The moon’s shine off the puddle is my mirror and my reflection sparks a smile. The eye makeup is just right. Thick black rings— how I earned the “bandit” nickname I’ve come to wear with pride.
My fur-gloves are nice and snug, nails sharpened to fine points thanks to my strategic tree trunk scratches. The final touch is my top hat—the only part of my costume that’s an actual costume. The ticket into the magic of this night. I snag a soiled grocery bag from the gutter, rinse it in the creek.
With my best posture and biggest smile, I approach the first door. Witches and cats carved into pumpkins, skeletons crawling out of graves an inflatable black widow on the lawn—signals this house could be a jackpot.
With my toes crossed for king-size, I fall in line between a ghost, a vampire, and a Minion. They side eye me, pull their bulging bags in close. The lady at the door does a double-take. But on a night like tonight, when I open my bag and squeak Trick or Treat she has no excuse, drops in the easy loot.
Lauren Oertel is a writer, editor, and community organizer based in Austin, Texas. She is a writing workshop facilitator certified in the Amherst Writers & Artists method. Her work has been published in Black Fox Literary, The Westchester Review, Gemini Magazine, The Sun Magazine, and more. She has been a winner and finalist in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction contests with The Letter Review, Writer’s Digest, Prime Number Magazine, and others. Lauren is the coauthor of the book Inside Out: A Texas Prisons Poetry Story, and her debut full-length poetry collection, Scars & Other Luxuries, is forthcoming with Finishing Line Press in November.
