I'm going to tell you all a story.... hope you don't mind if I start in early on my Halloween treats! I really just can't hold out any longer! No kidding, I have had a sweeeeet tooth for as long as I can remember! As the days begin to grow shorter and the nights stretch out longer,
I am reminded of a story my Uncle once told me. I'm sure you are familiar with Jack O'lantern,a mostly respectable chap, descended from a long line of O'Lanterns. But do you know how that poor guy ended up in such a predicament? When he was but a young boy round abouts 1868 I'd say, he snuck into Mrs. W. Hazel's pumpkin patch,
and sure enough, she caught him! Little did he know the W stood for Witch, as in Witch Hazel! She nabbed him red handed with her best and most prized pumpkin, the particular one she had high hopes for at the upcoming County Fair! There on the very spot that he stood...ZAP! Well, you know the rest!
Now that Jack he was a handsome devil he was and he had himself a gal, yes quite a girl. A most fetching lass and devoted, she carried his photographic image with her every where she went. A smart and snappy dresser too, very fashion forward for the times!
Mmmm, Yummy, yum yum!
She wore THE largest silk rose and THE most exotic feathers in her fancy top hat,
and on special occasions she would wear a brooch made out of a shrunken head! Some say it was her ex, but I guess we'll never know for certain!
And on her crow toed boots were two shiny cut steel buckles, Oh how they did sparkle and Click, Clickety ~ Clacked when she walked down the street,
you could hear her coming a mile away!
CHOMP!
Around her neck was a tangle of necklaces, one in particular was very important, a locket given to her by her mother when she was just a girl of sweet sixteen.
It holds a portrait painted by her father, she wears it every single day with out fail,
she likes to keep it close to her heart.
CRUNCH! ...chew... Oh, where are my manners?!...chew...I have neglected to tell you her name! It is Jill, Jill O'Lantern! You see along the way Jack and Jill got married!
Just look at her admiring her pretty, pretty orange pumpkin self!
And I will tell you a funny secret about ole Jill, but keep it to yourself, else she would have my head, so to speak! Come here, lean over real close so I can whisper in your ear...
tucked away in her handbag, among the collected calling cards and coins (she keeps for emergency penny candy cravings)
is her pet frog, Herbert...
MUNCH! MUNCH! Chew, chew.
thats not even the funniest part.
Every once in a while a passer by might hear the occasional RRRiibbittt...
and Jill, being ever so delicate and ladylike, puts her dainty gloved hand to her lips and says,
Ooops! Pardon Me!
Hee, hee and no one is ever the wiser!
Mmmm, CRUNCH! chew, chew.
Well, to make a long story short, the years passed by and the fair Jill grew older, as we all eventually must do.
But she never, ever forgot about her beloved Jack.
Every once in a blue moon,
she would get out his favorite book of poetry and
just quietly read,
thinking sweet thoughts of him.
And when the sun began to set and the candles burned way down low,
CHOMP! chew, chew.
She would take one long deep breath...make a wish upon a wish, times two,
blow the candles out with a Prrbbbttt...and wander on upstairs to bed.
Happy Halloween to all and to all a Goodnight!
Visuals details: Antique french dress form, Victorian mourning dress adorned with tiny jet beads, jet, ruby and pearl strands, circa 1870 black leather boots,collapsible eye glasses on chain, large carved craft pumpkin, nose sculpted out of polymer clay, rubber frog hand painted to look realistic.
