It is difficult for someone with dementia on trick-or treat night. We can hear the children up and down the street wishing people a Happy Halloween. I don’t think they quite understand the story. This is the day when the souls of the dead are supposed to revisit their homes.
I am helping Anna upstairs when there is a ringing at the door and I can hear weird and ghostly cries outside. In the old days perhaps Anna would have been thought of as a witch and they would have kept away. A useful trick, I am now thinking.
Trick or treat , according to my dictionary, originated in the United States, where children went from the door to door demanding treats on penalty of tricks. It is still the basis of their foreign policy, of course. And of course we have it here now, just the same.
It is a perverse rendering of the carrot and stick argument for getting other people to do what you want. And it is very frightening when applied to people who are dependent - do what I say or I will make things harder for you - and I think of that when Anna struggles with the people who are trying to help her. Her cries are like a soul protesting.