Irene cupped her hands, Gene put the ball in the tube, which then landed in her cupped hands. He whooped; she frowned. “Don’t you see? Pretend you’re a trick-or-treater and that was a piece of candy. Isn’t it great?”
She tipped her head as she looked at the wall, the pipe, and the ball of paper before looking at him. “I thought you hated Halloween.”
Gene tipped his head down and nodded. “Yeah, but this isn’t a normal year, now is it? It’s been so hard on the kids. They need some fun.”
She walked over and wrapped her arms around him. “You big softy. Having Paul and Camille in the house has really changed you.”
“Eh, now!”
“It’s a good change. What are you wearing for a costume?”
He looked sheepishly at her. “Would you help me make a pirate costume?”
She pulled away. “I knew it. You’re putting me to work.” She paused for effect. “Just kidding. Of course, I’ll help you.” She kissed him and then practically skipped out of the garage towards the house.
Gene cleaned up the garage and locked it before joining her. Once he was inside, Irene shouted to come to the bedroom. There were different shirts and pants scattered on the bed along with her red scarf and a blue bandana.
“I’m putting together a costume. See?” She draped her long red rectangular scarf between a white shirt and a pair of black pants to form a waist sash. Then pulled a blue bandana from a stack and put it above the shirt where the top of his head would be. “What do you think?”
Gene rubbed his chin. “It’s missing something.”
“A wooden leg? Perhaps a hook to make it look like you lost your hand?” Irene’s tone was playful, but he totally missed it.
“No, an eye patch.”
“I can fix that. Maybe you should wear your black winter boots to finish it off,” she said. He nodded and punctuated his approval with a grunt.
By mid-afternoon, Gene had the wall and candy chute positioned. No one could get to the porch and front door from the sidewalk. He even rigged and old bicycle bell on the wall. Earlier in the day, Irene had called their daughter, Pamela. She asked her to bring the grandkids in costume by the house late in the afternoon for a surprise.
*****
“Cyrus. Daria. Slow down. You need to wait for me,” shouted Pamela. They finally reached the end of the block and stopped.
They hopped up and down and pointed at their grandparents’ house across the street. “Come on, Mom,” said Cyrus, tugging at the fabric face mask of his mummy costume. Daria repeated her brother’s words as she flapped her arms under the ghost costume.
Once they were across the street, the kids ran towards the house, but abruptly stopped on the sidewalk. “What happened to their house?” asked Daria.
Pamela stopped beside the kids. “Grandma said there was a surprise. Maybe that’s it.”
“How are we supposed to get any candy?” asked Cyrus.
“Ring the bell, mateys,” a voice growled from behind the wall. Pamela motioned for them to ring the bell. They each took a turn at ringing it.
Gene stood up from the chair hidden behind the wall and growled. “What do mummies and ghosts say on Halloween?”
“Trick-or-treat,” Cyrus and Daria cried.
“Hold your bucket under the pipe and I’ll send your treat to ya.”
They took turns catching three tiny packets of candy in their pumpkin-shaped buckets. “This is fun! Can we do this again?” asked Daria.
“Have your mom bring you by tomorrow and we’ll do it again. Gene nodded and waved good-bye. “I’d do it every day for the kiddos,” he said to himself.
J K Metz 