Sleeping with "Mummies"

For two straight nights, I have been sleeping with "mummies." My kids have been covering their feet with blankets making sure no ghosts nor monsters will be able to touch them. The heads have also been covered for they do not want to get a peek of any evil spirits or ghoul-like figures believed to be lurking during this spooky season. I had to get up in the middle of the night to check if they're still breathing. There's no lights out- not until they are totally asleep and that's the only time I can switch off the lampshade.

Blame it on Halloween. Most of the television shows have nothing but the creepy stuff. The malls have their share of surprisingly frightening masks. The featured stories on TV and in print have been ghoulish too. In the morning, my kids would exchange horror stories with their cousins and playmates building up their fears at night. They were telling me about graves, ghosts and disturbed souls haunting people. I was contradicting them and shrugging off their morbid stories with antic punchlines.

I used to be the same frightened little girl when I was at my kids' age. I would clutch a neon rosary to drive away ghosts. I remember perspiring a lot underneath a blanket due to scary stories that I have vividly imagined.

Deep inside me, the "mummies" sleeping with me are just lovely to look at. I liked it when they asked me to hug them tightly as they try to close their eyes, twitching it perhaps distracted by scary thoughts. I'm taking my little mummies out to join Halloween's trick or treat this afternoon. It's no Filipino tradition but the malls have long commercialized this western event and there's no question that it's a hit to boys and girls! I'd like to celebrate fright with them. After all, kids are only kids once. I might as well have fun in this spooktacular event.

Happy Halloween!