12-Year-Old Brandon’s Journal — Entry 13 — 10/29/1992

Dear Journal,

Tonight my parents get back from Florida. Their plane arrives at 8:41. I am beating my grandma at UNO. I lead the series thirty-nine games to twenty-five. I think I am going to win the total series. I had a four game lead once, but then I won five games in a row. Saturday is Halloween. I think I am going to dress up and sit in a chair at the front door. I will have a bowl beside me with candy and a sign will say "please take only one!" If they try to take more than one I will move and scare them.

I used think I was creative when it came to Halloween. I got the idea for this scare tactic from a neighbor who actually did it to me when I was younger. Except he was in a Frankenstein outfit with the bowl in his lap. When you reached for a candy, he would stand up. Terrified me.

There were some later times when my buddy and I would try to create a haunted house, but it always sucked. It was usually me hiding in the rafters of our garage with me dropping things on the kids trick-or-treating.