{"id":21199,"date":"2025-10-30T18:17:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T23:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/?p=21199"},"modified":"2025-10-31T12:31:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:31:32","slug":"trick-or-treat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/trick-or-treat\/","title":{"rendered":"Trick or Treat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-social-links is-content-justification-right is-layout-flex wp-container-core-social-links-is-layout-765c4724 wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-facebook  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61556140010887\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12 2C6.5 2 2 6.5 2 12c0 5 3.7 9.1 8.4 9.9v-7H7.9V12h2.5V9.8c0-2.5 1.5-3.9 3.8-3.9 1.1 0 2.2.2 2.2.2v2.5h-1.3c-1.2 0-1.6.8-1.6 1.6V12h2.8l-.4 2.9h-2.3v7C18.3 21.1 22 17 22 12c0-5.5-4.5-10-10-10z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-instagram  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/boudin_mcneese\/\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12,4.622c2.403,0,2.688,0.009,3.637,0.052c0.877,0.04,1.354,0.187,1.671,0.31c0.42,0.163,0.72,0.358,1.035,0.673 c0.315,0.315,0.51,0.615,0.673,1.035c0.123,0.317,0.27,0.794,0.31,1.671c0.043,0.949,0.052,1.234,0.052,3.637 s-0.009,2.688-0.052,3.637c-0.04,0.877-0.187,1.354-0.31,1.671c-0.163,0.42-0.358,0.72-0.673,1.035 c-0.315,0.315-0.615,0.51-1.035,0.673c-0.317,0.123-0.794,0.27-1.671,0.31c-0.949,0.043-1.233,0.052-3.637,0.052 s-2.688-0.009-3.637-0.052c-0.877-0.04-1.354-0.187-1.671-0.31c-0.42-0.163-0.72-0.358-1.035-0.673 c-0.315-0.315-0.51-0.615-0.673-1.035c-0.123-0.317-0.27-0.794-0.31-1.671C4.631,14.688,4.622,14.403,4.622,12 s0.009-2.688,0.052-3.637c0.04-0.877,0.187-1.354,0.31-1.671c0.163-0.42,0.358-0.72,0.673-1.035 c0.315-0.315,0.615-0.51,1.035-0.673c0.317-0.123,0.794-0.27,1.671-0.31C9.312,4.631,9.597,4.622,12,4.622 M12,3 C9.556,3,9.249,3.01,8.289,3.054C7.331,3.098,6.677,3.25,6.105,3.472C5.513,3.702,5.011,4.01,4.511,4.511 c-0.5,0.5-0.808,1.002-1.038,1.594C3.25,6.677,3.098,7.331,3.054,8.289C3.01,9.249,3,9.556,3,12c0,2.444,0.01,2.751,0.054,3.711 c0.044,0.958,0.196,1.612,0.418,2.185c0.23,0.592,0.538,1.094,1.038,1.594c0.5,0.5,1.002,0.808,1.594,1.038 c0.572,0.222,1.227,0.375,2.185,0.418C9.249,20.99,9.556,21,12,21s2.751-0.01,3.711-0.054c0.958-0.044,1.612-0.196,2.185-0.418 c0.592-0.23,1.094-0.538,1.594-1.038c0.5-0.5,0.808-1.002,1.038-1.594c0.222-0.572,0.375-1.227,0.418-2.185 C20.99,14.751,21,14.444,21,12s-0.01-2.751-0.054-3.711c-0.044-0.958-0.196-1.612-0.418-2.185c-0.23-0.592-0.538-1.094-1.038-1.594 c-0.5-0.5-1.002-0.808-1.594-1.038c-0.572-0.222-1.227-0.375-2.185-0.418C14.751,3.01,14.444,3,12,3L12,3z M12,7.378 c-2.552,0-4.622,2.069-4.622,4.622S9.448,16.622,12,16.622s4.622-2.069,4.622-4.622S14.552,7.378,12,7.378z M12,15 c-1.657,0-3-1.343-3-3s1.343-3,3-3s3,1.343,3,3S13.657,15,12,15z M16.804,6.116c-0.596,0-1.08,0.484-1.08,1.08 s0.484,1.08,1.08,1.08c0.596,0,1.08-0.484,1.08-1.08S17.401,6.116,16.804,6.116z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Instagram<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Trick or Treat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Don Raymond<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">You\u2019ll only get so many of these; try to spend them wisely.&nbsp; Wisely or not, spend them you will: the clock ticks inevitably forward, and the seasons spill their colors across the trees, regardless of your choices.&nbsp; Try to make the best of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">You didn&#8217;t worry so much about it when you were younger.&nbsp; Then, you were preoccupied with the coming night; hands jittery, nerves taut with the mingled mystery and excitement of the day, heart racing in anticipation of the sweet rewards to come. Your vision then was limited &#8211; not just by time, but by space: your thin rubber mask, smelling of plastic and sweat, has come askew, half-covering your right eye, and clinging to your face with damp sweaty stickiness.&nbsp; Giddy from lack of oxygen, you peel it off your cheek.&nbsp; You wince as you wait for the thin elastic string to break and snap against the back of your neck, but it never does.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">You peer around as best you can through the eyeholes, wondering what\u2019s taking so long.&nbsp; All day you\u2019ve waited as the hours crawled by, the strange October sun inching across the sky, waiting for night to fall.&nbsp; It\u2019s finally here, but the adults seem content to chatter among themselves, as if every minute that passed wasn\u2019t a minute wasted beyond recall.&nbsp; You pace back and forth across the living room, as if the impetus of your motion might impel them to action: <em>swish-swish<\/em> goes the thin plastic tarp of your costume, one hand clutching, as if it were a talisman, a thin and suspiciously stained pillowcase too threadbare to be used for any greater purpose; too sacred to be used for any lesser one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The time comes.&nbsp; You want to fling open the door and rush out in to the darkness, eager to be about this business, but instead \u2013 as always \u2013 you open it slowly, its hinges creaking, and peer into the yard.&nbsp; On a night like this, you can\u2019t be too careful.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Even then, you knew, somehow, that it was important to to bear witness: to stop and savor the burnt umber smells of the autumn night, to watch the shadows that flitted through the almost-darkness between the jack-o-lanterns flickering like uncertain stars in the suburban night.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Knew you\u2019d only get so many chances at this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Finally, exhausted beyond the limits of your tiny body, you trudge home, the sack growing heavier by the minute.&nbsp; Once you cross that liminal bridge to the smothering warmth of your house, you\u2019ll find in you one last bit of energy, enough to suffocate yourself in chocolate and peanut butter, spun sugar, granulated sugar, tart citrusy sugar, buttery sugar, and honey sugar, sugar enough to last a lifetime &#8211; or, more likely, about two-and-a-half days.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The time will come when you will tire of this, as hard as it is to believe at that moment, with your teeth glued together by malt and treacle.&nbsp; The pillowcase will be discarded by thankful parents and you\u2019ll find other &#8211; though not necessarily better &#8211; ways to fill this night.&nbsp; You\u2019ll trade this hallowed bit of equinoctial magic for the approval of your peers.&nbsp; Later, you will come to regret this transaction.&nbsp; This is normal; it\u2019s called growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">You weren\u2019t as conscious then, as now, of the changes each passing year wrought, on the world as much as you; that everything could change while standing still. It\u2019s a little harder to get up now, each time there\u2019s a frantic, arrhythmic knock on the door.&nbsp; You open it to the susurrus of fast breath and muttered conversations, followed by a chorus of high-pitched appeals: \u201cTrick or treat!\u201d&nbsp; You look over their heads, to the parents, like you, who wait in that not-as-mysterious almost darkness, and note while you\u2019re at it that the jack-o-lantern\u2019s gone out again.&nbsp; This might be a metaphor; it might not.&nbsp; Your hand dips and crinkles the paper wrappers of tiny candies as they slide against the slick worn plastic of a bowl you normally use for holding popcorn on movie night, now holding not-quite-food, in the not-quite-winter on this not-quite the same as any other day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">If you try, you can still feel the shape of something vast and secret moving just beyond the easy range of porch lights and litten windows; can still, once in a while, catch the ghost of a night breeze with the hint of that electric smell that filled those older nights, and that you still, years later, cannot identify. Spend these nights wisely, but spend them you will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Don Raymond<\/strong> lives in the hamlet of Alturas, CA, where he works as an accountant for the county, because his guidance counselors never warned him about that sort of thing. \u00a0You can read more of his work at Analog and The Saturday Evening Post. \u00a0He spends his free time arguing with the local wildlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>__________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"438\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\">&lt;&lt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/the-general\/\">Back<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To learn more about submitting your work to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/boudin-submissions\/\">Boudin<\/a><\/em> or applying to McNeese State University&#8217;s Creative Writing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/mfa-application-submissions\/\">MFA program<\/a>, please visit Submissions for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trick or Treat Don Raymond __________ You\u2019ll only get so many of these; try to spend them wisely.&nbsp; Wisely or not, spend them you will: the clock ticks inevitably forward, and the seasons spill their colors across the trees, regardless of your choices.&nbsp; Try to make the best of this. You didn&#8217;t worry so much&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[75,173,247,14,232],"class_list":["post-21199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boodin-the-ticking-clock-oct-25","tag-boudin","tag-cnf-2","tag-creative-nonfiction-2","tag-cnf","tag-creative-nonfiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21199"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21244,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21199\/revisions\/21244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}