Halloween Fun 8

HALLOWEEN FUN

This is my first attempt writing a Halloween themed story.

We all know anything is possible on the 'Day of the Dead'......

Enjoy!

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My family never had any interest in Halloween. My father and his family were of the belief that when you died, that was it. The end, so to speak. No afterlife. No heaven or hell. They had no interest in religion either. My Dad always said that preachers were like politicians. You could always tell when they were lying, because their lips were moving. Smart man, my Dad.

I had heard about how people celebrated Halloween of course. My disinterest was noted when our school decided to hold a Halloween Dance to help raise money for a new hall. I was in my first year at high school, and everyone was buzzing with excitement. Don't get me wrong. I was excited for the dance, but I hadn't planned to dress-up in a costume to attend.

It was my Dad of all people who convinced me otherwise. He explained to me how I would be the only one there not in a costume, and would really be out of place. So, it was with lots of help from Mum and Aunt Mary, that come Halloween night, I stood in line outside the school gym with 200 other students waiting to begin the festivities.

I was a little surprised that none of my friends recognized me. However when I thought about it, I realized that I looked nothing like I usually did. Instead of a scrawny 5ft 4in teenager with acne, I was now a 6ft 7in broad shouldered Frankenstein's monster, complete with green skin and numerous scars. A special thanks goes to my Uncle Mick who taught me to walk in plasterers stilts. I enjoyed the anonymity for almost two hours before someone finally figured out who I was. I even won the best costume prize. From then on, I looked forward to Halloween every year.

I don't want anyone to misunderstand about my family. Just because we didn't support any religion, that didn't mean we shunned others who did. We celebrated Easter and Christmas, but not in a religious way. To us, it was a time for family to reconnect in a busy world. The children received presents and the like, but the adults just enjoyed catching up.

Anyway, for the next three years at every Halloween dance, I failed to win best costume. Apparently I had set the bar extremely high that first year. About the only way you could win now, was if no-one recognized you for the whole night. My 'Beetlejuice' and 'Grim Reaper' costumes were good, but didn't hide my identity for more than 30 minutes.

In my senior year, I went as 'The Wicked Witch', complete with the hooked nose and warts. I basically cackled my way through most conversations. I was feeling confident about winning with only 15 minutes until midnight when the winner would be announced. But then I outed myself to the woman who I knew would become Mrs David Parks.

I wasn't looking where I was going and bumped into her, spilling her drink down the front of her Princess costume. From the moment I first looked into her eyes, nothing else mattered, or existed. Using my normal voice, I stammered out some kind of apology and introduced myself. Her name was Stacy Davies and she had transferred to our school five months ago.

When the school principle stood on stage to announce the best costume winner, I still had high hopes. He this year had been the hardest year to judge best costume, but as there could only be one winner, he called for the Abominable Snowman to come up and collect the prize. After the Snowman left the stage, Principle Jackson got everyones attention and made the comment that if it hadn't been for an accident with a Princess, The Wicked Witch would have won.

Stacy looked at me with a sadness that hurt my heart. I quickly tried to reassure her that winning or losing best costume meant very little to me. I think I convinced her, because over the next hour, until her Mother came to pick her up, I was able to talk her into a date for the following weekend.

From that time on, we were inseparable. Although it took Stacy a month to catch up to me, we both knew 'We' were meant to be. We had our differences of course, but they just made us better together. I loved to cook, she loved to eat. I was the logical person, she was the spiritual one. We both had a deep sense of family values and respected the differences between each of our familys beliefs.

We dated for the rest of our school year and the day after graduation, I asked her to marry me. I explained I wanted us to be established in our careers before we wed, so a long engagement was on the cards. She agreed with me and said yes anyway.

Over the next two years I settled into working in the family business as an accountant, and Stacy pushed her way through a nursing degree. After our wedding and two week honeymoon, Stacy started work at the local hospital where she seemed to fit in well. We had decided to wait until we were around 28 before having children.

One of the things I found out about her family was that they took Halloween celebrations to the next level. Everyone got involved with setting up decorations. I have seen videos on the internet and Stacy's family could teach all of them a thing or two about setting up a Halloween house.

From the lighting to the cobwebs, and the music to the flying ghosts and goblins, every year was a truly magical performance. Her extended family came from far and wide to participate. It was a multi-generational event and everyone did their bit.

Over the years some of my family were so impressed, they even joined in, setting up their own festivities. Although they tried hard, they could never match the standard set by the Davies' family. I had to tell my family that the Davies' had been celebrating Halloween for at least the last 15 generations. There was no competing with that amount of experience.

Over the ensuing years, the Davies' displays had become somewhat legendary. People would drive for hours to stare in awe at what had been set up. As Stacy's parents aged, the torch was passed to us. Stacy was an only child and took the responsibility of the family legacy very seriously. It took us a few years to find our feet with the new location, but we seemed to pick things up rather quickly.

Our class reunion was coming up when one of the organizing committee came up with the bright idea of combining our reunion with the 30

th

anniversary of the annual Halloween dance. This same bright spark also thought it would be a great idea if Stacy and I set up the decorations. I was reluctant to make such a commitment, knowing that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recreate what we did at our home, inside the school hall.

It took a few days, and more than a few conversations with her family, but Stacy finally convinced me that by shifting our celebrations from our home to the hall, we could make this a night that everyone would remember. We enlisted the help of everyone on the committee for the hall decorations. We had them working every day in the week leading up to the dance. Some of them wanted to quit, saying they didn't realize just how much work we put into the display.

On the morning of the dance, Stacy kicked everyone out of the hall, telling them that we had a couple of surprises to set up. When they started asking questions, Stacy shut them down by saying that we all had our secrets, and if they pushed the issue, we would just walk away. She even made them hand over the keys to the hall.

Later that afternoon I handed the keys back to Wendy, the head of the committee, with strict instructions that no-one was to enter the hall before 6pm. There was no reason for that. I just wanted to screw with her brain a little... I then went home to change into my costume. When I arrived, Stacy was well on her way to becoming the most beautiful Cinderella I had ever seen.

Stacy was adamant that I was still owed a prize from our senior year dance, and this was the year I would finally collect it. Just after 6pm, Stacy's extended family started to show up for their parts in the evenings festivities. Her grandparents and aunt and uncle came to our place, while the others would meet at the hall.

We discreetly made our way to the back of the hall where I put the finishing touches to my costume with some help from grandad. At 7.30pm, the committee called for everyones attention. When all was quiet, Wendy called for Stacy to come to the stage. The gasps from all those present was almost deafening when Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother gently floated down from the ceiling, to land gently next to Wendy on the stage.

What was even more impressive, were the dozen fairies who constantly flittered their way around the room, sprinkling fairy dust. Wendy had been extolling the exemplary display Stacy had organized, when Stacy raised her hand, gesturing for quiet. When she could be heard, Stacy asked if anyone had seen her husband as I seemed to be missing.

That was my cue. Suddenly the front doors burst open and the Headless Horseman rode into the hall on his ink black steed, carrying his head under his arm. Those who knew me looked on curiously, wondering I'm sure, just how I could be holding my head at my waist, whilst riding a horse. As I made my way toward the stage, the crowd parted and the murmuring increased.

I stopped at the foot of the stage and Stacy asked why was I late.

I made my excuses just loud enough for those close by to hear, but Stacy said into the microphone that she couldn't hear me. She smiled at me and held out her arms. When I tossed her my head, I saw 3 women faint and one guy threw up. Stacy held my head to the microphone while I repeated that my steed was getting a bit amorous with a filly, and that was why I had been delayed. That little display caused another 2 women to pass out.

Just then our old principle Mr Jackson was wheeled to the stage by his granddaughter. Stacy tucked my head under her arm and handed Mr Jackson the microphone. He was now 86 years old and his body was failing him, but his mind was as sharp as ever. He looked from my head to my body then back again and then spoke.

"If I remember correctly Mr Parks, had it not been for a slight accident with a Princess back in your senior year, you would have won best costume. These days, midnight is way past my bedtime, so I decided to announce the winner early this year. I'm sure everyone will agree with me that your costume is the most deserving."

A roar of approval erupted throughout the hall. Mr Jackson held the microphone to my mouth so I could thank him, as well as praise Stacy for her input into my costume. I then told everyone that it was time for me to bed down my trusty steed for the night, but I would return soon to continue the evening. I held my arms toward Stacy and she tossed my head back to me. This caused yet another woman to faint.

As the crowd parted once again, my steed and I slowly left the hall. Some of the more curious people followed us outside in a bid, I believe, to learn the secret of our success. Without thinking, I yelled out, "HI-HO SILVER!!", as we rode away at full gallop into the darkness.

I returned about 20 minutes later with my head where it should be. For the rest of the night, whenever Stacy and I danced with anyone else, we were discreetly asked how we did it. We just shrugged and said we couldn't give away all our secrets.

Around 11pm we made our excuses to leave, saying we had other relatives waiting at home for us. When we arrived, the family party was in full swing. After catching up with the relatives we only saw once a year, Stacy and I found grandpa and grandma in the kitchen, grinning widely. Grandpa spoke first, saying that had been the most fun they had in years. Grandma followed that up giggling that it was the first time anyone had thrown up. That got a laugh from everyone.

A few hours later, when everyone had gone for another year, Stacy and I lay in bed snuggled together. I thanked her for helping me win best costume, but she shrugged it off by saying that she was happy that she had finally been able to make good on my loss from so long ago.

Then I got philosophical and said to her that I wished I could have met her grandparents while they were still alive. Her grandpa seemed to have a great sense of humour. I had especially loved the way he was able to appear as just my head tonight. Stacy told me that they were happy being in the Astral Plane they inhabited these days. Besides that, grandma was overjoyed being able play the part of Stacy's Fairy Godmother and float both of them to the stage.

We snuggled that little bit closer, and I fell asleep content in the knowledge that marrying into a Gypsy family was one of the smartest decisions I had ever made.

THE END......

or is it??