BARBARA EKNOIAN

My Favorite Halloween

On Halloween night,
when I was nineteen, someone
knocked at our door.
I looked out our glass window,
and saw a man dressed like Dracula.
It took a minute to realize it was Petey,
who was older than me by ten years,
and lived around the corner.
Under all his makeup, he looked
so realistic with the black cape
and high collar that I was afraid
to open the door. Finally, I got
the nerve to let him in.
He asked me to drive him
to his friend’s house
who lived across town.
As we rode along Bergenline Avenue,
the main street for shopping,
he’d jump out of my car and scare people.
I recall two girls that were so frightened
they needed to escape him,
so they ran up steps to a stranger’s house
screaming to let them in.
I laughed so hard at all the havoc
he was creating. His nasty fake teeth
didn’t scare me anymore.
Now, I was part of the plot to scare
anybody on our way.

Barbara Eknoian is a poet and novelist. Her work has appeared in Chiron Review, Silver Birch Press, and Your Daily Poem. Her recent book is a collection of short stories, Romance is Not Too Far From Here. She hails from New Jersey and has never lost her accent.