This Shower Is A Killer…
I grew up in the small Missouri town of Bolivar. I’ll never forget the population when I was a kid… 5,919.
I’ll also never forget the one thing (in my opinion) that put Bolivar on the map. Halloween!
Nothing was more terrifying (and thrilling) than running the streets of Bolivar on Halloween night. It’s hard to describe to outsiders what the night was really like. Just imagine pure chaos. Eggs, piss balloons, deer urine, shaving cream, toilet paper, old pickup trucks and pipe bombs (or at least one that I know of).
Our town used to always make the news because the stores would remove all the eggs from the shelves.. no egg sales until November first. Police would fine you fifty bucks an egg if they found them on you. Car lots would remove all the vehicles because they were sure to get damaged.
My friends Brian Mitchell and Chris Smith used to live on a quiet street in the middle of town, but for one night only.. it became the most feared street in the state (LOL) “HALLOWEEN ROAD.”
If you could get all the way down Halloween Road without getting egged, hit with crap (literally) or injured.. it was a very successful holiday in Bolivar. Trick-or-treaters were rare on that street and for good reason.
One year.. my brother, a good friend and I came home covered in everything you could imagine. My mom immediately stuck us in the shower.. clothes and all… and made us rinse off before we could go any further. What made it so memorable is… someone had turned on the fire hydrants down the street and half way through the shower, the water stopped. I remember the three of us shivering for what seemed like hours before we dried off.
After we graduated from high school… our friend was convicted of a drug-related murder and is now in prison. I’m still not sure of the specifics and I don’t think I want to know them. It’s just weird how some people choose such opposite paths in life.
If I had that one Halloween night to do all over again, I probably would have spent less time shivering and more time telling my friend how special he was. Maybe.. just maybe.. that would have done the trick.
Who knows for sure, but it’s a nice thought.
Happy Halloween everyone!
I’m not sure anything we could have said to our friend would have changed the out come of his life. I still can’t believe he got so deep in that sceen that he ended up in that situation. I wish someone would tell me how to write to him and let him know…we still care about him and hope he is finally in control of his life. Thanks for reminding me of those great Halloween nights and a friend who made some terrible choices.