Halloween

I know the Christmas decorations are already in some stores and all that, but right now pholks, I’ll still trying to finalize my Halloween plans.

I just don’t know what my non-blood-related cousin Isabella is going to do this Halloween and until I find out, I’m kinda stuck.

Some of you should recall that my whacky gypsy sorta cousin made visited me for the second Halloween in a row and made quite a hit with some of the guys I know. Isabella is rather exotic and a natural tease. She broke a couple hearts and my ear has been bent repeatedly since last year by two or three guys wanting to know if, and when, dear Isabella is going to visit again.

I just don’t know what to tell them since Isabella never writes and seldom makes contact with her few adopted family members.

I figure what is going to happen is that if she shows up, it will be at the last minute and she’ll want me to take her places. I’m not real sure if I really want to go out on the town with her although it is rather exciting. Nothing too extreme, mind you, but being a protector for a free spirited gypsy is not for the faint of heart.

I tell the guys what they are on their own and that I’m not a matchmaker. Isabella has a heart and a mind of her own and a unique style. She is rather alluring, according to what the guys say, although I reserve judgment.

Isabella doesn’t dress up for Halloween because she doesn’t have to since she dresses rather differently than most women in this area, anyway. She flaunts the traditionally exotic and flashy gypsy style of dress.

So pholks, I don’t know what to do. One of my friends has a birthday which falls almost on Halloween and he always invites me to his bash. He met Isabella two years ago and was impressed and maybe a little captivated. Since last year, he has told me a number of times he wants her at the party. It looks like something could be brewing. She did drop a hint or two to me last time that she thought he was kinda cute and a pretty nice guy, but that was about it.

In the meantime, I can’t make my own Halloween plans. I have been to trying to retain my World Pumpkin Roller Champion title (senior division) which I won a couple of years ago. I failed to defend the title last year during the event annually held on the first Sunday following Halloween in Knight’s Ferry, my hometown in the Mother Lode area.

I can’t get in much training if Isabella ends up on my Woodlake doorstep on the night before Halloween. One option, of course, would be to take her to the Pumpkin Roll, but that might be too much for some of my old family friends who don’t know about Isabella. She has been sort of a dark family secret. Also she is very mysterious about where she lives as well as what her everyday life is like. I guess it’s the gypsy way of life.

I also will have to consider the fallout if Isabella goes north and the birthday guy finds out she left town rather than show up at his bash.

I guess I’ll just have to wait it out and see what happens. I don’t know if I will end up being tricked or treated.

AND NO, PHOLKS, YOU WEREN’T TRICKED in having to hunt for the rest of the last sentence in the last column in which I told of Visalian Bruce Trout and his son, Colton’s, adventures in the Shaver Lake Triathlon. A newspaper production glitch was to blame for the missing words.

The paragraph dealt with Bruce having to deal with remembering what happened at the finishing event, a three-mile run. The missing complete sentence states that Bruce was passed in the final 100 yards by a 75-year-old man.

It is also important to note that the best over-all time was recorded by another Visalian, Travis Griffith, the junior varsity water polo coach at Golden West High School who defended his title from last year.

Miles can be reached at mshuper@valleyvoicenewspaper.com