Once upon a time (the week before the Halloween Blizzard of 1991), in a land far away (St. Paul), there were two sisters. The older sister was lovely, intelligent and always sold the most Girl Scout Cookies of any girl in her troop. The younger sister was none of those things—at least not yet—because she was practically a baby. Halloween celebrations had begun in the land far away and it was the sisters' favorite time of year. They were excitedly awaiting the event of the season, the Zoo Boo, which featured two of their very favorite things together for one evening only: zoo animals and candy.
The cold night of the Zoo Boo, their dear mother was away and their absent-minded father was left in charge of the little ones to make sure they made it for the trick-or-treating adventure at the zoo. The sisters put on their costumes that their dear mother had sewn for them the previous week. The oldest debuted her Snow White costume with a grace beyond her seven years while the youngest, swaddled in an ice cream sundae suit, stumbled around looking foolish but rather adorable. As the two sisters and their father set off in their horseless carriage, the absent-minded father failed to notice that his youngest daughter was not wearing a shirt, pants, tights or a coat under (or over) her ice cream sundae suit. Their dear mother would never have allowed it.
When they arrived at the Zoo Boo, the poor, absent-minded father was horrified by his lack of judgement. The younger sister was as frozen as the scoops of ice cream on her costume, so he went into the Como Zoo gift shop and bought her a black sweatshirt (women's size large) with screenprinted loons on it. The disproportionate amount of fleece warmed the little girl, whose Halloween costume was now covered up by tacky drawings of the Minnesota State Bird. The older sister, comfortable in her winter coat and wool mittens, just laughed and thought about how she'd tell the story on the Internet someday. Finally undeterred by the cold, the elder and the younger continued through the zoo on their quest for candy. They saw the monkeys, brought home pillowcases full of fun size Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and lived happily ever after.
The absent-minded father got in big trouble later that night.
