I remember the time when
we didn’t have candy
to give out for Halloween.
I don’t remember why.
Either we ran out
and didn’t have enough,
or we never got
to the store
which also ran out
but anyway
there we were with
no candy
and children coming.
In those days
we got a lot of
little feet traffic
because we were
the only street
in Altadena
that had sidewalks.
Anyway,
what to do?
We could turn the lights off
and pretend we weren’t home.
But the lights had to say on
so everybody could see the lavish
decorations
I had slaved over.
Well, we didn’t have candy,
but we did have pennies.
Remember pennies?
We emptied Penny Pig
and I made rows
of little stacks
of ten pennies.
We monitored them
let a child point
to the stack he chose
and it would go into
his carryall.
We were teaching children to choose.
The word got out
as it does in neighborhoods
“Go to Highland!
They’re giving money!”
Of course nowadays
ten pennies
wouldn’t be worth
a sneeze.
I didn’t think
far enough ahead
to realize that I was
by pushing money
responsible
for the decline
of Western Civilization.