The days and weeks flew by and before I knew it Halloween was suddenly upon us, and Dan and his little brother were excited. Technically, Freddie was a little too old to trick or treat, but that didn't stop him, or many other kids his age from doing it as well.
Mrs. Johnson had been stressed a few weeks before, wondering if she'd be able to afford candy to give out, and I could tell that she was sad because they didn't have the money to go out and buy new costumes, but it seemed that Dan had a little arsenal of costumes from years past, and he promised he'd share what he had with Freddie.
On Halloween night I arrived at the house dressed as Dracula. Dan and I hadn't discussed costumes or the idea of going out with similar ones, so I'd just bought the first thing that I found in my size. We'd also agreed that I could bring my nieces and nephews
When we arrived, Mrs. Johnson admired their costumes as she held out a bowl filled with full-sized candy bars, telling them to take two of their favorites each.
She grinned widely when she saw me and shook my hand instead of kissing me as she usually did.
"I don't want to mess up your makeup," she explained, "Dan is upstairs getting ready if you want to go and see him," she said pleasantly before going to answer the knock on the door. I had to grin when I heard all the little voices shout, 'Trick or treat!'
"Uncle Jonah, when are we going out?" my seven-year-old niece, Samara, pouted.
"Soon," I assured her, "we just have to wait for Freddie and Dan."
As I said that, Freddie came out wearing knee length black boots, pants, and shirt, with a cloak that billowed behind him as he walked. His hair was, if anything, longer than the last time I'd seen it. At first, I worried about him going out wearing all black but then he showed the kids his lantern, which gave off a lot of light. They all admired it, and Freddie proudly showed them how it worked.
I let them be for the time being while I went upstairs to find my Daniel. When I got to his door I was just about to knock when I heard him making funny sounds and laughing oddly. I wondered what he was doing and peeked in through the partially open door.
He was standing in front of a full-length mirror on his wall, trying on various hats and headpieces, making silly sounds and faces at himself. It took all of my self-control not to laugh out loud. He was so unbelievably cute and I knew that not only would he be embarrassed that I'd seen him like that, but he'd have burst into embarrassed flames if I'd called him cute to his face.
Instead, I walked back down the stairs as quietly as I could and called up to him, asking him if he was ready. I suppressed a chuckle as I heard him scrambling around a bit as he answered, somewhat breathlessly, "On my way!"
Dan looked great. Freddie was dressed as what he called a necromancer, and Dan put on a 'bloody' shirt and a zombie mask, shuffling behind Fred and groaning, happily acting as his sidekick.
My nieces and nephews were a little taken aback at first, but it turned out that they all got along great with Freddie, and seemed to have a lot of the same interests, including online, interactive video games. They made plans to add each other to their friends lists and play together as soon as possible.
After the kids had gone to every open house we ended up at Johnny's where the kids and I gratefully accepted large glasses of mulled cider. Once again, Dan accepted a beer but he made sure to request water after that, which made me smile in approval. We stayed for about an hour until the last of the trick or treaters left before we said our goodbyes. I'd had a fantastic time and I could see that he and his kids truly loved Dan which made me love them.
"I'm hungry," Freddie complained as he rummaged through his sack of candy, most of which had been given to him by Johnny and his wife who always gave extra candy to their 'specials'.
"Why don't we order pizza, watch some movies?" I asked, looking at Dan to see what he thought.
Freddie immediately perked up, dropped the candy that was in his hand back into the sack and looked at me.
"Pizza?"
"Movies?" one of my nephews asked, unintentionally mirroring Fred.
"Dan?" I mentally kicked myself for saying that aloud before finding out definitely that it was ok with him, but he only smiled and nodded as we strolled casually back toward his house.
"Both," I agreed with a grin, "my treat on the pizza."
"I want pepperoni!" my nephew Brian shouted happily.
"Yeah, pepperoni is great!" Samara agreed.
"Sausage!" suggested my niece Gaby, bouncing on her toes.
"Green pepper and mushrooms!" Mark and Diana chimed in, "Jinx!" they both cried at the same time. Mark looked at me imploringly.
Teasingly I said, "Diana. Diana. Diana."
Diana grinned and let out a simple, self-satisfied, "Ha!"
"Olive!" said Freddie.
The other kids looked at Fred as if he'd grown two heads.
"Olive!? Yuck!" Diana replied, making a face.
"Don't knock it til you try it," Freddie replied with a somewhat evil grin.
"I guess it can't be any worse than you dipping your pizza in ranch dressing," Brian teased. Diana stuck her tongue out at him.
"Or anchovies..." Mark shuddered theatrically, forgetting that he wasn't supposed to speak until someone said his name.
"Or pineapple..." added Gaby, wrinkling her nose.
That statement began a debate that lasted until we reached Dan's house where it seemed as though it might be turning into a full-fledged argument.
"Enough for now, guys," I said sternly, letting them know that the disagreement had gone on long enough.
I turned to Dan and said with a smile, "Why don't you go and pick out a few movies and I'll order the pizza."
"I want to go half on the bill," he replied.
I began to argue and then stopped, thinking that I'd come up with a suitable solution, "Ok, but I don't think you should pay half, since there are so many more of us."
Dan's brow wrinkled and he looked as though he were about to argue when I explained, "There are six of us and only two of you. It doesn't seem quite fair for you to pay for half."
"If it had been my treat I would have paid the entire bill, but you beat me to it. I'd never ask you to pay or pay more just because there are more of you, so I don't believe that your suggestion is appropriate," he replied. His jaw was set, his lips tightly pressed together, and he refused to look at me.
Even though Dan was fair complected where his mother was more olive, I could immediately see the resemblance between the two of them, and I gave in, reluctantly.
"You're right, Dan, I guess it wasn't fair of me to make that suggestion."
"Hey," I said, trying to make things better, "Freddie can help us pick out the movies, you order the pizza and sodas, and we'll figure the tab out once you get a total."
"Ok," he agreed, his body relaxing slightly as he went to a kitchen drawer for a menu.
Despite the noise the kids were making I could hear him as he ordered the pizza. He ordered everything the kids had requested, and eight bottles of soda. I didn't say anything though I knew that there was no way the eight of us would be able to drink that much soda.
We watched Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas, which the kids enjoyed immensely, and despite my doubts, we did manage to drink all but one of the bottles of soda. The kids were allowed to take any of their favorite leftover pizza home with them, though there wasn't much of that either.
I dropped them off at their houses, went home and took a shower, laughing at myself because I was sure I'd be washing white makeup and red blood stains off of my face for the rest of the week. I finally settled into bed and dozed off with a smile on my face as I thought about the night, and the prospect of seeing Dan again soon.
(end chapter 15)
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