A Halloween Story
His name was Lon. Looking back, he was a rather pathetic fifth grader with a big mouth who got a feeling of power by terrorizing younger kids. But at the time, he was the Lord of the Neighborhood. His word was law, and usually, his word was something frightening and humiliating. He was a Big Kid. And he had two big, dumb buddies to back him up. My dad didn't know about Lon when we made Jack O' Lantern Man. It was just a fun thing to do: Stuff a set of his coveralls, set the resulting body in a lawn chair, and put a pumpkin on top for a head. It was my dad's creativity and love of taking things a step further that made him prop the old car speaker up behind Jack's head, with a wire hooked in that led up to a microphone in our upstairs window. We could sit up there, in the dark, and give Jack a voice. To the little ones, his voice was friendly and happy. To the bigger kids, the ones who enjoy being scared just a bit, his voice was menacing (but still funny).