A knock on the door

Intro text

Juliet and Brian Jegasothy were newlyweds when they immigrated to the United States.

They came from Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka, and as Juliet recalled, adjusting to American traditions could be a little scary.

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We came to America in 1969. We had just gotten married and came to Brooklyn, New York. And I was so afraid to even open the door because I had heard all these horror stories about thugs and gangsters and guns in New York.

So there was one night when Brian was working overnight and I was alone with the baby. And the doorbell started ringing. And then I went to look through the peephole, and it was like there was a very scary person outside, so I didn’t open the door. I told my baby to be quiet and then the doorbell rings again and I look through the peephole again and I’m really scared!

And the third time it rang, there was more than one person there and they all looked really scary and were yelling at me through the door. So I called Brian on the phone and I said, “Something’s happening, there’s some thugs or someone trying to scare me at the door.”

He said, ‘Don’t open the door, don’t do anything, don’t make a sound, be quiet.’

So I stayed in the bedroom and this went on for almost an hour.

You know, all those years growing up, I was, I think, the most wishy-washy person. I used to cry about everything. So by now I’m almost sweating and ready to almost die. And then Brian calls around nine o’clock and he says, “I think there’s this thing going on today called Halloween and something happened and people need to come and ring the bell.”

So that was an experience I will never forget. And it turns out my daughter loves Halloween.