Moonrise 13Moon Digital Magazine Volume 1, Number 10 - November 11, 2015 | Page 16

columnist
guest

words of wisdom
& fairy dust
Judith Wade

Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to
be the big holidays in most towns
with Christmas decorations sometimes
upstaging Thanksgiving turkeys and
cornucopias.
However, here in Kent, OH, Halloween
seems to be the most celebrated
occasion. The entire town dressed up
and paraded up and down the street in
their attire like it were a regular day
of the week, except for the chill in the
air.
And yet, it feels right, like a coming
together, a connectedness in this small
town traveling somewhere in time
where all the characters we portray
are real and alive from faeries to
Wonder Woman and Superman.
That night, I took a break from
working at home and took a stroll
around the neighborhood, shuffling up
the red and yellow carpet of leaves
on the sidewalk. I was looking forward
to going out with friends later in the
evening, as I had my own costume – a
pirate fairy from the Tinkerbell series.
It was still early though, as I walked
down Main Street to take in some

of the local decorations. Turning off
onto a side street, there was a yard
with a display of tombstones. Edgar
Allan Poe 1809 - 1849. Another just
stated “R.I.P.” A tall grey one in
the back said Pittsburgh Steelers in
black lettering had meme guessing
these holiday revelers were Cleveland
Browns fans.
Another yard had a host of ghosts.
Crossing over to Chestnut Street,
there was a white wooden fence lined
with pumpkins, ghosts and an arching
black cat. I stopped for a moment to
look at all the decorations. Suddenly,
the witch hanging on the tree opened
her mouth and said, “Don’t be afraid.”
Talk about spooky! Being that it was
still day light, I wasn’t really startled,
but it did make me stop in my tracks.
For the rest of the evening, “Don’t be
afraid,” just continued to run through
my mind on an unending loop.
“Don’t be afraid”…
Continued on page 18