There was this ... disease that the clacksmen got.

[tealin]

Somehow this idea came up during a conversation with Romanilily last night... I don't know exactly how (I never do, after this sort of conversation) but it was enough to make me laugh like a madwoman for about ten minutes. (Good exercise, that.) It's How To Dress Up Like a Clacks Tower for Halloween. See, each finger is connected to a little wire that operates one of the shutters so you can wiggle them around and spell out messages and stuff. And, see, the cunning wrap-around strappy overall thing looks cunningly like the scaffoldy part of the tower! It could work, you know, it really could work. So the scene on Halloween would go like this: KIDS: [ring the doorbell] Trick or Treat! YOU: [open the door (somehow) in your clacksy glory] KIDS: [dumbfounded] YOU: [grin madly and wiggle your fingers in complicated patterns] SHUTTER ARRAY: Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack. SMALL CHILD: [starts to cry] I'm not going to try it, though, because I have little mechanical aptitude and it would be very hard to ride a bus with that thing on.