Have I Been Hoodwinked?

I ask myself the same question every May Day. Have I indeed been bamboozled into believing there is such a thing as a May Basket? Before going to work in Muncie in 1970 I had lived in many cities and towns. Nowhere, not even once, had I heard of May Baskets.
Then one day Jackie told me how nice some guy was because he had hung a May Basket on the knob of her back door. This is what men do, she claimed, they hang baskets on doorknobs of females. I was wondering what they did if it rained, but I kept my mouth shut. Never having heard of this practice, I was skeptical of the whole thing. I didn't have to ask what was in these baskets, having assumed they weren't hung there empty, because she told me they held candy or flowers or other tokens of affection.
Every year I heard this story. Even after we were married I was reminded of the great guy who had hung that May Basket on her doorknob. Eventually she wore me down just as women always manage to wear men down if they are determined about something.
With all my defenses penetrated and just to prove I wasn't a hopeless cretin, one year I prepared a May Basket for Jackie. Needless to say I did not go so far as to hang it on a doorknob. Once having fallen into this trap, I soon realized I was stuck with doing it every year.
Leading up to recent May Days, Jackie has dropped little hints. She says she doesn't need candy. Not that she doesn't want it, just that she doesn't need it. Not being a fool, I make certain there is plenty of sweet stuff in her May Basket.
Still I wonder, though. Is this something she has made up or is there really such a thing as a May Basket? Perhaps I should just take her word for it and be content. At least she doesn't want me out somewhere dancing around a May Pole. At that I would definitely have drawn the line.

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