I walked the night hand in hand with pirates and witches, clowns and vampires. Candles inside crooked smiles of pumpkins lit my path. I wanted to shine like their insides. Mother always roasted the seeds. At each door I gathered candy flowers and magical peanut butter potions to make my father smile, his belly growing rounder.
Angels don t eat candy.
Moon followed me home, heavy pillow case in one hand, kite string in the other. A red lunar eclipse the night I crossed over a tulip garden to my front yard, Sprinkled with prisms, reflections of moon on father s fallen glasses. Mother running through the yard screaming, like I do with the hose. Daddy lying on grass, face up, Moon a spotlight on his half open blue eyes and pallid skin. Tulips had fallen from his cheeks.