I Always Buy Too Much Candy

As usual, I'm left with a large supply of Halloween candy. Knowing that I might (probably would), I made sure to get the kind that Jesse and I like. There's another bag of Reese's in the fridge. We had only a trickling to trick-or-treaters last night. We used to have them lined up down the driveway waiting to get up the steps. I think the tradition will be gone entirely in a few years.

Daughter Andy came over after work. We had spaghetti for dinner and cupcakes (which Andy brought) for dessert. Then we watched an awesome movie on Netflix, "Mr. Harrigan's Phone," which is based on a Stephen King short story. Not too awfully scary, but very good. Donald Sutherland plays Mr. Harrigan, a mysterious and quite ancient billionaire. The main character, a young boy, Craig, (I don't remember the actor's name) takes on the task of reading classics to Mr. H. in the afternoons. After years of this, when the boy has become a teenager, he finally talks his dad into letting him get a cellphone. And when a lottery ticket that Mr. H. gives Craig for Christmas garners Craig a prize of $3,000, he decides to buy Mr. H., a cellphone as a gift. Mr. H. is not too impressed with the phone at first. But when Craig shows him that he can get stock quotes in "real time," his interest heats up. 

When Mr. Harrigan passes away, Craig surreptitiously places Mr. H's cell phone in his pocket as he lies in his coffin at the funeral. Mr. H. is subsequently buried, and here's where the fun begins. 

The story is not King's scariest, but it sure made a good movie. The scariest thing about it is the message it conveys about America's (maybe the world"s) obsession with cellphones. And it's not just the thing about Harrigan communicating with Craig from the grave and the bad things that consequently happen. The scenes where school children are gathered around cafeteria tables, not eating their lunches and chatting (in fact, no food in sight), but quietly and with fierce concentration are texting on their cell phones. Another scene shows two students, a boy and a girl, sitting opposite each other at a table, not talking but texting each other. Either one of them could have whispered and been heard by the other, but they preferred to text. Two other students standing at their lockers, probably not in whispering distance, but certainly within speaking distance, were texting each other.

Daughter Andy, when the movie was over, declared that she was going to get rid of her cellphone. I don't think she did, but it sure makes you think.

I hope all of you had a great and wonderful Halloween. Today I wish you a blessed All Saint's Day. I will spend it remembering beloved family members and friends who have graduated to sainthood--especially this one.

One of my favorite photos of my husband Vann.