Halloween Cancelled

Sitting here on this Halloween, it got me to thinking about the last Halloween that I ever "celebrated." I was 10 years old. I was all excited about Halloween because I was going to be a princess. My mother had bought me my costume. I had tried it on like 20 times since I had gotten it. The Sunday before Halloween, I was talking to one of the girls at the church. Now, why I was talking to this particular girl is a mystery to me because her grandmother was known to be "Holier than thou." The girl's grandmother was always telling somebody how they were sinning. She worked everyone's nerves. I was telling the girl about my costume when her grandmother walked up to us. Every fiber in my ten year old body was screaming, "SHUT UP!" but my ten-year old mind was not hearing it. I wanted to tell the world about my costume. The girl's grandmother asked, "What are you all talking about?" I looked at the girl. She looked at me. I don't think she wanted to hear her grandmother preach a sermon so the girl didn't say a word. I didn't say anything either. The girl's grandmother glared at both of us and said, "I asked you all what you all were talking about!" The girl shot me this look. I felt sorry for her, so I told the old lady what we were talking about. The old lady went off. She lit into me for trying to get her granddaughter to sin with me. I spoke my mind even back then. I looked at the lady and said, "Look old lady, just cause you think you are almost as holy as God, don't mean that it is true. You need to go somewhere and sit down and listen to the word. You get on folk's nerves always preaching to them. Maybe you need to preach to your family some more then maybe your kids wouldn't be as messed up as you are." After I said that, I realized that I had went too far. The old lady grabbed her granddaughter by the arm and walked off. I knew that I was going to get killed, but I felt good, having told ole girl off. When I got into the car with my parents, it was deathly quiet. I knew not to say anything. I was waiting on my father to reach behind him and slap me across the mouth for disrespecting an adult. He never did. After awhile, I heard my mother laughing. She laughed louder and louder. My father looked at her and said, "That is not funny and you know it." My mother continued to laugh. Before long, my father had joined my father. They laughed until they got home. I was scared. I had no idea what was going on. I went straight to my room when I got into the house and waited for the worst whipping of my life. My mother and father walked into my room. My father said, "Shannon, you can't go around talking to adults like that, no matter how much you want to say it." My mother smiled at me. My father continued, "You can't go trick or treating this year as your punishment." My parents walked out of the room. I was so happy that I wasn't going to get killed that I had no desire to even argue about the punishment. About a week later, my mother walked into my room laughing and said, "Girl did you really tell Sis. Holy that she needed to go somewhere and listen to a sermon?" I reluctantly said, "Yes Mame." My mother laughed louder and said, "Lord, have mercy. You are your father's child." She walked out of the room after that. After that incident, the girl never talked to me again, although she would wave to me when she saw me. Her grandmother always cut her eyes at me when she saw me. I never had a desire to go trick or treating after that.