Trick or Treat in Crane, America

Trick or Treat time in Crane is the ONLY way to spend Halloween. It happens like this: At approximately 5:00 pm on the Saturday closest to Halloween the fire siren starts blowing. This signals the start of Trick or Treat. The town comes alive. For one hour the streets are full of kids, running as fast as they can, collecting candy. The whole town turns out. The streets are packed. There are people in their lawn chairs in the front yard with huge baskets full of goodies. For an hour this goes on. Then at 6:00 sharp the fire siren rings again and everyone makes their way to the community center for a city-wide Fall Festival. It's a huge deal in Crane. Mom went through three giant bags of candy this year and almost resorted to "thumping" (a well known Halloween method in the Allen Family). I'll explain in a few. So here are a few random thoughts on Halloween:
1.) I should explain "thumping". Thumping originated with my brothers when we lived on McElroy Street. There were so many kids that you would inevitably run out of candy. So you'd go get your stash of pennies. When you ran out of pennies you began a technique fondly known as thumping. With one hand you reach in the bag. With your other hand you "thump" the backside of their bag to make them think that you actually put something in there. Tricky and deceptive? Yes. Effective? Oh, yeah. Hilarious? You bet.
2.) My brother, Scott, is a story teller. I mean to tell you. He can weave tales like no one I've ever encountered. Sometimes they are true, sometimes they come from deep within his mind. I'm convinced that even Scott doesn't know which is which. But he is ENTERTAINING! He keeps us rolling with his memories and stories. This particular trip to Crane he told us about the lady who used to hand out hot pennies to trick or treaters. She despised the holiday, she despised kids and to prove her point she would hand out scalding hot pennies instead of candy. According to Scott it would burn little penny sized imprints into your palm. Fact or fiction? Urban legend? Who knows.
3.) I know that there are many varying views on Halloween and all that it entails. But in Crane it is a fun community event that I have grown up with and grown to love. Long live trick or treating in Crane!