The decorations in this room remind me of the cheesy decorations at a Halloween party I attended with my parents. There were ghosts hanging off the trees and in the bushes, cutouts of bats and black cats were affixed to the walls, and most of the people were wearing costumes.

One of the hostesses greeted us, my parent's old neighbor, who was wearing a witch's hat. Then we found the other hostes, who was wearing a t-shirt stating 'neighborhood witch'.

"Sometimes people like to switch the 'w' for a 'b,'" she said.

There was a man wearing a clown suit that had a hula-hoop sewn into the waistband. A women dressed a Dracula wore all black with red "blood" dripping from her mouth. My mother was brandishing the fangs of her werewolf mask. I was dressed as myself.

I perched myself awkwardly on the arm of the couch and listened to the conversations around me. My mother was catching up with some friends, and my father was explaining about my sister's program in Israel. I did not input much into these conversations. I had not wanted to attend the party, and I did not know anyone attending. Uninterested in the conversations, I went to the buffet.

There was appetizing food with extremely unappetizing names. There were mashed potatoes called 'troll brains'. "Ears and eyes with mud dip" were fruits with chocolate sauce. There were "cornbread caterpillars" and "goat's eyes" (olives). I helped myself to some "troll eyes" (delved eggs) and "witches' fingers" (carrot sticks and sliced peppers). To top it off, there was a jack-o lantern full of dry ice billowing smoke; now and then, someone would douse it with hot water to keep it going.

Later, everyone went outside to bob for apples. A few of the younger kids tried to catch the floating apples in their mouths, but due to the size of their mouths relative to the apples, they were not successful. After a little bit of urging, I tried. I knelt next to the tub and surveyed the scene before me. About a dozen mackintosh apples floated in the big metal tub. I spotted a small one floating close to the edge, cornered it, and grabbed it with my teeth. I rose up, and took a huge bite out of the apple, and it tasted good.