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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Everybody Has a Story: Halloween in Oz an adventure for family

The Columbian
Published:

It’s October — time for Halloween costumes. Five-year-old Quinn wants to be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. This grandma begins sewing.

Seven-year-old Sierra asks, “What about me?” We definitely don’t need two Dorothys. Mom, who’s always quick with the right answer, says, “No problem, Sierra can be the good witch, and I’ll pick up a beautiful costume at Value Village! In fact, I’ll make a witch’s black costume for myself so I can be the bad witch.”

This costume plays an interesting role in this family adventure. One idea follows another, and it soon becomes a family affair.

Dad is OK with being the Scarecrow — he works nights, so with his sleep deprivation he’s agreeable to most everything. But River, at age 10, is definitely not interested in being spray-painted silver to become the Tin Man — until the time draws near and all the excitement, and the idea of having family pictures taken in costume, convinces River to get sprayed.

They make an appointment at a photography store in the mall. Grandma decides to meet them there to see them all in costume and perhaps take some pictures of my own.

But there is just one more character that’s needed. Five minutes before appointment time, Dad comes in leading Toto, more commonly known as Zeus. He’s an 85-pound golden retriever. He’s proudly sporting a black-and-brown feather boa wrapped loosely around his neck. He looks “very official” and quite excited about this new turn of events in his life.

The young photographer at the store does not feel all that excited about the challenges ahead of her. She arranges them all, and the adults are thankful that now even the youngest will smile on cue. Too many of the earlier family photos shows Mom not smiling but anxiously checking the children to see if they’re smiling.

The first picture is successfully taken. Toto is being as agreeable as a big dog making his first trip to a mall wearing a feather boa can be. However, feathers are flying off the boa and the dog is starting to sneeze. His sneezing makes more feathers fly. He can’t seem to get any traction on this floor so his legs are sliding out from under him like he’s wearing roller skates. He is done getting his picture taken!

Grandma will hold the dog’s leash while the rest of the pictures are taken. But that’s not as easy as it might seem. When Zeus/Toto jumps, he’s as tall as me. Feathers are flying everywhere as he skids around on the floor sneezing. The next picture taken shows Mom and Dad anxiously leaning toward the camera because they are afraid that I’m not going to be able to control Toto. We’re all imagining the same thing: If Toto gets loose, he’ll be running through the mall skidding and sneezing and feathers flying.

The young woman doing the photography does not see the fun or humor of the situation. She has a job to do, and this dog is slowing the process.

Later, those well-earned pictures turn out to be interesting. The first one with all five people plus Toto turns out well: Everyone is smiling and Toto seems fine. There are no further pictures with Toto, but a strange barometer of this stressful experience emerges.

It seems that Mom’s tall black witch hat “melts down,” just like in the movie, as stress takes its toll. We can now arrange the pictures in chronological order depending on the shrinkage of the black witch’s hat.


Everybody has a Story welcomes nonfiction contributions, 1,000 words maximum, and relevant photographs. Email is the best way to send materials so we don’t have to retype your words or borrow original photos. Send to: neighbors@columbian.com or P.O. Box 180, Vancouver WA, 98666. Call “Everybody Has an Editor” Scott Hewitt, 360-735-4525, with questions.

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