No, I did not have a particular love of former Soviet Head of State Mikhail Gorbachev, but I was running out of ideas for Halloween costumes. C’mon, I was twelve years old and shouldn’t even be trick or treating. I was a middle schooler. There was no way I was going to dress up like a super hero. RAMJOE could get away with that (he was an upgraded Tim Drake Robin) but I sure as hell wouldn’t even dare!
Being in middle school meant that I didn’t have to ride home with my mom anymore (she taught at the next door elementary school) so I was officially a bus rider. I had made two friends on the bus who lived in my neighborhood: David Lockheart (a 7th Grader) and Ed Smith (big enough to be an 8th Grader.) They were already going trick-or-treating and asked if I wanted to come along. I don’t even remember what they dressed up as, but probably something uninspired (Skate board zombie and football player?) I went as former Soviet Head of State Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Wall had fallen down recently and he was all over the news. My mom had found a cheap little clown mask in Walgreens. My best costumes were always her idea. It was the cheap plastic mask with that lousy rubber band in the back. It only covered the top half of your face and had a kind of bald cap, with hair on the side, and built in glasses. We gave it a haircut, painted the forehead flesh-colored, and added Gorbachev’s “unmistakable” palm-tree shaped birthmark on his head.
When I met up with Ed, he asked, “Who are you supposed to be?” as he yanked my mask and sling-shot it back at my face. The edge of my mask scratched my real forehead and as I sweat throughout the night, this little injury burned a whole lot worse than it should have. Ed wasn’t the only person who didn’t know who I was. I had to explain to every house we visited who I was. When people “got it” they thought it was funny. But standing around explaining it to people always put me a house behind the other guys.
A fun time for all involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment