masks

when i was a little girl, my dad bought a load of halloween masks at gee bee's at an after halloween sale.  the masks were the thin plastic variety, held on by a piece of elastic around the back of the head - the kind that came with the flammable plastic costumes that were popular in the 70s.  the masks were in a brown paper bag, and i remember the delight i felt when i pulled, one by one, a mask out of the bag.  the masks were probably used for the haunted house my church's youth group put out each year.

there was a mask for every monster you could think of - dracula, frankenstein, the monster from the black lagoon to name a few.  i remember there was a skull mask with a nazi helmet (dad thought it was a storm trooper) - who would make a mask of that?  there were also friendly masks - casper the ghost, a clown (well, depending on how you felt about clowns, they were okay for me).  i added the masks from costumes past - holly hobbie, strawberry shortcake, the smurfs - to the bag as well.

i used to make patterns with the masks as i pulled them out.  i'd lay them on the floor, a creepy vacant-eyed audience.  sometimes i'd put the masks i didn't like on the bottom of the bag, or make a pile of favorite masks.  after halloween, the bag of masks would be returned to the attic.  sometimes i used to sneak the bag downstairs and play with the masks.

yep.  i was one weird kid.

i asked my mom about that bag.  i asked if they still had it or did it get tossed in the purge.  she didn't think they had it anymore - that it had been tossed when we moved almost 20 years ago.  that made me sad, but why else would my folks keep a bag of masks?

for kicks i looked around ebay for similar masks.  they're scarce, and the ones i did see cost a fortune.

kids aren't allowed to wear masks in school.  any faces should be made with makeup.  i understand the safety reasons behind the rules, but man, i love masks.