‘Poor kid, my butt,’ Abilene muttered. ‘He soaked me.’ Bending over, she swung her pendulum out of the way and lifted the lower part of her sweatshirt. She dried her face with it, then wiped her wet armpit and rubbed her breasts. Deciding she would prefer to have the chilly dampness against her back, she pulled her arms inside and twisted the sweatshirt around before struggling into its sleeves. That did feel better.
Finley grinned at her. ‘Now you’re “The Other Pit and the Pendulum.” ’
‘A sequel,’ Vivian said.
‘Are we about ready to call it quits?’ she asked.
‘You don’t want to disappoint all the children who haven’t yet had the opportunity to enjoy the Merry Halloween Team, do you?’ Finley asked.
‘I could live with it.’
‘Most of the little ones ought to be heading for home before much longer,’ Cora said. ‘Why don’t we stick it out for a while?’
‘Those creeps’ll probably come back and egg us.’
‘They wouldn’t dare,’ Finley said.
‘Let’s give it a few more minutes,’ Cora said, and started walking.
As everyone followed, Helen laughed through her sheet. ‘Yeah, just a few more minutes. That’ll give us a chance to run into some real trouble.’
‘We should’ve gone to your all-night Shock Festival at the Elsinore.’
‘We’d gone to the movies, Hickok, you wouldn’t have met the love of your life.’
‘You and the horse you rode in on.’
Abilene discovered that, by walking with her spine arched and her shoulders back, she was able to keep the wet fabric from touching her skin.
They continued along the street, pausing each time they met kids. Block after block, Vivian handed out candy bars. When her bag was empty, Helen took over.
Though they came upon teenagers as well as little kids, nobody gave them much trouble. A few smart- alecks, but most of the trick-or-treaters were nice and none assaulted them with squirtguns or other weapons. Abilene found herself enjoying the encounters and was a little disappointed when she realized that they’d walked a full block without meeting any more kids.
‘I guess they’ve mosdy gone home,’ she said.
‘I’m getting low, anyway,’ Helen said, and shook her sack. She was carrying the last of the candy. ‘Should we start back?’
‘Let’s try one more block,’ Abilene suggested.
Cora grinned back at her. ‘You’re the one who wanted to quit.’
‘That’s when I was wet.’
They crossed a street. And Abilene saw, near the far end of the block, a group of three small kids run from a lighted porch, laughing, their treat bags bouncing and swinging. The children joined a woman waiting on the sidewalk. They hurried ahead of her and scampered toward the next house.
‘Hey, one’s a ghost,’ Helen said. She sounded very pleased.
Soon, they were close enough for Abilene to see that the other two were dressed as a kitten and a gremlin. From their size, she guessed that they were no older than five or six.
They were off at a house when Finley strode up to the woman and announced, ‘Hi! We’re the Merry Halloween Team!’
The woman laughed and shook her head. She had red hair and freckles. She didn’t look old enough to have three kids.
‘We’ve been going around giving stuff to the kids,’ Helen said.
‘Hey, that’s a great idea. Sort of like trick-or-treating in reverse.’
‘Just an excuse to get out and see what’s happening,’ Abilene told her.
The ghost, kitten and gremlin came running across the lawn.
They slowed down near the sidewalk. Then stopped on the grass. And stared.
‘It’s all right, kids. This is the Merry Halloween Team.’
‘With treats!’ Helen said. She bent over and reached into her sack. ‘It’s so nice to meet a fellow ghost,’ she said, smiling at the spook.
‘I’m not really a ghost. I’m Heather.’
‘Nice to meet you, Heather. I’m Helen. But I’m a real ghost.’
‘Oh, I bet you aren’t really. There’s no such thing. Is there. Mommy?’
‘If she says she’s a ghost, I guess she is.’
‘But I’m a very friendly ghost,’ Helen explained, and dropped a couple of Three Musketeer bars into Heather’s bag.
The girl said, ‘Thank you very much.’
‘You’re a very pretty kitty,’ Helen said as she gave treats to the kitten.
‘Meeeeooooow. ’
Abilene grinned. ‘They’re really cute kids.’
‘I’m Gizmo,’ said the gremlin.
‘Here you go, Gizmo.’
The candy bars no sooner hit the bottom of Gizmo’s bag than all three girls rushed on down the sidewalk.
‘Don’t run,’ the mother called. Then, ‘Thanks a lot. Happy Halloween.’
‘You, too,’ Finley said.
The mother hurried after the girls. ‘Wait,’ she called. ‘Forget that place.’ Over her shoulder, she said, ‘I told them, only houses with lighted porches or pumpkins.’
The girls were running toward a dark porch.
‘You heard me,’ she called.
‘Oh, Mom.’
‘Probably no one’s home, anyway,’ Finley said.
The mother shrugged.
The kids went ahead and climbed the porch. The kitten rang the doorbell.
‘Should we start back?’ Vivian asked.
‘Might as well,’ Helen said. ‘We’re almost out of candy.’
They walked toward the waiting mother. She nodded a greeting, then returned her attention to the girls.
Light spilled onto the porch as the door swung open.
A tall, thin man loomed over the girls.
In unison, they chanted, ‘Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!’
‘Scat!’ the man snapped. ‘Get outa here, ya little snots!’ He slammed the door. It crashed shut with such a clap that all three girls jumped.
Even Abilene flinched. ‘Jesus!’ she gasped.
The girls ran. At the sidewalk, Heather wrapped her sheeted arms around her mother’s waist. The kitten was crying, wiping her eyes with small, furry paws. ‘I wanna go home,' whined Gizmo.
‘I wanna kill the son of a bitch,’ Cora muttered.
‘You and me both,’ Abilene said. ‘Doing that to little kids.’
‘Let’s have a word with him,’ Vivian said. She strode across the lawn, heading for the porch, her black gown flapping in the wind. Then Cora was at her side. Finley rushed after them. Helen and Abilene followed.
Glancing back, Abilene saw the mother hurrying away down the sidewalk, the three girls clustered close around her.
The dirty bastard, she thought. Her throat felt tight.
The little kids had been out having a wonderful time. It had been ruined, now. They’d been scared half to death. For the rest of their lives, they would probably always remember tonight and the horrible man who’d yelled at them. Halloween would never be quite the same for them. It would always be tainted.
