Happy Specter

Now there’s a Happy Specter! A Grinning Ghost! A Zippy Zombie! An Eerily Ecstatic Ectoplasm! A Frisky Phantom! A member of the UnSad UnDead!

And why shouldn’t this apparition be ‘appy? It’s nearing that time of year, the chill days of fall when the leaves turn and the bats come out to play. When the damp dew of a dusky morn drapes the tilted headstones with reflective beads. When it seems every fence is missing a slat or two, and every gate hinge demands oiling. When the skitter and scrape of a dry old tree branch against the attic pane makes all your nape-hairs stand on end. When a howl from the hills starts hearts hammering. When the husky crunch of summer’s cornstalks and fall’s forgotten leaves punctuate costumed children creeping through the shadows, in search of sweets and treats.

Halloween approaches. Our sparkly spook smiles and savors the image of all those little boys and ghouls that shall soon traipse about in shredded-sheets-with-eyeholes! So many imitators! So much validation for this vaporous vision!

(It’s enough to make a wraithly breast swell with pride!)