Halloween Promise Poem

by Allen
(Atlanta, GA, USA)

I was 9 years old and my mother promised to take me trick or treating if I was good in school and brought home good grades. This promise was made in August before school started. I told her I would be good.

Mom made these kinds of promises to me because I was always fighting in school. People picked on me because I was chubby, and I hated it. The only thing that consoled me was more food, especially candy. So when Mom promised to take me trick or treating, my whole attitude toward school changed.

On the first day a popular kid name Shawn picked on me. There had always been friction between us. He pulled my backpack off and it fell to the ground. When I bent to pick my things up, he kicked me and knocked me down. This scene had happened before, but this time was different.

I told Shawn that I didn't want to fight. I stood up and I told him when Halloween came, I would sneak candy into school and give it to him, if he promised to leave me alone.

He was a skinny kid and liked candy too. His favorite was Jolly Ranchers, watermelon flavor. I told him that I would bring him 10 of them and the agreement was made. He left me alone after that day.

The week before Halloween, me and Mom went to the costume store. I had my heart set on being Superman, but the store didn't have my size. All the ones I tried on, the pants didn't fit and the shirt and cape didn't cover my stomach. I was embarrassed and upset. But Mom bought me a Superman T-shirt and some red sneakers. It wasn't the same thing but we made it work.

Halloween came and I was bouncing off the walls. We went door to door, hitting both sides of the street. It took us 2 hours to visit 40 houses. By then I had 2 brown paper bags full of candy.

Mom emptied everything onto the kitchen table and confiscated 95% of my bounty. "Mom, that's my candy, where are you taking it?"

She said, "You can't eat all this candy tonight. I'm going to put it in a safe place so you can have a little bit every day."

Knowing I couldn't really do anything, I cried and asked her to let me have the Jolly Ranchers. There were a lot of them so I picked out the watermelon ones: there were 14.

Mom said, "OK, take 4 now and save the others for later."

She put the two bags of candy in her bedroom where they'd be safe. With 4 Jolly Ranchers in hand, I put the other 10 in the kitchen drawer and showed Mom where they were.

About 2:00 that morning, I snuck down to the kitchen and got the ten pieces of candy. I put them in a side pocket of my backpack.

Getting ready to go to school the next morning, Mom noticed the candy was missing. She didn't say anything. She just looked at me. I started crying. She looked in my bookbag and found the candy. "Are you trying to take this to school?" she asked.

I sniffled and explained how I had been able to stay out of trouble. I told her about the deal. She said, "I knew you were smart. I'm glad you're using your brain. A deal is a deal."

From that day on, Shawn and I never had a problem. And I never had another fight at school.

Halloween Promise Poem

One Halloween I made a deal that changed my life forever.
I used to fight with fists, but learned that words are better.

I was always bright and smart but it never came in handy,
until I learned that me and Shawn both liked the same candy.

We used to have our differences,
but on Halloween we were witnesses
that Jolly Ranchers can turn enemies
into friends from adversaries.