BELIE

February 14, 2010

\bi-‘li\ v 1a: to give a false impression of b: to present an appearance not in agreement with 2: to show (something) to be wrong : contradict 3: to disguise

Halloween was never my favorite holiday. As a kid, I loved (yea you probably guessed it), Christmas! I wasn’t a demanding child, but I loved getting new toys and gadgets every year. However, even though Halloween wasn’t up there on my list, I do remember most of my costumes, made by my gifted mother.
I had been your average cat and witch and was getting tired of those mundane costumes. The previous year I had been possessed by Raggedy Anne; that costume taking my mother forever to make (I will never forget her stitching red yarn to the top part of her pantyhose to make a wig). It was a big hit and I did not know I was going to top it off. My mother came up with the idea of a hobo, or bag man. At first, I wasn’t too thrilled at being a man for Halloween, but then slowly, the idea started to appeal to me and I wound up being dressed in a trench coat, hair stuck under one of my dad’s caps with dark make-up on my face, acting as dirt, carrying three bags. I thought it was brilliant and really hoped that I would be truly belied underneath this carefully constructed disguise. Not five minutes into the party I heard, “Hey Katie!” Ahh well, you win some, you lose some.