Ike's Halloween

Here's a children's book I wrote and illustrated a couple of years ago.  I hope you like it...





His name was Ike (or so they say)
       and Ike was never mean...

...except on one night of the year
       the night of Halloween

He had no vice for common things
       like women, smokes, or brandy

For deep inside his simple mind
       Ike was a fiend for candy

 

Now Ike was forty-eight years old

       but looked no more than ten

And every year on Halloween

       he'd dress up and pretend...

...to be a trick-or-treating youth
       with pillow case in hand

He'd go along from door to door
       and bellow his demand

"I'm here for candy!" Ike would yell
       "I'm here for chock-o-lit!"

And then he'd grab the entire bowl
       and swallow every bit!

Ike was a truly awful man
       the things that he would do!

He stole young Staci's lollipop
       and she was only two!

He'd go to houses more than once
       by changing his disguise...

...Ike filled that pillow case with candy
       gathered through his lies!

...But every now and then
       someone would anger little Ike

By handing out walnuts or carrots,
       things he did not like!

His face grew red, his nostrils flared
       he'd grow so hopping mad

"Who would want these horrid things?!
       They taste not good, but bad!!"

He'd throw the carrots at the house...

...and stomp the walnuts flat...

...and then he'd grab a garden hose
       and spray the family cat!

To watch him do the things he did
       was quite an awful sight

But Old Man Benny had a plan
       to stop Ike for the night

"That one called Ike is not a boy
       he's just a little man"

"And on this night of Halloween
       I'll stop his little plan."

Old Benny stood upon his porch
       and held a candy dish

When Ike approached Old Benny said,
       "Here's candy, if you wish."

"But you can't leave until you've eaten
       each and every sweet."

"Go on," said Benny to lil' Ike
       "Dig in.  Bon apetit."

Ike reached and grabbed and ate
       and reached and grabbed and ate some more...

...but Benny used a special dish
       from Jackson's Magic Store

There was no bottom to the bowl
       it was a deep abyss

And Ike began to recognize
       that something was amiss

"You tricked me!" Ike said to the man
       "But I cannot be beaten!"

"I will not stop until it's done
       and every bite is eaten!"

"Please stop!" cried Benny, "That's enough!"
       "You've eaten quite a load!"

"And if you eat just one more bite,
       I fear you may explode!"

But Ike, he did not care at all,
       He grabbed a chocolate mint...

He brought it to his open mouth...

...and then inside it went...


Some say Ike exploded
       after eating all those treats...

...while others say he fell inside
       that magic bowl of sweets...

No one knows what happened
       on that final, fateful night

And no one knows where Ike has gone
       since taking one last bite...

No one has seen him trick-or-treat
       or dress up like a fake

And most assume that even now...

...Ike has a tummy ache.



...not bad, right?  Happy Halloween folks.

Cheers.