Our doorbell rang at 7:30 this morning.

�Who�s ringing our doorbell at this hour of the morning?� I asked my husband. AJ ran for the door. �I�ll get it!�
�Don�t answer the door unless you know who it is.�
�I do. It�s B.� B. is The Girl Next Door�s big brother.

AJ flung open the door and there on our front porch stood B, age nine, in his pajamas and slippers riding a scooter. It was 22 degrees outside. The scooter was exactly like AJ�s except red. AJ�s is blue.

�AJ, look what the Halloween fairy brought me!�
�Wow, cool! It�s just like mine except the wheels are red.�
�I know!�
�Want to see what the Halloween fairy brought me?�

The two boys abandoned the shiny new scooter on the porch and tumbled up the stairs (if such a thing is possible � it made a noise like tumbling down) and into AJ�s room where they sat down in front of the new toy AJ is calling Pirate Island. AJ and I had just spent a half an hour putting all the little pieces together.
�Wow, cool! Can I play?�
�Sure.�
And there they sat for 20 minutes or so until B. realized his mom was probably wondering where he was and he needed to have breakfast. AJ escorted him to the door and waved cheerfully as B. scooted across the strip of lawn between our two houses.
- - - - -
I have to say that the Halloween fairy�s first visit to our house seems to have been a success. It�s a long way from AJ�s birthday to Christmas. I�m kind of glad the neighbors came up with this idea. AJ threw open his door around 5:30, ostensibly because he was going to the bathroom, but I�m sure he wanted to sneak a peek. He was excited. He ran in to tell us the Halloween fairy had come but we shooed him back to bed until 7. At 7 on the dot, he came out of his door and took a long look at the tag on his present. �Hey, Mommy! The Halloween fairy knows my name!�

We played pirates all morning, although AJ scowled every time I shouted, "Yaaarr!" or "Shiver me timbers!"
"I don't like it when you talk like a pirate."
"Why not?"
"It makes me feel embarassed."
Uh-oh. I thought I had a couple of years to go before I got embarassing.

- - - - -
It was hard to top the excitement of the Halloween fairy. I spent the afternoon with Rossini and Verdi and Wagner. I spent the evening at yoga and the last few hours wrestling with the reorganization of my syllabus to accommodate the fact that I�m a week behind. I was just about to give up in despair when I noticed a date was missing. I�d left off a day of class on my original syllabus. I don�t know how it happened. Not only did I proof it repeatedly, but so did several other people. But there it was: I had one more class period to fill. My problem is solved. For once my own stupidity works in my favor.

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