A few weeks ago, I bragged about how well I treat the kids in my
building. Now I have to confess that things have changed.

For many years now, twenty five or so, I have prepared little bags
full of Halloween candy for the trick or treaters in our building, a
high rise with several hundred apartment, as well as very small gifts
for the really small babies and toddlers, for whom I would have small
gifts.

Yesterday I prepared eighty little bags with candy, with lots more in
reserve and today I went to the building manager and asked how many
children eighteen months and younger there are in our building. The
answer floored me: There are fifty or more, many, many of them less
than a year old. As a matter of fact, the man thought there may be
quite a few more!

This year, for the first time, I will not buy gifts for the tiniest.
When I filled out the "please come for trick or treat" sheet, I didn't
ask the babies and toddlers to come. It would be much too expensive.
In former years, there were five or ten, perhaps a dozen. I hope
that the parents will bring them around in spite of it, to show off to
all the neighbors. A few will get what I bought ahead of time. ) M