A Year Down Yonder

With the school’s Halloween party coming up, Miss Butler issues an appeal for homemade refreshments, and Grandma decides to contribute pecan and pumpkin pies. Mary Alice discovers that Halloween is a much bigger deal in Grandma’s rural town than in Chicago: Instead of a single night of trick-or-treating, the Halloween season lasts for weeks, largely taking the form of vandalism and other destructive pranks. Privies (outhouses) are a favorite target, and Mary Alice worries for her grandmother’s—until she learns that Halloween is Grandma’s “favorite holiday.”

One night late in October, a Halloween prankster ties a tin can to Bootsie’s tail. After Grandma cuts the can loose, Mary Alice notices that she is cooking up a batch of her powerful, foul-smelling homemade glue. Mary Alice follows Grandma as she gathers some tools (picture wire, a hammer, and a railroad spike) and makes her way stealthily to her privy. 

After rigging a tripwire in front of the privy, Grandma and Mary Alice settle down to wait in the cobhouse with the pan of glue. Eventually, a trio of boys arrives, intent on vandalizing Grandma’s privy. Their leader trips over the wire, breaking his nose on the ground, and Grandma pounces from her hiding place and dumps the glue over his head.