We were out at the St. Charles Scarecrow Festival today. Local groups build scenes with some combination of scarecrows or pumpkins, with a usually just a light sprinkling of advertising. We sat and watched the sysmidgets play on a playground, where I saw something truly frightening. There was a morbidly obese woman, sitting on the ground with a huge basket of cheese fries in front of her. She screamed for her five-year-old daughter to come over. She handed the kid a few bucks and sent her (unattended) to the food area to "Get me another milkshake." When the kid (miraculously) returned, Mom put her cigarette out in the remnants of her cheese fries and started sucking on the second (third?) shake. As the family and I walked away, my eldest noticed that there were ambulances idling nearby. He asked why. I knew why. She must be an annual visitor.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10, 2005 at 12:11 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.