In his book, I...
Illustration
In his book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum tells of answering his front door on a cold and gloomy Sunday afternoon, just before Christmas:
"This holy hour of Lordsdaybliss was jarred by a pounding at the door. Now what? Deep sigh. Opening it, resigned to accept whatever bad news lies in wait, I am nonplussed. A rather small person in a cheap Santa Claus mask, carrying a large brown paper bag outthrust: 'TRICK OR TREAT!' Santa Mask shouts. What? 'TRICK OR TREAT!' Santa Mask hoots again. Tongue-tied, I stare at this apparition. He shakes the bag at me, and dumbly I fish out my wallet and find a dollar to drop into the bag. The mask lifts, and it is an Asian kid with a ten-dollar grin taking up most of his face. 'Wanta hear some caroling?' he asks.
"I know him now. He belongs to a family settled into the neighborhood by the Quakers last year. Refugees. He stopped by at Halloween with his sisters and brothers, and I filled their bags. Hong Duc is his name -- he's maybe eight. At Halloween he looked like a Wise Man, with a bathrobe on and a dish towel around his head.
" 'Wanta hear some caroling?'
"I nod, envisioning an octet of urchin refugees hiding in the bushes ready to join their leader in uplifted song. 'Sure; where's the choir?'
" 'I'm it,' says he. And he launched forth with an up-tempo chorus of 'Jingle Bells' at full lung power. This was followed by an equally enthusiastic rendering of what I swear sounded like 'Hark, the Hairy Angels Sing.' And finally, a soft-voiced, reverential singing of 'Silent Night.' Head back, eyes closed, from the bottom of his heart he poured out the last strains of 'Sleep in heavenly peace' into the gathering night.
"Wet-eyed, dumbstruck by his performance, I pulled a five-dollar bill out of my wallet and dropped that into the paper bag. In return he produced half a candy cane from his pocket and passed it solemnly to me. Flashing the ten-dollar grin, he turned and ran from the porch, shouted, 'GOD BLESS YOU,' and 'TRICK OR TREAT,' and was gone....
"Trick or treat! After I shut the door, came near-hysteria -- laughter and tears and that funny feeling you get when you know that once again Christmas has come to you. Right down the chimney of my midwinter hovel comes Saint Hong Duc. He is confused about the details, like me, but he is very clear about the spirit of the season."
