Rereading My Childhood: Goosebumps

The Haunted Mask

The year 2020 was tough on everyone for many different reasons. One of the biggest casualties for me was Halloween. Sure, the pop-up stores in vacant K-Marts still managed to appear without warning, but their merchandise was lacking. The costumes and the pop culture apparel were dusty. The decorations were from last year. The displays were noticeably absent. And who could blame them? 2020's Halloween was nonexistent for those of us who wanted to be responsible and keep others safe. Sure, we knew people who still went to Halloween parties because their kids were whining only to catch Covid. (I say "knew" because I'm not going back to my waxer who did exactly that. She told me after I said I was afraid of getting Covid and that's why I was basically Robin Williams in Jumanji.) Most of us didn't buy candy, we didn't decorate our lawns, and we kept our porch lights off. We lost something.

This year's Halloween might not be the same as our halcyon days before the pandemic, especially if those anti-vaxxers keep holding us back, but there might be some sense of normalcy for the spooky time of year. At least, that's what I hope. Trick-or-treating has been on the decline, but maybe I can fall into a nostalgia trip with a rereading of a classic Goosebumps book: The Haunted Mask. So let's remember a time when kids wandered around on the night of October 31st without parents. A time when you wore a terrible mask that obstructed your view and neighbors gave out homemade cookies that may or may not have meth in them.

Our protagonist, Carly Beth, is a real scaredy-cat. For some reason, that seems to bother her friends, Chuck, Steve, and Sabrina. They put a worm in her sandwich. She gets scared, which is understandable, both for her and the worm, and her "friends" make fun of her. For not wanting to eat a worm. How unreasonable of her not to want to eat a worm in her PB&J. Right away we have a Goosebumps trope - terrible non-friends. Our schools are overcrowded. You'd think kids could find friends who are actually nice, but I digress.

Carly Beth goes home humiliated and she's greeted with a plaster-of-Paris bust of herself, which also scares her.

"It's just creepy, that's all," Carly Beth said. She forced herself to look away from the replica of herself, and saw that her mother's smile had faded.

Mrs. Caldwell looked hurt. "Don't you like it?"

"Yeah. Sure. It's really good, Mom," Carly Beth answered quickly. "But, I mean, why on earth did you make it?"

"Because I love you," Mrs. Caldwell replied curtly. "Why else? Honestly, Carly Beth, you have the strangest reactions to things. I worked really hard on this sculpture. I thought-"

"I'm sorry, Mom. I like it. Really, I do," Carly Beth insisted. "It was just a surprise, that's all. It's great. It looks just like me. I-I had a bad day, that's all."

Carly Beth took another long look at the sculpture. Its brown eyes - her brown eyes - stared back at her. The brown hair shimmered in the afternoon sunlight through the window.

It smiled at me! Carly Beth thought, her mouth dropped open. I saw it! I just saw it smile!

No. It had to be a trick of the light.

Guilt trip much, Mom? Also, weird thing to do, Mom. But it is sweet that she thought of her daughter. It's like British candy - weird and sweet.

Carly Beth goes up to her room to inspect her duck costume for Halloween, but it springs into motion! It's alive!

But don't worry. It's just her little brother, Noah, who also reminds her that she's a scaredy-cat and then asks for her costume. Cool family, Carly Beth. Do you also have a father who likes to pretend to murder you every night? An uncle who leaves threatening notes in your mailbox?