In a town long ago lived happy people with many white, gray and cats of calico, that loved to wait for the children after school, to sit on their laps or at their knees and were happy purring all the time. A place where you could hear the birds sing and where beautiful flowers grew, where fish and cats played together swimming in ponds. Green grass in the parks and catnip too! The ice cream truck rang his bell daily and there was always warm sunshine. A place where everybody helped each other and shared, even the children loved doing their homework after school. This was Purrfectville.

But, outside of town it was very dark and lonely, a place where no one would dare venture and the only thing existing was blackening space. The sun never shined and it rained all the time and you never would see a rainbow. There were no birds that flew and only black crows, bats and never a blue sky. A mean old woman lived there and so mean was she, chasing away any living thing that came near her, the only thing she loved and cared for was her pumpkin patch. She would sit on her porch and carve day after day, night after night taking pumpkins and making them into ugly creatures of vampires and bats. They say she would wander one day a year to try and make happy children cry by stealing their newborn kittens and taking the fish out of their ponds home for her fish fry.

The children were always curious about this mean old woman and got together one day while they were playing a game with a new boy in town named Jack. Do you ever go down and look at that place Jack asked? One boy replied were told to stay away from there! Just look as far as you can see how dark it gets. Jack being the new boy wanted to impress the others and said I'll do it! The rest of you are just being babies and I'm not afraid, she's nothing but an old woman. Okay! Jack you're so brave let's see you go down there and prove it to us. You can take one of her pumpkins from the patch and bring it back here. Just then the rest of the boys started to chant, Go Jack! Go Jack and after a few minutes of this he was ready to prove to the others how brave he really was.

Jack started to walk and make his way out of town, just then one of the little white kittens started to follow him and wanted to play, Jack tried to chase him back, the little kitten thought it was fun and followed him, looking back at the others Jack waved. The nearer he got to the house the darker it got and he tried not to show fear. Suddenly he was out of site of the others, the cold winds started to blow all the leaves from the trees, Jack noticed no birds were singing and it got real quiet. He walked faster hoping to make the trip shorter while his heart skipped a beat. The boys tried to see him so they waited for his return, then they all got tired and went home. The new boy named Jack was never to be seen again.

The town that was once happy and called Purrfectville was no more. There are no leaves on the trees and people moved away, no children in the parks, the grass is no longer green it turned brown and all the beautiful cats ran away. The story goes that the white kitten turned into a black cat that very night and that boy who was foolish, proved he was also not very bright. But, on this one special day we call Halloween, Jacks face shows up carved into a pumpkin with an eerie glow inside. The old woman they say was really a witch and was nowhere to be found. One thing is for sure when you're out trick or treating be on the watch for black cats, bats and black crows and anything that might give you a fright! So when you're told not to venture, just remember this tale, always listen to your parents and you'll stay happy and well.