Lucus Glub hated his name. It was bad enough he been made fun of when he was a boy... NOW the children had made a song up about him. The song stuck in his head like a knife. He could hear them singing it even when they were not around...
"Lucus Glub is a man. Yes a mean man.
With a voice that is grouchie he's as grumpy as a man be.
Lucus Glub is a man. Yes a mean man.
He is old and decrepet and he's feared by the people is he."
The song was still in his head when he heard banging on his door. "It's those darn kids again," he grumbled "I know it is! I hate Halloween... it starts the holidays... First there is Halloween.. then Thanksgiving.. then Christmas... til finally it ends with the New Year." He actually LIKED New Years. It meant that he could start a new year fresh and forget the past year and all its' miseries.
It was bad enough the neighborhood association had forced him to put the pumpkin they brought on his porch... "To LIVEN up the neighborhood," they had said. NOW he had kids knocking on his door to give them candy. Like he could afford candy. He barely had enough food for himself, let alone frivilious foods like candy. Still... they kept banging on his door.
"Trick or Treeeeeeeet!"
"GO AWAY!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
He decided to turn off the porch light and see if that would stop them from banging on his door. Making his way to the door he heard footsteps outside on his porch. Slooooooowly he opened the door... It creaked. He put his hand out to say hello.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEkkkk!!!" Two children yelled and were half way off the porch before he could even say a word. Lucus muttered under his breath. He had not meant to scare the children... but he did. He ALWAYS did. The children seemed to be more frightened of him than their parents. He hated Halloween.
Turning off the porch light seemed to stop the children from banging on his door. He could hear the parents telling their children not to go to porches with no lights on.
"That's ok. mommy... Mean ole Lucus Glub lives in THAT house. We don't want any candy from hiiim!" He heard one child say... then the child proceeded to sing that confounded LUCUS GRUB song...
"Lucus Glub is a man. Yes a mean man.
With a voice that is grouchie he's as grumpy as a man be.
Lucus Glub is a....."
"Stop that Bobby," his mother said. "It's not nice to make fun of people. He may have a perfectly good reason for not liking people."
Looking out the window Lucas saw the mother take the hand of little Bobby and walk to the next house. It wasn't that he didn't like people... People just didn't like him.
He looked around the room. The floor of the old house was creaky... the roof leaked... the walls needed a good painting... even the windows needed fixing. The black paper he had put over them made the place look dark and dreary. No wonder people didn't come to visit him. The house was not fit for man or beast... But it was all he had. He shivered as a breeze came in from a crack in the paper on the window. He put another log on the fire. It would be winter soon and he didn't know if he could last another winter in this old house. But he had no where else to go.
Lucus sat on his rocking chair next to the fire. He thought about happier times. His wife was gone... His children were grown and gone too. He hadn't seen or talked to them in years. "My how the time flies," he thought. He stared at the flames in the fireplace til they were embers. His eyes slowly closed and he fell fast asleep.
He awoke with a start... Someone was banging on his door... BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!
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