Yesterday being a holiday (yes, Halloween counts as a holiday!) I was all into the spirit of things. I decorated for Halloween on Sept. 11th (though I think that was more to avoid watching any more 9/11 anniversary coverage and emptying my eyes of any tears that might still be hiding in there). I was prepared for Halloween. Back when I was doing my principal thing I would read Piggie Pie to each class as they rotated through the library. They all seemed to enjoy that. Not coincidentally, while reminiscing about those days the light bulb above my head flickered a bit and then came on and shined brightly. I decided to offer "Gritch the Witch" and Piggie Pie to my oldest grandson's teacher. She readily took me up on my offer and so Oct. 31st arrived and I was ready.
I know that I have talked about not being able to sleep before. It's just something I sometimes do. Or don't do, as is the case here. Anyway...I awoke around 4:00 a.m. and could not go back to sleep. Finally, around 4:30 I got up, put a roast in the crock pot, blogged, piddled, etc. until 6:00 a.m. At 6:00 a.m. the transformation began. I began the makeup process for becoming Gritch the Witch. The actual process doesn't take as much time as I had, so I decided that I would leave "in time" to go to Brookshires and purchase some dry ice. I said "in time" because I actually left waaaayyyyy tooooooo early! After going from "plain old me" to green skin, to blackened eyes, to warts on nose and chin, I added orange and black tights, my witches shoes (actually black ankle boots...which hurt my feet like crazy!), shorts and a t-shirt, a long black robe and my pointy hat...complete with gray stringy hair. I was quite fetching if you ask me. My yorkie, Beau, didn't agree. I scared him and he barked at me.
Not to be discouraged by Beau's reaction, I grabbed my cauldron and headed out the door.
Walking in Brookshires, I encountered an older gentleman who felt it necessary to pretend that he was scared and then proceed to tell me that his wife is named Glenda (like the good witch in Wizard of Oz) and she always says, "Well, at least I'm a good...witch. Here he paused and placed emphasis on the "w" in witch. Moving on I found a young clerk who was really impressed with my costume and who got my dry ice collected and checked me out. While at the register, the bread man came by to talk and the older gentleman wandered back by. I said, "Sir, tell Glenda that Gritch said Happy Halloween" and then I did my witch cackle. You know, like the wicked witch in Oz. The bread man jumped back and said, "Oh...that was good." They were still talking about how good the cackle was as I left the store.
Moving on, I drove to Plano because that's where Trenton attends school. I had left home early to stop at the store and because I was expecting traffic. No real traffic existed so I arrived in Plano a full hour before I was expected at the school. On a whim, I decided to see if my son-in-law was at work. He was. I parked and quietly entered the building. I could hear Scott's voice and knew he was on the phone with a client so I waited quietly in the lobby. There was no one else around. Once I heard Scott say, "bye," I stepped to his office doorway. He looked up and then just looked at me. Didn't say anything...until I said, "Are you busy?" Then he acknowledged me. It seems he didn't recognize his mother-in-law! He said, "I knew that I knew you...but I thought you might be somebody from here at work." We talked for a few minutes, took a pic for posterity and then I wished him Happy Halloween and headed out the door.
My next stop...Forman Elementary. I checked in at the office and headed down the hallway...gathering stares and smiles along the way. When I got to the classroom a wonderfully helpful and friendly staff member made the teacher aware that I had arrived and got me comfortable situated in the teachers' lounge until my appointed hour. Once my time arrived, I entered the room in character (complete with witch voice) and told the story (and showed the pictures because that's what you do in elementary school!) of Gritch the Witch and her desperate, yet futile search for eight plump piggies for Piggie Pie. I remained in character and voice throughout the entire story. The kids were great! The listened and pretended to be scared. They pointed out the trickery of the pigs as they fooled me into thinking they were chickens, ducks, cows and even Old McDonald himself. They were trying to help me find those piggies. At the end of the story I segued into a bit where I told the kids that all this talk about Piggie Pie had made me desperately hungry. Knowing that I would be unable to find piggies, I needed something else...like Third Grader Gumbo. I removed "the eye of a very large fly, three belly hairs of a possum and two shakes of a rattlesnake's rattle from my cauldron (where my dry ice was hiding) and added the blood of an angry vampire bat (red water). My cauldron began to fog as I turned on the kids and said, "Now...I need a delicious third grader and my gumbo will be complete." Hands shot into the air...the boys, of course. Thankfully Trenton's hand was up so I called on him. ::insert side note here...Trenton had waved at me when I entered the room so I wasn't sure if he knew who I was or not...:: I chose Trenton and he came up and stood beside me. He wouldn't even look at me and his face was blood red. I said (still in Gritch's voice), "Little boy, would you like to join me for lunch?" Still not looking at me he just shook his head yes...but it was a vigorous shake. I then said, "Little boy, would you like to BE my lunch?" Again the vigorous positive head shake. Then I said...still in character...,"Little boy, would you like to introduce your Nana to your class?" Still looking at the floor he said, "I can't. She's not here." AHA!!! I had him!!! Gritch said, "She's not?" Trenton said, "No." Then in my voice I said, "Are you sure she's not here?" Imagine my surprise when he said, "No, she lives in Rockwall." Laughing I said, "Trenton...look at me." He finally made eye contact, but I don't think that he made the connection until I took off the pointy hat with the built in stringy gray hair. Then, of course, he was embarrassed. To smooth the way, I said, "Boys and girls, I am Trenton's Nana and I don't usually have green skin." They giggled.
It was time to go so that they could continue their learning so I left some Halloween erasers for them and packed up my cauldron. Trenton's teacher took a picture of the two of us together and Trenton carried my cauldron to the hallway for me. On the way I said, "Trenton? When did you figure out that it was me?" He ducked his head and said, "At the end." I snickered, hugged him goodbye, wished him a good day and left.
Chalk up another victory for Gritch the Witch. Now, if you happen across eight plump piggies that I could use for some delicious Piggie Pie ... AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
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