Disclaimer: I don't own 'My Sister's Keeper', sadly. Jodi Picoult does.
A/N: During a rare period of normalcy, the Fitzgerald family prepares for Halloween
Sweetness and Lights
"Hocus pocus diddly diddly docus! I got you! I got you!" Seven-year-old Anna Fitzgerald danced around the living room in her orange and black witch costume, complete with mini-cauldron and broomstick. "Jesse is a frog! Jesse is a frog!"
"Whatever," Jesse, at twelve, had not long since reached that age where childish fun was 'stupid' and life was all about video games and cool bikes, "and can frogs reach level eleven on Megaspeed 4?"
Anna shrugged, spinning around so that the ragged skirt of her witch outfit fanned out like the dress of a 1950s girl doing the jive. She liked the way the skirt did that. She also liked the shininess of her black buckle-shoes and the sparkly-ness of her black hat adorned with its many silver stars. But mostly, she liked the fact that her family were all going out, together.
Light footsteps on the stairs signalled the approach of Anna and Jesse's sister Kate, the middle child. Kate's blonde hair was short and spiky, just growing back from last year's chemo, but tonight her face was flushed with a healthy glow. She had been in remission for five months. Kate burst into the living room, flinging her arms wide to display her red, black and gold costume. In her pirate's get-up, with her short hair, it would have been easy to mistake her and Jesse for brothers.
"Ahoy, me hearties!" she proclaimed theatrically, "are ye ready?"
Dutifully, Anna stood to attention. "Are witches allowed on the pirate ship?"
"Can ye use yer magic to get us some more gold?" Kate demanded in her fake-pirate voice, making her younger sister giggle and nod. Jesse, on the other hand, rolled his eyes. He, unlike, his sisters, had not bothered to dress up for Halloween. He was in ordinary jeans and a worn old soccer shirt.
A quick, excitable volley of knocking on the front door sent Anna and Kate rushing for the bowl of candy their parents had put out ready for trick-or-treaters. Kate snagged the bowl first and Anna followed behind her as she dashed to open the door.
"Trick-or-treat!" chorused a group of four children, two of whom – a blonde girl dressed as a bat, and a boy in a Spiderman suit – were in Anna's class.
"Hi, Peyton! Hey, Max!" Anna greeted her classmates, "like my costume?"
"Mine's better," Max said, and the curly-haired boy beside him sniggered.
"Yeah," said the little girl named Peyton wistfully, "I wanted to be a witch, but Lacey Miller's being a witch and she said we couldn't be the same."
Anna wrinkled her nose. "Oh, pooh-pooh to stupid Lacey Miller!"
Kate, handing out candy, shot her sister a motherly warning glance. "Language, Anna. We'll have none of that pooh-pooh stuff in this house!"
Having taken their candy and said a mutual "See ya," the four children turned and headed off down the driveway. Kate closed the door as Anna's arm snaked into the sweet-bowl and retrieved a mini packet of jellybeans.
Brian and Sara Fitzgerald were waiting with Jesse in the living room when Anna and Kate re-entered.
"I just saw some kids from school," Anna wasted no time in informing them, "Max is Spiderman and Peyton's a bat. Max said his costume was better than mine, but it wasn't."
"I'm sure," smiled Sara, "are you ready to go?"
The girls nodded eagerly.
"We're going to drop Jesse off at his school Halloween party," Brian put in, "and then I'll drive you to Mainford so you can get a really good haul this year." Anna and Kate cheered at the mention of Mainford Estate, which was large, full of family-sized houses and notoriously good for giving out candy.
"Kate –" Sara started, meaning to ask her elder daughter if she was feeling ok. She caught herself at the last moment, however, not wanting to ruin her daughter's evening of fun by being overly paranoid, "you look lovely," she amended.
"Lovely?" Kate snorted. "Pirates aren't supposed to look lovely. They're supposed to look brave and daring!"
"Yeah, Sar," Brian laughed, "get it right."
Sara joined in the laughter.
"What about me?" Anna piped up, "Do I look lovely? Or do I look scary?"
"You look like the loveliest, scariest witch in town," Sara told her, planting a quick kiss on her forehead.
Jesse groaned. "You guys are like cheese on toast!" he complained, "get a life!"
This only made Brian and Sara laugh harder at their son's typical adolescent behaviour. Sara wiped her watering eyes on the sleeve of her jacket.
"Well," she said, "shall we go?"
That was all the encouragement Kate and Anna needed. They raced for the door, Jesse lagging behind, pretending not to be looking forward to the Halloween party, where he was hoping to dance with Milly Grogan, a girl in his class on whom he had long nursed a crush. Brian and Sara watched them go, smiling at one another.
"We didn't do so bad, did we?" Brian asked.
Sara thought about it. She thought about Jesse's disruptive antics at school; of Kate's cancer lurking like a time-bomb; of Anna, who hardly ever really got to be a kid. But then she thought about their happy faces and their excitement, and the way they still looked up to their parents (well, perhaps not Jesse, but the girls at least), and she knew he was right.
"Yeah," she agreed, "we did."