“Trick or Treat” Dopey Archaeology!

Yesterday, in the “Writing is Dope” post, I said I didn’t remember what happened to an old Halloween story contest to which I submitted an entry (got honorable mention) in our hometown newspaper, the Globe Gazette in Mason City, Iowa. Sena took one look at that and declared we had a clipping of the story somewhere in the basement.

I doubted it. She insisted and went looking for it. Then we both looked. She finally found it! What a miraculous dope! The title was “Trick or Treat” and I wrote it way back in 1981. That would have been shortly before we moved to Ames, Iowa so I could start college at Iowa State University—44 years ago. That was the beginning of an earthquake of a life path change.

After re-reading it after all these years, I remembered how formal my prose was. In fact, I think I was subconsciously imitating one of my favorite writers, Ray Bradbury. This morning, Sena ordered some of his books.

This yellowed relic brought back so many memories! Now I can torture you with one of them!

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