In 1994, Donald Ouellette died in a senseless car accident
caused by a Devil’s Night prank gone bad. For Detroiters, Devil’s Night once
known for pranks by neighborhood kids had changed by the 1990s to vandalism and
arson committed by adults. Donald was driving home to his new bride, Madeline,
when he hit a telephone pole placed across the street by teenage vandals.
Losing control of his car, he hit a tree; killing him. Neighbors reported seeing
older kids running from the scene of the accident; the police determined the
telephone pole was left by AT&T repairmen unable to complete their job by
nightfall.
In 1995, Detroit’s mayor and city officials created Angels’
Night. A program in which volunteers patrolled neighborhoods at night from
October 29 to October 31. The program reduced crime and vandalism, but it didn’t
bring to justice the kids whose prank killed Donald or ease the pain Madeline
experienced every year on Devil’s Night.
Madeline awoke from a troubled, nightmare-filled sleep to a
man’s voice telling her to wake up. Madeline sat up imagining she was still
dreaming. The old man shaking her shoulder resembled what gray-haired Donald had
he lived to be sixty-four, as Madeline had.
“Come on,
honey, wake up. We have to get a move on. We have to get the porch decorations
out and buy candy before Beth and the kids arrive.”
“What’s
going on? Who are you?” Madeline cried.
“It’s Ok
Mad. You’re just having one of those senior moments.”
“Who are you?” Madeline shouted.
“Donald,
your husband.” The old man took her hands and tried to calm her.
“You are
dead. You died on Devil’s Night.”
“You’ve had
that dream again. I’ll get you some coffee and juice. You don’t want Beth to
see you like this. She’s worried enough about us living in this neighborhood. I
wish she weren’t coming. Not with the kids, anyway. You know how I feel about
Devil’s Night.”
Madeline did
not know how this man felt about anything. For her, Devil’s Night was a
nightmare, and this one was starting out to be the worst.
Car image modified from
https://stock.adobe.com/images/car-accident-with-Deserted-Vehicle-After-Crash%2C-Broken-Street-Light/776976651as_content=tineye_match&clickref=1110lwDHiik&mv=affiliate&mv2=pz&as_camptype=domain&as_channel=affiliate&as_source=partnerize&as_campaign=tineye
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