Authored by Thaddeus G. McCotter via American Greatness,
The gloaming deepened on a Halloween in the early 1970s. A restless gaggle of youths just turned teens pondered making a final stab at trick-or-treating. The problem? They had no costumes, having earlier laughed at how such garb was for little kids, not for them. But now, uncool or not, those costumed kids were getting free candy. They were not.
Amid the enveloping darkness, Jack-o'-lanterns flickered and costumed children tittered and flitted from door to door. Time was expiring. What to do?
One youth, his face etched with angst, hesitantly floated a trial balloon in the gloaming. "Let's just knock doors like this."
The gaggle eyed one another's black T-shirts, jeans, and boots. The bald suggestion hung in the air until -
Shrugs. Swiftly, pillowcases were pilfered from their unwitting parents and the gaggle's quest for treats sans costumes commenced.
It didn't go well. The adults who actually answered their doors to the gaggle were less than impressed by these youths' brazen attempt to get candy. Their glares and questions were always the same. "Where are your costumes?"
The youths' response, too, was constant: "We're late 20th-century teenagers." Almost invariably, it went over like a lead balloon (or, given it was the late 1970s, more like a Led Zeppelin). Needless to say, no free treat was forthcoming.
There was, however, a singular exception to the rule. One elderly man, upon opening his door, did let out a low whistle at the restless gaggle's "gumption." But this backhan
