We were brown and tall Jew and small
Freckled fat bucktooth flat
Black and broken short and Christian
With teeth and hair in every direction
We were 20 different ways on how to pitch or catch a ball
But the day before November was the best day of the fall

Little Mikey Lundy had a dad who beat him daily
For nothing anyone could ever put their finger on.
As if he needed reason it was always open season
On Mikey when he came home late and all the whiskey gone.

Now little Mike was ‘specially keen to be the Hulk at Halloween
Cause he could wear a suit of green and hide the cuts and bruises.
Hell, for one night we could all just be who and what we wanted most
Robber, princess, vampire, ghost, whatever our muses chooses.

We were brown and tall Jew and small
Freckled fat bucktooth flat
Black and broken short and Christian
With teeth and hair in every direction
We were 20 views on just which super hero had it all
But the day before November was the best day of the fall

The older boys would spin us stories of Miller's field and of a man
That crossed old Mr. Miller and then disappeared from sight.
And if you squint the street light on the corner of Fifth and Mason
Casts a 10 foot scarecrow shadow guarding Miller's field at night.

But that didn't stop the older boys from laying flaming bags of poop
On Old Man Miller's front porch stoop then doing the knock and run.
We'd see a leg from behind the door come stomp it out and that is all
We ever saw of Old Man Miller as long as we were young

We were brown and tall Jew and small
Freckled fat bucktooth flat
Black and broken short and Christian
With teeth and hair in every direction
We were 20 different crayon shades should Crayola come to call But the day before November was the best day of the fall

Now, we hated the candy apples that the Gormans tossed into our bags
They gummed-up all the other stuff with their icky sticky splatter.
So Mikey's big idea of course was to leave them on Old Miller's porch
Shout “Trick-or-treat, stinky feet" then bang the door and scatter.

So here he was but four foot three and braver than both you and me
Tiptoeing with 10 apples on their dirty bamboo skewers.
He rapped that door and how he flew the fastest four foot hulk we knew
Abandoning those treats of goo and all murderous pursuers.

We were brown and tall Jew and small
Freckled fat bucktooth flat
Black and broken short and Christian
With teeth and hair in every direction
We were 20 ways to slap the side of pinball at the mall
But the day before November was the best day of the fall

As Halloweening slowed his pace and we visited every neighbors door
We snuck past old man Miller's place and the apples weren’t there anymore.
And one by one with pillowcases booty filled and chocolate faces
We peeled off from our group for home to make our stomachs sore.

The next day on the bus we tallied peanut butter cups
And Raisinettes and Good and Plenty when Mikey shrugged and said
"My father never came back home" and we said nothing we just kept blowing
Bazooka bubbles and chewing peanut M&Ms instead.

The days grew warm we hit the bikes in shorts and T-shirts and so did Mike
The only bruise still on that tyke was just above his shoe
Where a pedal caught him on his shin jumping a curb on a banana seat Schwinn
That shaver made us all seem braver with all his derring-do.

He smiled a whole lot more since then but he never saw his dad again
And speculation has it that that bird just up and flew
But if you pass by Miller's field at night and squint at that Fifth and Mason light
You'd swear where there was once one scarecrow now there's clearly two

We were brown and tall Jew and small
Freckled fat bucktooth flat
Black and broken short and Christian
With teeth and hair in every direction
We were 100 different hopes and dreams spray painted on God’s wall
But the day before November was the best day of the fall