Stasia the Pooh

Samhain was, without a doubt, a success, and though my granddaughter Stasia, who spent the night with us, harvested and ate more than her share of candy—alas, no York Peppermint Patties in the loot for the Carrier and Chronicler—our version of Winnie the Pooh did manage, eventually, to go to sleep. But it didn't last, and sometime in the middle of the night, she awoke with a nightmare. "I'm afraid of vampires," she said, and after much reassurance that those things were mythical—I didn't want to bring up real vampire bats—I suspected that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to dress Stasia's cousin Luc, who went trick-or-treating with us, as Dracula. My grandson took his role very seriously, often lying down on the grass only to spring up and roar, terrifying potential victims. It was all in good fun, of course, but it clearly unsettled gentle Pooh. "He was just playing," we said, over and over. Well, we certainly hoped so. Maybe next year Luc should dress up as something more benign, say, Rabbit... or Christopher Robin. That said, he did make a terrific Prince of Darkness.

Lucula