Early Autumn In the Air

The weather today reminds me of those early autumn days of my youth—those afternoons in late summer when you could tell fall was just around the corner. It’s cloudy and gray outside—and slightly cool, due to tropical storm Fay skirting the Gulf coast and trying to make its way back out into the Gulf of Mexico. Fall has always been my favorite season, and I’ve been lucky to have lived my entire life up till now in a place where fall presents itself every year, in full color and crispness. I feel a little sorry for people who never get to experience the joys of the changing seasons, particularly the change from warmer weather to cooler, when blessed relief comes in the form of cool air, or as I’ve often heard it called, “nature’s air conditioning."


Mississippi summers can be brutally hot and humid,and they certainly were when I was growing up, but not everyone had air conditioning back then, which made it much more uncomfortable in the hot summer months. Going back to school each fall, we endured the last sting of summer’s heat in the classroom, because our grammar school had no air conditioning, only electric fans, which, as you know, only circulate warm air around a room. I recall those first few weeks of early September when the days were still very warm. We’d be in the classroom, freshly dressed in our new school clothes, still stiff and scratchy with the newness that only such clothes can give to the poor, unfortunate boys and girls who had to wear them. Synthetic fabric was really coming into its own at the time, and you know how synthetic materials don’t breathe the way cotton does. Wash and wear, permanent press, wrinkle resistant—these were all phrases to describe the “convenience” of all this nonsense, and although I admit many of the shirts and pants I wore looked good, they sure didn’t feel good, let me tell you. I always cringed when my mother made me try on the itchy, scratchy new shirts she bought for me. Maybe my skin was a little over-sensitive, I don’t know, but not until after my new clothes had been washed at least three times did they begin to resemble anything I would call comfortable.


We were fortunate to have air conditioning at home, so at least there I could find relief in the afternoons when I would come in, change into my play clothes, and then go back outside. I could endure the heat in my play clothes, mainly because I already knew how well-worn and comfortable they were.


Summer always managed to hang on for most of September, and only when October came around did we get to experience the sheer bliss of cool, autumn breezes and crisp, blue skies. Fall meant one good thing to me: Halloween! Out of all the holidays, Halloween—only topped by Christmas—was my favorite time of the year. I’ve always had a fascination about it, all its mystery and darkness. I associate Halloween with fun, not fright, which always makes it something to look forward to every year, even as an adult. I guess most people feel that way about it, since it’s all about having fun anyway. We never played tricks on any of our neighbors. That side of Halloween was foreign to us, as we were too busy deciding which costume to wear, and which street we would trick-or-treat down first. Neighbors would answer the door and were very generous with the candy—and at times—the homemade goodies they would toss in our bags. Remember popcorn balls? I recall getting at least one or two every year. But we especially loved getting chocolate of any kind, usually in the form of candy bars or Hershey Kisses. Of course, we never liked getting fruit, and as good fortune would have it, we almost never did. Fruit was heavy and took up too much room in the goody bag, so not getting any was definitely a good thing.


We would come home from our night of candy collecting tired and worn out from all the door to door trudging. Next, we would dump out our bags of candy onto the kitchen table—in the full light, so we could carefully examine all the goodies and sort out the best from the “not so best.” We managed to eat a lot of it right then and there, and I’m sure our parents protested vehemently against our doing so, but we just ignored them and kept on eating it. On more than one Halloween night I went to bed with a tummy ache.