Scary Things by Michele Zurlo

Halloween is my favorite holiday. As a child I loved it because: candy. That’s the long and short of it. I didn’t care about dressing up or being creative. In the 80’s, I didn’t mind dressing as someone from the 80’s and calling it a costume. When I went through my goth phase, I dressed as a goth. One year my friend and I dressed as witches to pass out candy. This was probably my most thoughtful costume. I bought a hat, but I wore my own clothes. Back then, I liked scary things. My friend and I watched every horror movie at our local Blockbuster video store. We started at A and worked our way through.

In honor of that tradition, I’ve compiled a top five list of my worst fears.

5. Insomnia: The days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting longer, but I’m not getting more sleep. I could use a nap on the hammock with rays of sun peeking through the leafy trees.

4. Clowns: This has nothing to do with the recent spate of sightings. If a clown jumped out at

me, I’d probably run them over with my car. Someone once got me a large Bozo stuffed toy with a plastic head. My mom thought storing it on top of my armoire was a good idea. I spent years cowering in my bed, staring at that thing until I fell asleep. I was too afraid—even during the day—to touch the thing. My mom used it to practice giving injections when she was going through nursing school. It rotted from the inside and the head fell off. Thank goodness, though I’m not sure a headless clown is less scary. Years later, Mom got Bozo’s autograph for me. I do not still have it.

3. Bug hoards: I’ve had nightmares where I wake myself up because I’m smashing an endless swarm of bugs.

2. People disliking a story into which I poured my heart and soul. I think all authors can relate to this. It’s not your skin that thickens with experience, but rather your heart that learns to heal faster.

 
1.   Anything bad happening to my kids.

Today Halloween is still my favorite holiday, but I love it for different reasons. Now it’s a night when I get to be amused by fake horrors instead of the real ones. As I write this, my daughter just came out wearing an evil jester costume.

Happy Halloween! Love, Michele