Marin IJ Halloween contest

"Poor kid, Mom died last Spring. Now everything makes him jump."

Bean's classmates were not so kind. They didn't know about his mother's long battle with cancer. He was just the quiet kid who was an easy target. Pop a lunch bag behind his head or jump out from behind a locker, and Bean would hit the roof. No scream, just shock. The pranks would get worse he feared, as Halloween came closer.

Halloween was no joke to Bean, who had seen death. The dull hours by the hospital bed, jolted out of a nap by the alarm of a breathing machine. The confusing and frantic last minute efforts by tall, faceless grownups in white gowns. The ultimate silence and then the gray weeks that followed with his family pretending to be cheerful around him. Only Granna remained the same, her eyes always looking up, forward.

The taunts continued in the new school year, but by late fall the 5th Grade bullies wore skull masks that were supposed to be classroom decorations. There was talk about the amount of candy that would be collected. Even in Bean's third grade class, the kids were aware that Marin County parents were extremely generous, even if they didn't want their own children to have that much sugar. Bean liked the candy part, but feared having to dress up and go to stranger's houses.

By the 31st, Bean had firmly decided against going out. The combination of threats and spooky decorations were too much for him. Plus, his Dad had called earlier in the day and said Bean would have to go out with Granna, as he had to work on some big money deal. Well, they could sit at home, Bean thought, and watch a movie. He was extremely surprised when Granna showed up in a complete witch costume with her gray hair teased into a mess and green warts stuck on her nose.

Granna looked at Bean, still wearing jeans and a T-shirt. "I thought we were going out trick or treating?" Bean didn't say anything, prompting Granna to sit beside him on the couch and give him a hug. it still smelled like Granna, so he hugged the witch back, then burst into tears.

"Why is it all about skeletons and death?" he choked. "Mom's skeleton is in the ground, and she's not coming back. The people don't understand, the kids think it's funny to be dead."

Granna whispered, "Halloween is a celebration of life."

Bean hadn't been expecting that.

"Life is like the Earth going around the Sun. If it stayed in one place like a memory, we could never move forward. You were born and one day you will die. You can't have one without the other. You can't have Halloween without Easter".

Easter? Easter confused Bean too– bunnies and church, egg hunts and ski week.

"Easter is a baby shower for our planet, when we celebrate the birth, but think of it as the rebirth, of nature. Nature isn't really born in the Spring, it just wakes up from the Winter. Like the egg and chicken thing, which came first? They came together, you can't have a chicken without an egg."

Bean hoped she would explain the bunnies business.

"Halloween isn't a funeral, we just recognize that the earth is going to go to sleep for a while. So we have a party, with orange pumpkins that look like the fall moon, and treats that are the fruits of our labor for working hard all year."

"What about the skeletons?"

"Bones are something that we all have inside us, everybody. Bones hold us up while we live and then stick around long after we die. We celebrate our living bones and remember the bones of our ancestors. As long as we remember those who came before us, they never really die."

"Mom will live as long as I remember her?"

"Yes."

Granna convinced Bean to put a costume on, a bunny suit from when he was in the chorus of "The Velveteen Rabbit" for a school play. He looked out of place amongst the ninjas and teen pop starlets roaming his neighborhood. About an hour into it, Bean relaxed and his jack-o-lantern filled. Granna got into a conversation with a neighbor and Bean walked ahead.

It was then that the thugs from 5th Grade spotted Bean and started to follow him. He broke into a sweat inside the wool rabbit suit, and started to run. They gave chase but Bean jumped under a hedge and they ran by. By the time they came back, he had a plan.

He emptied his candy on the sidewalk and climbed up on a shed near his neighbor's trampoline. As the boys fought over the dropped sweets, Bean launched himself off the shed and onto the trampoline. As he shot into the air, he let out the most ghoulish, blood curdling scream he could find, one that had been brewing inside him for months. The bullies concentration broke as they looked up to see an enormous crazed rabbit, backlit by elaborate orange light, flying toward them. They froze for a moment, then scattered in every direction, dumping their own bags as they fled.

Granna's stories got more elaborate as Bean, who became Ben, got older. Her wisdom always revealed how opposites need the other to live. Bunnies and goblins, birth and death, and the scary witch who was also his sweet Granna.