Red, White and Boo!

The holiday's approach has put new dilemmas before parents--not just how much candy to let the kids eat but also what to do if a kid dressed in a haz-mat suit comes to the door. Do you have to explain to your kids what the garb is for? And what if a "terrorist" shows up for trick or treat? "I'd just not open it," says Ann Corrao, a Gwinnett County, Ga., real estate agent and mother of two. "Maybe I'll put up a sign, NO OSAMAS WELCOME!" She's also considering letting her kids go trick-or-treating, then gathering up the candy and throwing it out. "They've got braces anyway, so I wouldn't have to tell them it's because I'm worried about anthrax."

So Americans will dance on the grave of their anxieties by going carefully or patriotically or gaudily into that dark night. They will dress as their new and old heroes, looking for blessings in disguise. Or they will support the U.S. by their decision to put on something hideous and partee! In pretending this is a Halloween like any other, they will find the strength to face this Halloween like no other. Perhaps this will give some kind of release--fake fear, real catharsis--to a lot of people for whom the scariest day of the year is now not Oct. 31 but Sept. 11.