Memories of Years Past

The first memory I can recall, or at least the first one I wish to recall, occurred when I was about two years old. I see my reflection staring back at me. I don’t know when the event happened. I think it may have been Halloween. I’m wearing all white, and I have a white hat on my head. It looks like I’m dressed up as a ghost to go trick-or-treating. I wonder what kind of candy I got that year? I’ve always liked Halloween, dressing up, becoming someone else.

One Halloween, when I was probably about nine, I remember having some fireworks left over from the Fourth of July. That year, my dad took me to the fireworks stand and let me pick out whatever I wanted I found these fireworks that you put on the ground and when you light the fuse they whistle off down the street, sending sparks out behind them. My dad called them “n*****-chasers,” so that’s what I called them.

On that Halloween, I had a few of these things left over, and I was getting to the age where the trick part of trick-or-treat caught my attention more than the treat part. I dressed up as a soldier that year, complete with a painted-on beard, a Punisher logo as an arm patch, and a replica sniper rifle. I wanted to be Chris Kyle.

As I walked through our neighborhood, I felt like a patriot, a protector of my family’s and friend’s swath of land. If anyone decided to infiltrate my area, I’d…