Tonight I was prepared for the kids with a box, no, let’s call it a case of Chiclets. The last time I had a kid show up at my door on Halloween it was 1996 and I lived at 877 Gohier in Ville Saint-Laurent.

But some years, I spot a halloween treat that I would not be averse to eating myself should year add unto year and ‘nary soul flash their countenance at my door. This year I was at Andalos Bakery and they were offering these cases – 20 packages of chiclets.

You know I thought to myself, “What might I do with a case of Chiclets?” I don’t spit, or chew or date girls that do. But then I remembered Halloweens and Aunt Norma. We always went (were driven) to Aunt Norma’s on Halloween when we were kids and it seems to me that Aunt Norma always had those little two-chiclet packs. How many of those did we get? How many do you dare take? No, I think Aunt Norma must have allocated the appropriate amount – how much simpler for me to give a full pack of Chiclets, no indecision as to whether I’m stingy or too generous.

And so it was, the perfect Halloween treat. This year, how appropriate that I could buy my trick-or-treat candy with money from a small (neither too-stingy or too generous) inheritance that all the nieces and nephews received from Aunt Norma. I was so wrapped up in these perfect packages of sugared chewing gum with the modern graphic re-design of the Chiclets logo on one side and the Arabic? very-scary Chiclet logo on the other side. Now I can learn to write “Mastic Flavor” in Arabic. Somehow, I think Aunt Norma would have liked that.

Here is to Halloween and my Aunt Norma.

(ps. no child penetrated Fort Knox for the 16 years I’ve called it home. If any adults want to swing by late and pick up a pack of Chiclets (mastic flavor, mmmm) they are more than welcome. The entry code for Fort Knox is _ _ _ _ Oh wait, I can’t give that here!!