Season of the Witch

October. I adore October. Autumn. I somehow have fond memories of October. The lengthening nights. The cooler air. A month to dwell on spooky things. Horror. Something scary about the tradition of Halloween. Little kids going door to door, expecting free candy. Looks pretty safe these days, but when I was a kid you knocked on strangers' doors, and you never knew if a house or apartment was "friendly".

Through 4th grade, I lived in the boondocks of Brooklyn, trains didn't even go that deep. Starrett City, we called it. None of this "Spring Creek Towers" business. Kids were mean as fuck. And kids traded scary rumors like Garbage Pail Kids cards. The story about that guy who sits on that bench in that park over there. The story about what happened in 13B. Who knew if any of it was true in hindsight. We were stupid fucking kids, we assumed it was all true. The world was never so scary and unstable as when I was a little kid. And I never want to forget any of that shit.

Of course, my world is pretty uncertain right now. But this week, my first week "off the job", I'm not going to worry about anything. Money, bills, debt, rent, the nebulous future. This week, I'm kicking back and decom-fucking-pressing. I've been through hell and now it's time to eat some fucking cake.