mothers. "Hey, I found a dragon story for you, but it's a little older, so you'll have to have someone read it to you."

I have now decluttered my home, and know full well that my offices at Fairfield need trick or treaters to come their way, too. It sort of is hard to depart with books, and many kids seem confused, but when a kid yells to his parents, "Whoa! I got a book!" it makes everything better. I'm also hoping that a few kids will come down from their candy high to read a few chapters and realize, "Wait. This is sort of cool."

It's November again, everyone. Crazy how this continues to keep happening. Who's putting out Christmas decorations this week?