On Halloween my family will be presenting the first trivia or treat event on our porch in I'On since our son left for college. I need some expert help, because I haven't been doing it right and Halloween is really important.

I have fond memories of the Halloweens of my childhood in Northbridge Terrace.

I remember the neighbors who kept a special stash of full-sized chocolate bars for my brother and me as we wandered around the neighborhood until our shoes were soaked with dew. Nearly every house was lit up and we were allowed to roam around without our parents.

We live in difficult times. We cannot forget that regardless of how bad things are, this is the only time when our youngest get to be children. I never wanted to grow up. When people ask my wife what I really want, she responds that I want to be seven. It's true. I want the world to be safe, bright and new. I cherish and nurture that small part of myself which still feels that way.

The noisy, sometimes cynical lawyer who has grown up around that boy exists for no more important purpose, other than the support and protection of my family, than to preserve that inner child.

However 52-year-old lawyers do not go out trick or treating. Sitting in front of the television getting my nightly dose of what is wrong with the world on CNN between trips to the porch to hand out candy is a waste of this special night. Over the past three years, we have evolved trivia or treat as our response to Halloween.

We challenge the children to earn their candy by answering trivia questions about their costumes.

This requires a quick wit and when the costumes get unusual, a fast resort to Wikipedia on the internet. If you come to our house dressed as a terrorist, be prepared to identify two members of Al Qaeda. We'll need new answers this year. President Obama has eliminated last year's obvious candidates.

Don't ask me why parents send their children out costumed as terrorists. My son Jackson's last Halloween costume was Clyde W. Tombaugh, the man who discovered Pluto. He left the house complete with a homemade shoebox model of a blink comparator and a petition to restore Pluto's status as a planet. Jackson loaded up on candy and signatures.

This Halloween, with him 3,000 miles away from home at the Evergreen State College, I will ache with the missing of him and his jaunty return from the dark evening of shouts and laughter. I enjoy the company of children because they are the flower blossoms of human life.

We want Halloween to be interesting. Kids who can answer their trivia question get chocolate. Kids who can't leave with "consolation candy." Those who show determination and talent can go into bonus rounds, gambling their candy on ever tougher questions for an ever growing pile. Eventually, the questions become things which would challenge an ivy league graduate student on Jeopardy.

You can get a full bag of Baby Ruth bars if you are the kid who can name the Kings of France in the Hundred Year's War.

Beyond that, there is the final round. We always order a handmade chocolate sculpture from Christophe's Chocolates on I'On Square as the ultimate prize.

This year it's a chocolate owl.

Those who have done well during the evening are invited to return and put their full bag of chocolate bars on the table on our porch. What they get are world-class questions. We work up and down the toughness scale until we have a winner who then takes a victory lap around the neighborhood on the golf car.

I need a panel of experts with broad knowledge who are quick on the internet to help ask this year's questions.

I need some people to help manage the flow and be sure that when a child who is disabled appears on the porch that I accommodate them appropriately. I'm recruiting help. You can e-mail me at wjhamilton@wjhamilton.com

It will be great fun, but don't abandon your porch to come to mine. The most important question to answer this Halloween is are you there for the children of your community? That's not trivial at all.

William Hamilton (www.wjhamilton.com) is an attorney who lives in I'On Village.