Standing at the door, I knew to expect the weird or wacky. My art teacher was notorious for dressing up in elaborate costumes to hand out candy on Halloween. The year before, he insisted on giving everyone who stopped by his house rocks. However, I don’t think I could have prepared myself for what happened when I knocked on the door. 

The door creaked open and I stood face-to-face with an ancient-looking woman. I smiled, said “trick or treat” and held out my bag expectantly. Instead of placing something in it, the woman (who I understood to be my teacher) looked at it and then started creeping toward me.

I backed up, slowly at first, as he got closer to me. My parents were waiting a few steps behind me off the porch, so I walked toward them. Once I got off the porch, I thought my teacher would stop following me. I was wrong. Instead, he reached over and grabbed an old-fashioned lawn mower and started the chase. 

I remember being terrified as I ran to our car. Behind me I could hear my parents yelling, my teacher cackling and the lawn mower roaring. When I reached the car, I got in and chanced a look back at the house I had just fled. I turned in just enough time to watch my mom take an almost graceful flying leap over the curb that separated her from the car. To this day, that leap is my favorite Halloween memory.