thing was so shameful. Besides, this custom of Hallowe’en seemed strange to me — and a little bit scary. “I don’t have a costume.”
“You can go as a ghost,” he said. “Or a hobo.” He looked at me with impatience. “Those costumes are easy. Don’t you want free candy?”
I had to admit that the thought of free candy was exciting. And if I did go trick or treating, I would feel safe going with Mychailo. “I’ll ask Mar—
Mama
and
Tato
if I can go,” I said.
“Great,” he said. “I’ll come by just as it starts to get dark.”
Ivan was pleased that I had decided to go out trick or treating and he was especially happy that I was going with Mychailo. “You need to be a child more often,” he said.And he helped me put together a costume. I was a scarecrow, with itchy long grass from the far edges of the backyard stuffed in a flannel shirt of Ivan’s. On top, I wore a pair of Marusia’s overalls that were so old they were patched on the patches. Ivan used her red lipstick to paint on a scarecrow face. We had no candy to give out, but we did have a bowl of apples from Marusia’s farm that she had polished to a glossy sheen.
I could tell by the expression in Marusia’s eyes that she was less sure about me going out, but she pretended to be happy. She gave me an extra-long hug goodbye when I left with Mychailo. “Stay on this street,” she said. “And be home in an hour.”
One nice thing about living on a street with close-together houses is you can get to a lot of them in an hour. My pillowcase was soon full of treats: candy apples and caramel corn, bubble gum and peanuts. I dumped all of my candy out on the kitchen table when I got home. Ivan, Marusia and I ate far too much of it. I went to bed with a stomach ache. I tossed and turned all night and had a long and scary dream. In the morning I could only remember bits and snatches.
Chapter Thirteen
Mansion
I got into the habit of going to Linda’s house on Tuesdays after school and she came to my house on Thursdays. It was hard to find a place to play inside. Linda shared a bedroom with Grace on the second floor. They had bunk beds and a bookshelf crammed with old novels. I longed to look through that bookshelf, but the bedroom itself made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. I think part of it was because Grace was always there. She’d either be reading, propped up on a pillow on the top bunk, or she’d have a friend over and they’d be doing a project for school or something.
There wasn’t much of a place to play in Linda’s backyard either. It was nothing more than an overgrown strip of land on a hill with wild bushes along either side and a laundry line down the middle. Linda had a deck of cards and we tended to play Crazy Eights or Concentration at the kitchen table, but then one Tuesday she brought out a board game called Monopoly.
With the cards, we could play several games in the space of an hour or two, but Monopoly was a much longergame. Marusia would get dropped off at Linda’s house on Tuesdays after finishing at the farm, but once we started playing Monopoly, the game would just be getting interesting when Marusia would arrive and it was time for me to leave.
“Can you come to my house on Saturday?” asked Linda. “Mom said you could stay even if the game takes all day.”
Marusia and Ivan agreed. Linda’s mother suggested I come early on Saturday morning and she invited me to stay for lunch. Ivan was doing some yardwork at the Ukrainian church, so he walked me to Linda’s house, and we decided that once I was finished, I would walk over to the church to meet him and we’d walk home together.
When I got to Linda’s, it was just before nine. Mrs. Henhawk was in the kitchen making applesauce. “Linda will be down in a minute,” she said. She offered me an apple, but I had just eaten breakfast.
“Take a seat beside George.” She pointed to the chair beside her husband. “He won’t bite.”
I sat down and
“You can go as a ghost,” he said. “Or a hobo.” He looked at me with impatience. “Those costumes are easy. Don’t you want free candy?”
I had to admit that the thought of free candy was exciting. And if I did go trick or treating, I would feel safe going with Mychailo. “I’ll ask Mar—
Mama
and
Tato
if I can go,” I said.
“Great,” he said. “I’ll come by just as it starts to get dark.”
Ivan was pleased that I had decided to go out trick or treating and he was especially happy that I was going with Mychailo. “You need to be a child more often,” he said.And he helped me put together a costume. I was a scarecrow, with itchy long grass from the far edges of the backyard stuffed in a flannel shirt of Ivan’s. On top, I wore a pair of Marusia’s overalls that were so old they were patched on the patches. Ivan used her red lipstick to paint on a scarecrow face. We had no candy to give out, but we did have a bowl of apples from Marusia’s farm that she had polished to a glossy sheen.
I could tell by the expression in Marusia’s eyes that she was less sure about me going out, but she pretended to be happy. She gave me an extra-long hug goodbye when I left with Mychailo. “Stay on this street,” she said. “And be home in an hour.”
One nice thing about living on a street with close-together houses is you can get to a lot of them in an hour. My pillowcase was soon full of treats: candy apples and caramel corn, bubble gum and peanuts. I dumped all of my candy out on the kitchen table when I got home. Ivan, Marusia and I ate far too much of it. I went to bed with a stomach ache. I tossed and turned all night and had a long and scary dream. In the morning I could only remember bits and snatches.
Chapter Thirteen
Mansion
I got into the habit of going to Linda’s house on Tuesdays after school and she came to my house on Thursdays. It was hard to find a place to play inside. Linda shared a bedroom with Grace on the second floor. They had bunk beds and a bookshelf crammed with old novels. I longed to look through that bookshelf, but the bedroom itself made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. I think part of it was because Grace was always there. She’d either be reading, propped up on a pillow on the top bunk, or she’d have a friend over and they’d be doing a project for school or something.
There wasn’t much of a place to play in Linda’s backyard either. It was nothing more than an overgrown strip of land on a hill with wild bushes along either side and a laundry line down the middle. Linda had a deck of cards and we tended to play Crazy Eights or Concentration at the kitchen table, but then one Tuesday she brought out a board game called Monopoly.
With the cards, we could play several games in the space of an hour or two, but Monopoly was a much longergame. Marusia would get dropped off at Linda’s house on Tuesdays after finishing at the farm, but once we started playing Monopoly, the game would just be getting interesting when Marusia would arrive and it was time for me to leave.
“Can you come to my house on Saturday?” asked Linda. “Mom said you could stay even if the game takes all day.”
Marusia and Ivan agreed. Linda’s mother suggested I come early on Saturday morning and she invited me to stay for lunch. Ivan was doing some yardwork at the Ukrainian church, so he walked me to Linda’s house, and we decided that once I was finished, I would walk over to the church to meet him and we’d walk home together.
When I got to Linda’s, it was just before nine. Mrs. Henhawk was in the kitchen making applesauce. “Linda will be down in a minute,” she said. She offered me an apple, but I had just eaten breakfast.
“Take a seat beside George.” She pointed to the chair beside her husband. “He won’t bite.”
I sat down and
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