Local first grader, Susie Leigh, went trick-or-treating in her elementary school parking lot on October 31 of this year with at least one parent holding her hand for the vast majority of the time. Her parents greeted all of the adults handing out candy from the trunks of their cars prior to her being even allowed to utter the words “Trick or Treat”. The adults giving out candy additionally had to give the candy to Leigh’s parents so that they could inspect it to make sure that it was not contaminated with anything from needles, to gluten, to peanuts, even though Leigh has never had any adverse reactions to peanuts or gluten.

Furthermore, Leigh did not even look at most of the adults that she said “Trick or Treat” to because they were strangers, and her parents had made it clear that they would kidnap her. At one point, while on her quest for candy, Leigh found herself not holding on to the hand of a single parent. She stood stock still in the parking lot for exactly 27 seconds without a parent, and no one kidnapped her. This stood against almost everything that her parents seemed to think. It seemed to her that the world was actually not out to hurt or maim her. Instead a parent who was handing out candy walked up to her and asked her if she was looking for her mother, and Leigh did not know what to do. Fortunately, her mother did show up after speaking with another lady just two cars over.

Once Leigh’s non-toxic cloth bag was full of gluten-free, peanut-free, and almost completely sugar free candy, Leigh’s parents bundled her up and took her home. Once home, they removed her bubble wrap and biking helmet and put her to bed at 7:30 pm.

When Leigh was allowed out of the house for two seconds to catch her bus to school on Tuesday, November 1, she said that the biggest surprise of the night was “not getting kidnapped,” for she had never been surrounded by adults for such a large time. Her final comment was “I’m starting to think that the world might be safer than my parents think it is. Maybe I’ll ask to go trick-or-treating from door to door next year like kids whose parents aren’t so safe.”

She says that she is now reconsidering everything her parents ever taught her.