Of all the days to revenge his personal history Robbie picked Halloween. Never thought on it till now but Robbie picked wise. Christmas and Thanksgiving and July Four are all about family and Robbie didnt have family left besides us. Halloween, though? Halloweens the one holiday bigger than family. Its about the whole community. You go out, you knock on doors you dont knock on normally, and you trust your neighbors with your tiny defenseless children. I can see how that might be inspirational. Might be. Unless you live in this hood thats being ate alive by dozers and no trust hasnt been ever earned by nobody.

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This is the Return of the King right here. This is Mount Doom. Im feeling my boy Frodo, feeling him deep. Its difficult as hell to take the only power you ever had and plunk it in the lava, even if that power is some evil ass stuff.

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I open the door. I do it cuz its Halloween and opening doors is what you do. Maybe its cuz my pinkeyes blurry but I cant tell if theres two children out there or two hundred demanding candies. All I know is they got bright cat eyes and faces white like sugar cuz theyre all dressed up like budget ass ghosts. They must think Im the new Robbie. Am I? Do I got impressive Irish king or Robert E Lee blood in me too? I cant think straight about it. Im not sure Ill ever think straight about nothing ever again.

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Then comes a miracle from the ghost of Midget past. One of Robbies clocks goes off. All right. Nothing strange about that. Then another clock goes. Then another clock after that. Pretty quick the whole house is clocking, ding dong and bing bong. You heard what I said before. Each of them clocks are keeping different times. So what does it matter if I hand out candies or not? Nows not now anymore, you feel me? Nobody tonight is getting done in by drugs stuck in Pumpkin Peeps or sharp objects hid inside Three Musketeer. Just listen. Listen to the clocks. All that awful stuff either happened way back in the past or way off in the future.

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But next thing I know Im moving. I know them clocks are omens but bad or good omens I dont know. A couple ghost kids try to ghost grab the candy bag but Im too wily and real quick Im past the pumpkin guts and down the steps. I go around the house corner and stop under Robbies bedroom window, panting bad cuz my lungs are killing me like I just did a gym mile instead a twenty feet. Maybe its cuz I know what I got to do. I got to bury these candies. Like Robbie buried his tarantulas. Like everyone buries all the things that bring them shame.

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