Car Keys
by R. Craig 

 By the time this article is read, Halloween will have come and gone and that's probably a good thing. After you read this you will understand why. I am giving the car topic a rest this time. Instead I decided to tell you a story about a Halloween ritual my family started many years ago. 

 My family has always had a good sense of humor and we loved to play practical jokes on each other. It all started around Halloween time many years ago. One of my brothers made a dummy and put it on the porch roof of his house to display. I was driving by and saw it sitting there so peaceful on the roof and thought it would be fun to kidnap it and leave a ransom note. So I did. I also left a disguised phone call to let them know it was missing. Little did I know at the time what I had started. 

 My ransom note said if I didn't get a Hershey bar ransom within 24 hours, I would start sending body parts back one at a time or I would drag it behind my car through downtown Apalachin. (downtown Apalachin? Sounds funny!)  Anyway the war had begun! After giving back the mangled dummy and NOT getting my Hershey bar, my other brother, brother-in-law and myself made our own dummies and put them on display. We set some rules for trying to steal each others dummies such as time limits at night and so on.  Over the years there have been so many memorable moments involving this competition that I could fill this paper with them. I cannot do that but I can give you an example. 

 One of my brothers-in-law had his dummy boldly sitting in a lawn chair in front of his house near the front door. It was wearing coveralls and a work cap. It looked like easy pickings so one of my sisters-in-law (and you know who you are!) decided to go for it. Little did she realize that after darkness fell, my brother-in-law put the dummy's clothes on himself and sat patiently in the lawn chair. And yes, he looked like a dummy. 

 So sister-in-law sneaks up to what she thought was a dummy in the chair (keep in mind it's dark out) and grabs the dummy to kidnap it, only to have the "dummy" grab her in return! You could hear the scream for miles! 

 I was hiding nearby because I helped arrange the setup. I laughed so hard my face ached for a week.

 Sometimes my brothers would keep guard over their dummies with a cache of water balloons. And they gave you no warning. They shot first and asked questions later. Over time the warning systems for the dummies became quite creative such as motion sensor spotlights and trip wires. We were becoming dummy terrorists. 

 No dummy was safe during the last two weeks of October. They were such good times and so much innocent fun. we actually looked forward to it every year. 

 In recent years much of the family has moved south and dummy stealing came to an end, but the memories remain. They read this article in Florida via the Internet so I am making this challenge . . . If you ever come to New York,  dare to bring your dummy!    Uh oh! Here we go again!