A great new monthly column by Micky’s sister Coco Dolenz
Hi! How’s everything with you? Good, glad to hear it. Everyone asks me questions like, “When was Micky the happiest?” “Or the saddest?” Those are pretty hard to answer, but I think I can tell you when one of Micky’s scariest days was.
The incident I’m talking about was a special Halloween about 9 years ago. I know I’ll never forget this special Halloween and I bet Micky will never forget it either. We wanted to do something different that year, so after we had one of our “bull sessions,” we came up with an idea. We often had little talks when we were planning something out of the ordinary. Getting ready for the ghosts and goblins that night was some chore.
Weird noises Permalink
Micky got his tape recorder out, and he would scream like a wild man, then we would both make weird noises and contort our voices in ways that would have made even Vincent Price turn white. He put his recording by the front door. We also did a bit with the lights of the house. In fact we blew the light circuits that night in the entire house. Now mind you, psychedelic lights weren’t in yet, but that didn’t stop “Mad Scientist Dolenz and helper”. We had it rigged so we could have flickering lights, colored wheels and a whole bunch of flashing spooky lights. So when time came for the show to begin, we knew this would be a Halloween worth remembering.
Then came the fun! When kids started up the driveway, we started with the show. As soon as we started with the noise and lights, kids would jolt. Some ran and some screamed, but they would always come back for their treats. We were careful not to scare the little kids, though.
Trick or treat Permalink
Later on we went out to do our own trick or treating, and the witching hour for us was 10:00 cuz we had school the next day. As we went around we met up with many of our friends. And they were all talking about how scarey [sic] our house was. We were having a gas, getting a lot of candy. Well you know how time flies, all of a sudden we realized it was 11:00. Oh no, we’re in trouble. I can’t explain how fast we ran. Would you believe we covered 3 miles in ten minutes flat?
As we approached the house we were going over our story, (commonly known as a little white lie as to why we were late.) “You tell Mommy that we….” “No, I’ll say that” or “why didn’t we watch the time?” Then all of a sudden, there was our house. Not all lit up as usual, but dark and spooky looking.
“Oh no, Mommy is out looking for us”. Well, I was scared to death, but Micky was taking control. Micky snuck around the side door. Locked.
Locked out Permalink
Well, we tried the windows and the other doors. Locked. That left only the front door. Silently, we crept, I could hear our hearts and our breathing. Both were awfully loud. What a night to be out. Halloween. I started to ring the bell in hopes that Mom would be home.
Ready for us Permalink
Mom was home and ready for us. On went the lights and Micky’s tape recorder. I turned to him, but he was way ahead of me. I hit him as I turned and he flung back and lost his head in his headless ghostman’s costume. He got up clawing the air trying to get his head out and the only thing visible to him was the lights and imaginary spooks that the noises must have made him think of. With all that yelling about Witches and Switches (I think Mom was yelling about the switches) Micky was really blowing. And when we finally composed ourselves, Mom opened the door and said “Oh, Micky and Coco, I didn’t know that was you! (Ha ha, I bet she didn’t) “Get to bed,” she yelled.
We had 10 minutes to get our make-up and clothes off, get bathed and in bed and if we weren’t we’d get it. Micky was so scared that night that he can [sic] in my room and curled up on the floor. (I think my asking him to cuz I was scared had a lot to do with it). That night gave us the biggest shock in our lives. In fact that was the only time I think he really lost his cool. And by our own trick! How humiliating!!!
