“Mom – when can we get a pumpkin to carve for Halloween?”

“We won’t be carving a pumpkin this year, Billy. The HOA won’t let us put a real pumpkin in front of the house – they say the candles are a fire hazard and the rotting fruit draws rats and insects. We’ll get a plastic one from the store and put it in the window.”

“Aw, Mom! Those plastic pumpkins are stupid!”

Deirdre mentally agreed with her son. The HOA was taking all the fun out of Halloween. Of course, no one wants toilet paper covering the trees or raw eggs thrown at their cars and houses. But no pumpkins in the yard? And an 8pm curfew for Trick or Treaters? That was really pushing it. There was also a motion (that barely failed) to host a “trunk-or-treat” event on the last Saturday in October at the community clubhouse, and prohibit trick or treating completely on Halloween night! It was just wrong…

Deirdre was a Halloween-aholic, and Billy definitely followed in her footsteps. She had fond memories of ringing doorbells for hours as a child until her treat bag was full. Later, she played spooky sound effects records and dressed up as an evil witch to hand out candy to the younger kids coming to her parents’ door. In high school, there were always a few Halloween parties to attend, and her favorites were not the ones featuring drink, dance, and make out bashes with the popular kids. She liked the ones with costumes, and ghost stories, and maybe a haunted hayride. Then in college, her sorority sponsored a huge haunted house as a major fundraiser each year, and she led the construction of the haunted maze 3 years running. Ever since Billy was an infant, she toured the neighborhoods every Halloween night, smiling proudly as he braved a dozen imaginary terrors between the sidewalk and a neighbor’s door.

Deirdre’s husband Thom was like a kid himself at Halloween. He was the one who came home with six pumpkins to gut and carve one year. He would hand out candy at the house while Dierdre escorted Billy around the neighborhood. She had heard a few tales from her old neighbors about the bizarre accents he would use to greet and entertain the kids. His Transylvanian vampire was eerily perfect, but their inevitable favorite was the Klingon-sounding gibberish that complimented his alien costume with aluminum foil helmet and the huge lobster claw four years ago.

Things had been tough since her husband died and she was forced to move into this little house in this tight-knit little neighborhood and get used to her new life as a single mother. Thom’s short but grisly battle with prostate cancer left Deirdre exhausted, heartbroken, and broke. She only had this house to live in because her mother-in-law owned the property and felt sorry for her. But Bree’s favors came with strings attached. She liked to impose her own ideas and Bree was a senior member of the HOA that caused such grief to Deirdre and her neighbors here on the cul-de-sac. Some people just feel they have to run everything or else it will be done wrong…

Meanwhile, Dierdre missed her old friends from her old neighborhood. They had all gotten busy while Thom was sick, and they gradually lost touch over the last year and a half. People just weren’t as friendly in this newer, more exclusive community.

“Gimme a hug!” Deirdre asked her son.

“Aw – why?!” said Billy, dutifully ambling across the kitchen toward his Mom.

“Because I want a real pumpkin just as bad as you do!” she answered with a quick smile, trying to sound much lighter than her heart felt.

Halloween Day

Billy bounced along the sidewalk as Dierdre walked him to the school bus stop. His hair was a brilliant “Joker Green”, even if school regulations demanded he wear the usual school uniform even on Halloween. The hair color was a loophole that was allowed for students with “alternative tastes”. However, parents were warned any child showing up in costume on Halloween would be sent home. The heavy, grey, foreboding skies echoed Dierdre’s mood, and she was glad to have Billy’s excitement to help keep her from plummeting into despair. She had a lot to do before she picked him up this afternoon…

The first stop was the Dollar Store for the plastic pumpkin for the window. All that was left was one sad little pumpkin with a sickly green face and a broken handle. It would have to do. The cashier gave Dierdre a pitiful smile as she counted out the nine pennies sales tax to go with her dollar bill. Everyone felt sorry for Diedre, it seemed. She was tired of the condescending looks – she wished she was invisible.

Next, she had to put the finishing touches on Billy’s Joker costume for tonight. She wished she were better at sewing. The zipper was crooked and wouldn’t lay flat, but there was no way Dierdre could’ve managed button holes. Billy’s costume looked more like a patchwork scarecrow than the Batman’s arch enemy “The Joker”. It would look shabby and dated next to the other kids’ costumes purchased from the Spirit Store featuring the latest in popular characters. Her sweet Billy would stoically endure the taunts of the other children as usual, however. He had already fought through such trauma that he was rarely fazed by smaller blows anymore. So much of his childhood had been stolen by tragedy…

Finally, off to Wal-Mart to see if they had discounted their Halloween candy before picking up Billy after school. She needed to get as much as she could with the $10 she had been able to save.

“I hope that will be enough for the kids showing up at my door tonight…” she mumbled wistfully to herself as she looked at the small bag of mixed “fun size” candy that fit her budget. Sadly, those 50 pieces of candy would probably be MORE than enough – last year she only had 4 children ring her doorbell, and the weather had been much nicer.

Billy got off the school bus with a group of 4 other kids who lived in the subdivision, all as excited as he’d been this morning, bantering back and forth:

“We’ll all meet at Steve’s house, ‘cause his parents are gonna make us hot chocolate before we go!”

“Let’s hit the houses by the clubhouse first, because they always have the best candy, but they run out early and shut their lights off…”

“Next we’ll hit the houses by the soccer field!”

“Everyone eat dinner early – we’ll be leaving at 6 o’clock sharp ‘cause Allie has to be home by 8!”

It was all Dierdre could do to get Billy to slow down for a single hot dog on a slice of white bread – mustard only, of course. She looked at him in his frumpy Joker costume, and smiled, taking a picture with her cell phone. Not to post on Twitter or Instagram like a dozen other Moms she was linked to – this costume was not one to brag about. But just because she wanted to have a memento of this moment of pure joy for her son. There have been so few in his life…

Halloween Night

Dierdre settled down with a glass of “boxed Chardonnay” and set about looking for a good movie to watch while she waited for the doorbell to ring.

“I think we need something light tonight – so I’ll pass on the Rob Zombie remake of “Friday the 13^th” and the latest installation of “Saw”. Wow! I haven’t seen this one in forever – “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”. I love Rex Harrison - that’ll be perfect!”

Dierdre kicked off her house shoes and balled herself up on the sofa like a cat in sweat pants, leaning against a huge throw pillow. A monster bowl of popcorn was easily within reach so she wouldn’t be tempted to snack on the candy located in a bowl all the way by the front door. She wrapped herself in her favorite fleece blanket fresh from the dryer, and a wave of warmth washed over her as she settled down to watch the movie.

Lucy: “I don’t know anything about the sea, except that it is romantic.”

Capt. Gregg: “Hmmm. That’s what all landsmen think. Seamen know better.”

Lucy: “Then why do they go to sea?”

Capt. Gregg: “Because they haven’t the sense to stay ashore!”

Dierdre laughed. The ring of it startled her - it had been a long time. She remembered Thom cracking up the nurses by doing an impression of John Wayne telling the doctor where he could stuff the chemo port. The memory brought a smile to her face and a tear to her eye at the same time.

Thank God for box wine…

Meanwhile, Billy was already prowling the sullen grey streets with his friends. Even though sundown wouldn’t happen for another hour or two, the streetlights had already come on as the skies darkened with ponderous clouds swollen with impending rain. This did not prevent their merry little band from subduing the neighborhood one house at a time with their innate cuteness, regardless how ferocious their costumes were intended to be. They started with the large houses near the clubhouse, and wouldn’t get to the older, smaller houses on this little cul-de-sac until later in their quest.

Allie was the first to leave the group. Even though the HOA said they had to quit after eight o’clock, Billie and his friends pushed on until almost nine o’clock before most of the porch lights had winked out. Billie and the guys spent another hour trading candy and comparing loot. And of course, despite all the warnings from the adults, they couldn’t resist eating a few candies while they had all that treasure spread out. They were careful not to eat anything with loose or missing wrappers – they weren’t completely dumb. But why wait until tomorrow for a perfectly good snickers bar?!

Billie had done fairly well – his pillowcase was nearly half full and he needed to carry it over his shoulder as he started his trek to the far side of the neighborhood.

“Looks like you had a most excellent night, Billie!” came a strange voice from the shadows.

“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers!” Billie recited dutifully.

“Good for you – but haven’t you been asking strangers for candy all night tonight?”

Billie thought about it, and said “They’re not total strangers, since they live in my neighborhood.”

“Well, I used to live in this neighborhood,” continued the voice. “I was friends with your mother, Dierdre Parks, before she married your Dad. Perhaps I could walk you home so I can say hello to her?” with that, he stepped completely into the light from the streetlamp. He wore an old-fashioned vac-u-formed plastic Mickey Mouse mask to cover his face, and sported a green pullover sweater with a huge orange jack o’lantern knit into the pattern that said “Happy Halloween!” in big block letters below it. He wore a neat, clean pair of jeans and a pair of white tennis shoes that looked like they had just come out of the box. Most of all, he didn’t look the least bit dangerous.

Billie thought about it, and relented “I suppose it will be OK.”

It was nearly a dozen blocks back to Billie’s house, but the time just flew by. Billie told him all about the pumpkin he *would’ve* carved, if it hadn’t been against the rules. He also bragged on his Mom’s sewing, saying he was the only kid with a custom-made costume in the whole neighborhood. They finally reached Billie’s house, the last one on the whole street with a porch light still on. They walked up to the door, and while Billie was letting himself in, the stranger rang the doorbell.

“Go on in, Billie, and unload all that candy. I want to Trick or Treat your Mom.”

“OK, mister!” Billie’s voice trailed off as he trotted back to his room with his bag of goodies.

“You’re in luck – I still have some candy left!” Dierdre ranted distractedly as she came to the door with a bat-shaped candy bowl. “But you still have to say….”

The words caught in Dierdre’s throat as she saw the man standing outside her door. The mask, that SWEATER! It was the same “costume” Thom had worn to that Halloween party on their first date.

“Trick or Treat!” he finished for her, as she stood in shock gasping for breath.

“Tonight is the only night of the year I have a chance to cross back into this world, and I can’t do it for long. I wanted to know what it was like to go trick or treating with Billie – I never got the chance. By the way - did you enjoy the movie? I picked it especially for you. A whisper into the subconscious mind of the living is a little trick we ghosts have, with a little practice.”

“It made me laugh.”

“I hoped it would.” Then Thom drew a deep breath, and in the voice of Rex Harrison, he quoted Captain Daniel Gregg: “You must make your own life among the living and, whether fair winds or foul, find your own way to harbor in the end….” A long pause followed as their eyes locked and their hearts exchanged all those words they ached to say for the past 18 months before he finally finished in his own voice, “Happy Halloween, Pumpkin!”

A tear rolled down Dierdre’s cheek. She knew what that quote meant. Like the Captain and Mrs. Muir, this would mark the last time she would see Thom in this world. “Goodbye, Sweetheart!”

She watched as he turned slowly and walked toward the street light. But somewhere in the shadows, he disappeared, never reappearing in the circle of harsh artificial light. A chill breeze stirred the dry leaves as the hall clock struck midnight.

Samhain was over.