Halloween Parade at the Elementary School
Halloween morning meant the costume parade at the elementary school in Walnut Creek, so we were out on the blacktop with everyone else before the bell.
Our girl and her friends had lined themselves up before things started — a Day of the Dead face with a black lace veil and flowers in her hair, Snow White, a Warriors jersey with blue and gold pom-poms, a sequined peacock, and one in a purple-and-blue wig. They held the pose about as long as five seven-year-olds can.
Then the whole school sat down in rows on the asphalt and each class walked the loop past them. A Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas with a bright red yarn wig, a banana, a pirate, several vampires, a Cleopatra. The teachers were in costume too — one led her class around dressed as a giant sunflower, yellow petals framing her face, and another was some kind of man-eating plant, all green leaves and red trim.
The littlest kids came through near the end, and a donkey with a fuzzy gray head that flopped down over the kid's face walked the whole route hand in hand with a fairy princess in pink.
