Halloween is just around the corner, even though a complete entourage of Christmas decorations and holiday paraphernalia has been out in most stores since July.

Nevertheless, I love the fall and all of the holidays that accompany it.

With scary movies on TV each night, black cats and witches on brooms decorating people's yards and front porches, and candy galore, Halloween is one of my favorites.

The Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney horror films are classics.

All during the week before Halloween, my brother Lamar and I will call back and forth to let the other one know about an old scary movie that's coming on TV.

Of course, horror movies today, such as &#8220The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and &#8220The Ring” scare me.

The main thing that scared me was the fact that I had just spent approximately four to five hours of my life that I would never be able to retrieve.

Not to mention the money spent on the movie tickets.

The Ritz Theatre showed &#8220It's Alive” back in the ‘70's, and, of course, I let myself get talked into going to see it.

I still remember that baby's claw hanging over the side of the crib in the advertisement.

That image is forever seared into my brain.

Probably one of the grossest scenes, though, was watching the white milk pouring from the milkman's truck suddenly turn into strawberry milk after his untimely demise.

What special effects.

I really feel sorry for the kids today who don't get to roam from house to house trick-or-treating like I did with my friends.

Of course, we were running around carrying flashlights and wearing either homemade outfits, or a store-bought costume that probably, if it had come in contact with any fire, would have gone up like a Roman candle.

But, everyone knows that creaky stairs can be very unnerving around Halloween, while, at any other time of the year, they're just annoying.

Whenever I walked up the stairs at Belk Hudson's in Greenville, they creaked so loudly I would pause before taking another step because I just knew everybody was looking at me.

Who hasn't had the experience of trying to walk quietly on hardwood floors?

What is it about walking on hardwood floors that causes such creaks and groans?

And, you know that only happens when you don't want it to, such as when you are sneaking in from being out past your curfew.

Talk about being scared out of your wits.

In my parents' house, the door to my bedroom is the kind that slides into the wall.

I came tiptoeing in one night and, unbeknownst to me, my father, Theo Grayson, heard me.

So much for anonymity.

The hallway is only about 20 feet long, but when you are trying to be as quiet as possible, it seems more like a football field.

With every step, the hardwood floor creaked and groaned.

Or course, those creakings and groanings were magnified by the pounding of my heart because I was scared to death of waking my parents.

Little did I know, my dad, being the prankster that he was, was standing in the pitch dark; he had heard me trying to sneak in, and had slid my door shut.

Need I say more?

When I hit that door Blam! nose first, the rattling of the door reverberated throughout the entire house, so any and all chances of a quiet entrance were completely null and void.

It wasn't until the next day when my dad asked me if my nose was sore that I put two and two together and came up with a new score in the discipline category: Parents 1, Regina 0.

After discussing Halloween costumes, scary movies and creaking hallways with Samson, my 21-pound tomcat, we decided that we would decorate this year for….

Hey, Sam, where are you….?

What the….?

Sam, where are you going with that broom?

Regina Grayson is managing editor of The Luverne Journal. She can be reached at 335-3541 or by email: regina.grayson@luvernejournal.com.