In the year 2000, I was working with a family of four. Susan and Mitchell loved taking their kids, Sarah and Jordon, to have fun on Halloween. Seventy-five percent of people celebrate Halloween. Well, I, for one, did not know anything about Halloween; this was my first time celebrating. I am also a Roman Catholic, and we do not like Halloween or celebrate it, but I wanted to experience it.

It was a very interesting night. The first thing we did was prepare the surprises and place them in small brown bags. Then we waited for it to get dark, took the treats with us, and went from house to house. I was loving it because when you go to drop off a surprise bag to someone’s house, especially if it is your friends from school, you have to put the bag in front of the door, ring the doorbell, then run away and hide before you get caught.

There was also one particular person who lived in the neighborhood who did not love Halloween. If you went there, and you got caught, she would scream at you and chase you away. It was fun to see everyone open their door and reach for their surprise bag. While we hid in the bushes or behind anything where they could not see us, we giggled and laughed a lot. Sometimes we would fall and roll down the hill, but most of all, people were not supposed to know who we were.

I experienced the most incredible night. It was very touching, caring, loving, and fun to see kids and their parents going to other people’s homes to give them surprise treats.

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Michelle Wilson attends the Bedford Adult Learning Center of the Brooklyn Public Library. Her tutor is Jen Kim, the literacy adviser Matthew Greene, and the site supervisor Susan Knott. Born in San Juan, Trinidad, Michelle Wilson arrived in the United States in 2000. She writes, “I am a very soft-spoken person with a warm heart. I am a churchgoing person. I love being around children and elders. I am also very loving and caring to everyone.”