A Halloween Story

The Butch and Spike Halloween giveaway is history. Now it is time, girls and boys, to draw around and hear the story of how real life became part of the Halloween chapter in said book.

Okay, in the Halloween chapter, Butch and Spike, who are pretty much what you'd expect from a couple of guys with names like Butch and Spike, take over straight arrow Jasper's front yard on Halloween. They are not exactly Martha Stewart when it comes to Halloween decor, anyway, but in addition, they've been running roughshod over Jasper since the first day of school. He's had enough, and he manages to pull one over on the Cootch cousins.

Where did this idea come from? Why, real life, of course. You're working too hard if you have to make things up.

What happened was, one year one of the Gauthier boys gave up trick or treating in order to...uh...provide some holiday-themed entertainment in the front yard. (We are Cootches through my grandmother Gauthier, as I may have mentioned before.) In addition to whatever else he did, he positioned himself as some kind of zombie lumberjack or chainsaw killer in a chair right next to the front door. (That's his old toy chainsaw he's holding in the picture. Isn't he adorable?) The plan was that he would sit perfectly still, pretending to be a dummy, and then while the kiddies were receiving their treats, he would suddenly move. He envisioned people screaming, running through the night, and a good time being had by all.

I missed out on most of the fun because I was out in the street trick-or-treating with another child done up as a Star Fleet officer. However, I was told that while only one trick-or-treater became upset, her mother got quite snippy about it. That was enough to satisfy the zombie lumberjack. He was pleased with his evening's work.

And his mom got an entire chapter for her second book. She was rather pleased, too.