Once upon a time we had a six foot tall plastic blow up dinosaur. Every Halloween we would blow him up and stand him inside the front door. My job was to slooowly open the door so the first glimpse trick or treaters got was the fiendish dinosaur. The little ones hid behind daddy and whimpered. The older ones were speechless.

One year I lost interest. I cleaned out the garage and the dinosaur skin. Every child that knocked on the door that year was ready to be terrified. "Where is it?" they would ask. They didn't want my Snickers bars. They wanted the scary dinosaur.

I don't turn on the lights anymore and I close the blinds. No one knocks. You get back what you give.