When I was 5, I was taken on my first hallowe'en expedition. I thought it would be great! Getting all kinds of candies and dressing up in costume. My family didn't live in town then, ( we moved out when I was 4 ) so my dad had to drive us in and dropped us off. He told us to go to the high school when we were finished because there was a party and a best costume contest. My costume was my dad's air force uniform, folded and pinned to make it fit my small frame. ( My dad gained a lot of weight when he left the air force, so it didn't fit him anymore. ) He had to check about the party to make sure we would be all right. We got out at the school and started walking around. I was the youngest, so I was a not very good at crossing the street safely. My eldest sister was collecting for UNICEF, so she also had to keep track of me. We went from door to door, begging for candies and I noticed two ghosts walking the streets. I thought that this was strange that two kids would have the same costume and walk together. I asked my sisters about it, and they concurred that it was very strange. I saw some really small kids dressed as ghosts and these were lead around by a mother or auntie, but the ghosts bothered me. They were going to the same doors that we went to and I never saw them open their bags or even ring doorbells. I couldn't keep and eye on them all the time, so I put them out of my mind. Too many delicious candies collecting in my bag! We kept walking and I noticed two ghosts on the street. I did a double take because we had just seen them behind us. How did they get there so fast? We kept walking and I saw two more ghosts. Were there two, or four, or six? I couldn't identify them, so I thought that I had got it wrong. We crossed a street and went back along the other way and I saw two ghosts again. I looked back and saw two more. They kept following us. We went to one door, and two of he ghosts went to the same door after we left, but they didn't ring the doorbell. ( I watched that time. ) When we went to another door, they were waiting to walk up the path to the door. I looked at the ones across the road and they crossed the road to join the other two. Four ghosts, exactly the same size. They walked the same and didn't talk audibly. I never heard a word from them. They walked in a line on the sidewalk. Every door we went to, they waited for us to leave before going up to it, and then they would return. I was worried about them doing something funny like playing a trick on us because I had heard stories from my older siblings about kids beating up on younger kids and stealing their candies. I didn't want to lose them! I wanted to eat them until I was sick! I saw them standing there, politely, and flew off the handle. I told them to go away! I didn't like them following us. They just stood there. My sisters both said they were rude for not speaking. The next door we went to, they waited again for us to leave. I told them to go away and leave us alone. My brother chimed in to stop following us. My younger sister told them that their costumes weren't very original Only the smallest kids wore ghost costumes. My oldest sister told them that she would defend us from tricks played by nasty kids. I said that all they do is walk along the street anyway. They don't ring the doorbells or beg for candy or nothing like the other kids did. My eldest sister asked me how did I know. I told her that I watched them. They just stood at a door for a few seconds and then walked back to the sidewalk. She found that most interesting. She told them that if they were here for treats, they had better ask for them at the doors. They seemed to take this as sign that they were playing the game wrong. All four of them went up to the door that we had just left and one of them rang the doorbell. The man who served us came out and looked at them. He commented that their costume choice was VERY original. What did they do? Get them in the same sheet sale? They stood very still. He told them that they didn't talk much. They didn't say anything. He asked them if they wanted candy. He told them to hold up their bags and he will give them some. They held out their bags. he gave them each some candies. They all looked inside their bags and it looked like their were puzzled or displeased or something. The man asked the ghosts if there was something wrong or did he not give them enough. I never heard the reply. He sure did. He looked at them kind of funny and then slammed the door in their faces. He wouldn't answer the door after that. He just kept pulling the curtain aside long enough to make sure that there were no ghosts coming to his door. My sister was satisfied that they behaved properly as true trick or treaters did and we walked some more. My eldest sister decided that it was time to go to the party at the school and we had to cross a couple of streets. I was slow and when it came time to cross a street, I just walked on without looking both ways first. I heard the car screech to a stop and I was dragged off by my siblings. My eldest sister held onto my hand after that. I felt something else, though. I couldn't be sure, but the car stopped early. When we got to the school, the ghosts came up to the entrance and refused to go in. I saw something in the high windows of the gym. It was white and it moved sideways a bit before lowering from view. The windows were on the second floor at least eight feet from the floor.

Interesting story. Very unusual.

Question: were you kind of a big 5 year old, or was your dad kind of small, or both, or was the person who did the folding just really good? The reason I ask is that if I put MY clothes on a 5 year old (and I'm only average, mind you), it would hang all over them like a bag ... although maybe the reason for that is that although I'm not tall I'm - what's the ephemsim? - big.

Dad was not too tall either. He was really skinny in the air force. My mum did the folding and she kept at it quite a lot to make it look good. I remember that she folded the sleeves outside in and then pinned them. She used to be a seamstress when she had a job and made all our clothing. She pinned the back so that it looked like it had two darts ( expansion creases ) in the jacket. The front looked like it had two darts too. It still hung a bit, but wasn't a bad fit. I was a lot skinnier when I was 5 too. I wore my normal clothing underneath. It gets cold in Quebec at this time of year. Most trick or treating is done in snow suits with the costume over them. It was really warm that time. ( Just below freezing at nine o'clock PM when the party started. ) There was no snow on the ground.

There's another part to this story that I left out. ( I had to rush it to see Jeeves and Wooster. ) The four ghosts had just gotten their candy and left that house. They hung a bit back after that. There were some teenage boys intent on mischief and they were going around and beating up little kids that were unprotected by adults or bigger kids. They took their candy as a reward. The police were patrolling the area as a matter of course and gave them a warning about their behaviour. ( The cop didn't catch them at it and they were not reported stealing and vandalising until later. ) They thought that since the four ghosts were dressed identically, that they must be some kids from the home for the mentally retarded. ( We had one in town. ) They started throwing rocks at them ( small washed gravel from driveways ) and calling them names. The four ghosts ran away down the street. The four toughs ran after them. When they all were around the corner away from us, we heard the yelling and name calling continue and then it turned to screaming and the four toughs ran past us. We never did find out what they saw. After about five minutes, we saw the police car picking them up because someone reported their bad behaviour. They kept looking behind them and they wanted to get in the back of the police car. My brother and I talked about this a couple of years ago, and we thought that this was very funny. (Ha ha ha! )