Little Wendy Summersby had heard lots of stories about the older gentleman that lived in the small ranch house over on Elm Avenue.
Ronnie Gulf said that the man was always grumpy and grouchy and that he hated kids.
Even adults like Mrs. Grimsly said that she had known Amos Wendt since he was a boy and never liked him much. “He didn’t like me either!” she added.
But Eric Sutton, Wendy’s classmate, told Wendy that when he “trick or treated” old Mr. Wendt’s house last Halloween, he seemed OK, but Eric admitted that the old man didn’t smile at him at all.
Wendy had seen Mr. Wendt outside in his garden last summer, and when the old man saw that he was being watched, he rose up and stared back at Wendy.
Wendy then said “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to stare at you Sir.”
He nodded his head and said…”That’s Ok. I understand” and then went back to his weeding.

Wendy thought that Mr. Wendt seemed lonely. Halloween was coming up fast and Wendy decided to do something very unusual, possibly even unique!
She would go around the neighborhood collecting candy and then go to Mr. Wendt’s house and instead of saying “Trick or Treat” when he opened the door, she would say “No Tricks Mr. Wendt, but here’s your TREAT!” and give him the candy haul.
But what if he didn’t even open the door? What then?
Well, she’d leave the goodies on his doorstep, and ring the bell once more and then leave.

On Halloween night Wendy’s Mom told her not to eat “Too much candy!”
“Oh I won’t!” Wendy said, knowing that she might not even take a bite!
The kids were scattering all over that night and news of the houses giving out whole candy bars spread like wildfire. Those giving cash money, even if just a small coin, also quickly made the rounds.
Wendy, after her hollow plastic pumpkin had filled with treats, made her way through the squeaky iron gate and up the broken brick path to Mr. Wendt’s door.
She rang the bell, twice and just as she was about to leave, the door curtain was pulled aside and a wrinkled face peered out from the inside darkness.
The door slowly opened. “Oh you’re the girl that stares!”
“Ah, I guess I am Mr. Wendt, but then she said “NO tricks Sir, but here’s your TREAT!” and she handed him the mostly full plastic pumpkin.

He backed off away from her slightly.
“It’s OK Sir I just figured that you don’t go out trick or treating, so I did it for you!”
He just stood, not blinking, but not smiling either, the black pumpkin strap around his wrist.
“I hope you like the candy Sir” and Wendy started to leave.
“WAIT!…Ah, please. I’ve got a treat for you too.” The old man leaned over and reached out behind the door and then reached his hand out toward Wendy’s head. She jerked away, thinking that this was not such a good idea after all.
“No…I would never hurt you…but you have something behind your left ear!”
As he reached his hand near, but not touching her, he pulled a Snickers bar from behind her head and put it into her hand.
“Wendy felt her ear. “How’d you do that?”
“Oh…some call it magic, but it is all pretty simple if you know the secret!”
Wendy was amazed. “Is it real?” she asked holding up the candy bar.
“Oh yes and fresh too! Let your parents check it first of course.”

“Wow! Could you, would you, teach me how to do that?”
“Oh I could. You know, I used to be a Magician with the “Jackson Carnival Of Wonders” so many years back. I also was the sword swallower and the fire eater too!”
“Wow! Really?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you. And I would gladly teach you everything that I know, if your parents approved of course.”

“May I come back and see you, maybe Saturday Mr. Wendt?”
“Check with your parents first Wendy!”
“How did you know my name?”
“I checked after our little staring episode last summer.”
She tried to hand the Snickers bar back to him and said, “Here! Do it again!”
“Oh we never repeat the same trick twice. But, wait, what’s this in your right ear?”
He pulled out a quarter and handed it to her. “You’d better go home and wash those ears out!”
She laughed and so did he!
“Thanks for all the candy Wendy! I made the Snickers and quarter appear, but I’m going to make lots of your candy gift DISAPPEAR!”
“Ha! You’re funny too! Thank you for the Snikers and the quarter. See you Saturday!”

After telling her parents about meeting Mr. Wendt and her idea about learning “Magic”, her parents were highly skeptical and said that the old man was indeed a very “strange” and “scary character.”
It was decided that Wendy, her Mom and her Dad would all go over to Mr. Wendt’s house on Saturday. Wendy happily agreed.

Saturday came, and when the three Summersby’s rang the bell, Mr. Wendt answered in a long black and gold robe with a golden wand in his hand.
“Hello…all enter. This is the costume that I wore when I performed. Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Summersby, you have a wonderful daughter.”
“Yes, thank you. Do you mind if we stay while you teach Wendy?” her Mom asked.
“Not at all. Why don’t you give Magic a try too? I promise no sword swallowing or fire eating lessons!”
All three Summersby’s looked at each other and smiled…”Why NOT!” said Wendy’s Dad.
They all learned how to make quarters appear and objects spring up out of nowhere. But the main thing learned, was that all of them made something disappear completely…namely, all of the wrong ideas that everyone had about Mr. Wendt, just because the way that he lived, was different.