This year, there seems to be plenty of pre-Halloween activity in the neighborhood. Perhaps in the same pandemic spirit as the many close-by home improvement projects: the psychology seems to be, we’re home, we’re bored, we have time on our hands, let’s have at the new patio or deck.

Or, along with boredom at sheltering-in-place, with some conscious or unconscious irony: what better time of year to consider how easily death might invade our daily lives than Halloween?

The schadenfreude hardly needs to be pointed out: we and our neighbors are here at the periphery of this plague to enjoy Halloween displays in the neighborhood, while others are dead, or sick, homeless, or unemployed.