Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for another great Halloween planning session and for all the laughs and love every day. Thanks to Mari for the title!

Readers and REAL McRollers – We're thrilled you're in the REAL World with us! Thank you for the amazing support. Once again I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with review responses, but please know every word is truly appreciated.

Hope you enjoy!

Decisions, Decisions (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

It was mid-morning by the time Kono and Casey finished their run around Kapiolani Park. Sitting in the grass, they performed slow stretches to keep their muscles from tightening.

"So, Halloween is just a couple weeks away," Kono said, bending over her left leg to stretch her hamstring.

Casey mirrored her movements. "Yeah."

"Did you figure out what you want to dress up as?"

"Not yet." The thirteen-year-old paused, looking at Kono for a moment before asking, "Did you go trick-or-treating when you were in middle school?"

"Heck yeah," Kono said with a grin. "And high school. I'm excited to go this year, it's been a while."

"You are?" Casey asked, her face brightening at Kono's excitement.

"Yeah. Aren't you?"

Casey shrugged and nodded. "I guess."

Kono studied her for a minute.

"And you're okay going with your family and the rest of us?"

Casey looked at her curiously.

"Instead of your friends?" Kono clarified.

"Oh," Casey said in understanding. "Yeah." She shrugged again. "Some of my friends are going together, but I told 'em I was already going with you guys." She switched legs when Kono did and leaned over to the right. "They were a little bummed, but it's okay. I know it's kinda weird, but I like hanging out with my family."

"I don't think it's weird," Kono said and smiled. "That's exactly how I grew up."

Casey glanced over at her. "And it's cool that you're gonna be there. I can always go with my friends next year. If I want to."

Kono nodded, smiling. "That's good you make your own decisions. That takes confidence."

Casey gave her a small, pleased smile and straightened.

"I still don't know what costume to wear," she said. "What'd you dress up as when you were my age?"

"Let's see . . ." Kono said, sitting up and bending her right leg to pull it across her body. "I was definitely a pirate one year. I was a black cat. That was eighth grade." She released her right leg and bent her left as Casey copied her stretches. "Oh!" she said excitedly. "I was Wednesday from the Addams Family one year."

Casey grinned. "I know who that is. With the long braids. Mom showed me and Cody and Dylan the movie a couple years ago. It was, like, a TV show before, right?"

"Yeah, but I only ever saw the movie, too," Kono said, matching her grin.

"That's cool." Casey ran her hand through her short hair. "Don't think that'll work for me."

"Not without a wig."

Casey made a face. "No wigs. They itch."

Kono laughed. "Okay."

"I wore my track uniform last year and borrowed a relay baton from school."

"Neat."

"But I've gotta figure out something different for this year." She gave a good-natured eye roll. "Jacob's rule: You can't be the same thing twice in a row."

Kono laughed. "Is he the costume authority?"

"Pretty much," Casey said with a smile. "But he hasn't decided yet, either."

"Well, you'll come up with something. You've got plenty of time." Kono stood up. "Hey, maybe we can figure out matching costumes."

Casey stood and faced her mentor, her expression excited. "Really? Cool!"

"Yeah." Kono held her hand up for a high five. "Awesome run today. You ready to go?"

Smiling, Casey slapped her hand. "Yep."

"Maybe we'll figure out our costumes while we eat."

Later that day, Grace, Kaitlyn, and Danny were enjoying lunch at Ala Moana Park. Grace had a notebook in front of her on the grass and was making notes in between bites of her sandwich.

"Let's list all the Halloween words we can think of, then we'll start making rhymes," she said, looking at Kaitlyn beside her.

"Okay," the younger girl readily agreed.

Danny smiled, watching them from a few feet back.

Kaitlyn took a sip of her juice box and asked, "Since it's for trick-or-treating, can we say 'Trick-or-treat' in the cheer?"

"Definitely," Grace said and wrote down the words. "What else? 'Halloween,' of course."

"Of course," Kaitlyn echoed.

" 'Ghosts,' 'goblins,' 'witches,' " Grace continued, writing each word.

" 'Pumpkin'!" Kaitlyn suggested energetically.

"Ooh, good. And 'jack-o'-lantern,' " Grace said.

"And 'candy,' " Kaitlyn said, smiling in excitement.

"Can't forget the candy," Danny teased with a grin. "That's the main reason I go."

"Danno," Grace said, rolling her eyes.

"What? Somebody's gotta eat the malted milk balls you hate so much."

Grace smiled at him and turned back to her list. "We need more words."

"Nothing too scary, okay?" Kaitlyn said with a trace of nervousness.

Grace put her arm around the younger girl and smiled as she gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Nothing too scary. But that's a good word." She wrote as she repeated, " 'Scary.' And 'spooky.' Hmm . . ." she said, tapping her chin with her pencil. "I wonder if we should make signs."

Kaitlyn bounced in place excitedly. "We could make signs that say 'Trick or treat!' "

Grace beamed. "Yeah!"

"Oh," Kaitlyn said, deflating slightly. "But that's three words. And there's just two of us."

Grace twisted her lips thoughtfully, mulling over the problem. She bit her lip and glanced back at her father.

"Hey, Danno . . ." she started.

"Yes, Grace?" he asked with a barely suppressed smile.

"What are you going to be for Halloween?"

"Well, you know, I hadn't really decided yet. Why do you ask?" he said with exaggerated innocence.

"You know . . . there are male cheerleaders . . ."

"Are there?"

Grace groaned, laughing. "Danno!"

"What?" he asked, chuckling. "Did you two have something you wanted to ask me?"

Grace and Kaitlyn exchanged a look. Grace nodded at the younger girl to ask.

"Will you be a cheerleader with us, Uncle Danny?" Kaitlyn asked with hopeful eyes. "Please?"

"Will I get more than just the malted milk balls this year?"

"Malted milk balls and the Almond Joys," Grace offered.

"Malted milk balls, Almond Joys, and at least two Snickers," he countered. Pointing at the two, he said, "From each of you."

Grace and Kaitlyn looked at each other and nodded.

"Deal," Grace said with a huge grin.

"Deal," Kaitlyn echoed, giggling.

"Okay, then," he said and nodded.

"Ooh, maybe you can get one of those megaphones for you to carry," Grace said.

Danny leaned back on his elbows and sighed. "Your uncle Steve's never gonna let me hear the end of this, you know that, right?" He quirked an eyebrow. "We don't have to do the cheer at every house, right?"

"Not every house," Grace assured him.

"Good."

She winked at Kaitlyn and teased, "Maybe every other."

Across town, Dylan stood in Chin's living room waiting as patiently as he could.

"This is gonna be so cool," Dylan called to Chin who was in the kitchen. "Thanks for helping me make my costume."

"You're welcome," Chin said, coming back into the room. "I'm glad your Mom called me. It's a great idea." He held up a pot. "I think this should work."

"A pot?"

Chin put the pot on Dylan's head, grinning when the boy had to push it back up over his eyes. "We have to make a hole that's plenty big enough to fit over your head."

He took the pot back and moved to the floor where a large piece of cardboard lay. Handing Dylan a pencil, he said, "Here, trace around that. It's okay if it's not perfect."

Dylan traced the large circle and sat back on his heels, looking to Chin for the next step.

"Okay," Chin said and grabbed a tape measure he'd placed on the coffee table. "Now let's see how wide your shoulders are."

Once he'd measured the back of Dylan's shoulders, he traced a line the same length across the cardboard that included the circle.

"Now, if we put a couple inverted trapezoids in the front and back . . ."

"Inverted?" Dylan asked, looking at Chin as he drew.

"Upside down," Chin explained. "That will make you look bigger once the shirt's on." He pointed to the sides. "And we can put some flaps here for your biceps."

Dylan looked unsure, and Chin smiled.

"It'll make more sense once we've cut it out," he assured the boy.

Dylan nodded. "Okay."

Chin did most of the cutting, but let Dylan use the utility knife to cut the shorter sides of the trapezoids.

After carefully folding the cardboard so it would lay over Dylan's shoulders, they used duct tape to reinforce the folds and to connect two flaps to fit over his biceps.

They stood, and Chin put their construction over Dylan's head to check the fit.

He smiled broadly. "We'll put some padding in to get you extra muscles, but that's the basic shape. What do you think?"

Dylan held his arms straight out at his sides and moved them up and down, watching as the flaps moved with him. He grinned. "This is gonna be so raw. Can we make really big muscles?"

"Definitely. I got plenty of liquid foam."

"Awesome." His smile lit his face. "Wait till everybody sees."

"It's still a surprise?"

Dylan nodded. "Yep. Only you and Mom know."

Chin smiled at that. He nodded once. "Okay. Let's try the turtleneck on so we can see how big we can make those muscles."

"Yeah!" Dylan agreed, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "This is gonna be the best Halloween costume ever."

"Here's the Halloween scrapbook," Laura Coleman said as she came into the living room where Cody and Jess were sitting on the sofa. "I thought you might like to look through it while you're trying to think of costumes."

"Mom, we're not gonna go in the same costumes Ally and I wore when I was nine or whatever," Jess said, though she smiled and accepted the book her mother held out.

"You never know," Laura said. "You might get inspired. And Cody might like to see the pictures anyway."

Cody looked between the two, but stayed quiet.

Jess sighed. "Thanks, Mom."

"Okay, I'll leave you to it," Laura said and walked out of the room.

"Sorry," Jess said to Cody.

He shrugged. "I dunno. I think it's kinda cool your mom makes these," he said, nodding at the book decorated with an orange and black cover with large letters announcing 'Halloween!'

Jess sighed again. "Yeah, well, you know how much my dad likes taking pictures. There's a book for Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter and don't even mention the birthdays."

She flipped through a few pages quickly.

"It's good you have these," Cody said quietly. "We lost pretty much all our pictures and stuff like that in the fire."

She looked up at him, her expression softened in sympathy. "That really sucks."

He gave a small nod, looking down. "I mean, we didn't really have a lot of pictures to begin with . . . but, yeah, it sucks." He nodded at the book in her hands again. "So it's cool that you've got stuff like that."

"Yeah. I guess it is," she said with a small smile. She rolled her eyes a little. "Doesn't mean it's not still a little embarrassing that she brings them out all the time."

He chuckled. "Yeah."

Scooting closer, he bent his head to look at the pictures with her.

"That's cute," he said, pointing at a picture of a baby and a toddler. "M & M's."

"Yeah, my parents were pretty big into the matching costume idea."

She turned the page.

"Oh my God!" she said, scrambling to cover a picture. "I forgot about that one!"

Cody laughed, moving her hand away so he could see. "Are you a unicorn?"

She groaned. "Yes. Ally was a princess and wanted me to be a unicorn. I was only four so of course I did what my big sister wanted. I think I wore that princess costume later, too." She flipped another page and nodded. "Yep. Then the next year I wanted to be a knight," she said, pointing at another picture.

"Cool. And your sister was the dragon."

"Yeah."

She turned another page, and Cody peered closer at a picture in the corner.

"Is that your parents?" he asked.

"Yeah. They used to have some friends who had a Halloween party every year. The kids would go down in the basement and play while the adults stayed upstairs and did . . . whatever they do at parties."

"What are they dressed as?" he asked, his brow knitted as he studied the picture of Laura and David Coleman both in black suits, ties, sunglasses, and fedoras.

"I don't know." She looked back over her shoulder and called, "Hey, Mom?"

"Yeah, honey?"

"Who are you and Dad supposed to be in this picture?"

Laura came into the room and looked at the page. She chuckled. "We're the Blues Brothers." When both teens looked confused, she continued, "They were a band from Saturday Night Live. And there was a movie. Well, two movies now."

"I bet there's some videos," Jess said, reaching across the coffee table for her laptop. She did a quick search and found several YouTube videos.

Laura leaned over the couch, scanning the list. " 'Soul Man'. Play that one."

Jess clicked on the video to play it, and they watched Aykroyd and Belushi dance across the stage as they sang.

Laura looked at both teens and could see their smiles growing.

"You know," she said, a twinkle in her eye, "I bet we have at least some parts of those costumes still . . ."

The two looked back at her, and she shrugged innocently.

"Are you staying for dinner later, Cody?" she asked.

"I have to go to work soon," he said. "But thanks, Mrs. Coleman."

"Laura," she reminded him.

He smiled awkwardly. "Right."

After she disappeared from the room, Jess looked at Cody.

"What do you think?" she asked, nodding toward the screen where a new video had begun.

"I dunno," he said. "What do you think?"

She paused for a moment, biting her lip, then asked, "Will you help me with the tie?"

He smiled, ducking his head before glancing back at her. "Yeah."

She returned his smile.

He looked back to where the duo on screen were now dancing as they sang 'Sweet Home Chicago.'

"We don't have to dance, do we?" he asked, cringing slightly.

She laughed and shook her head, wrapping her hands around his arm and leaning closer so they could finish watching the video together.

That evening, Catherine sat on the sofa talking on her phone with her mother.

"I've got all the fall and Halloween decor up," Elizabeth said. "Your father claims the boxes multiply in the basement every year, but as your grandmother says, 'He talks like a fish.' "

Catherine chuckled. "One of my favorite Grandma Ang-isms." She put her feet up on the edge of the coffee table. "Do you still have that big stuffed jack-o'-lantern Aunt Louise got me when I was a kid?"

"I sure do. He's in the corner, smiling at everyone. So far Smokey has left him alone."

Catherine smiled. "That's good. That pumpkin was one of the few stuffed toys that escaped Salty's energetic playtimes."

"That's right," Elizabeth agreed. "And speaking of jack-o'-lanterns, are you going to carve pumpkins again this year?"

"Yeah. We're gonna go with Jenna and the kids to a pumpkin patch to pick them out."

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea. I have a few smiling pictures of you in pumpkin patches over the years. Nice one when you were about seven and missing your two front teeth."

Catherine laughed.

"Any ideas for costumes yet?" Elizabeth asked.

"Mmm . . . not really. But we've got time."

"I bet the kids are all excited."

Catherine smiled broadly. "They are. Especially Jacob. Every day he has a new costume idea."

"That sounds about right for six. Or is he seven now?"

"Almost. His birthday's next month. Jenna texted earlier his latest idea is a ninja cowboy."

Elizabeth laughed. "What?"

"Apparently he read a book where a monster has a few different costumes and can't decide, so he combines them, and Jacob thought that was a great idea."

"Oh my," Elizabeth said, chuckling. "Well, I'm sure whatever he comes up with, it will be fantastic."

Catherine smiled. "Me, too." She shifted her feet on the edge of the coffee table. "What are you guys doing tonight?"

"No ball game so we're watching a movie. Your grandmother mentioned The Thin Man. One of her favorites."

"Oh, I haven't seen that movie in years."

"It's a good one."

"Yeah," Catherine said. "Well, I'll let you go then. Enjoy."

"Okay, honey, we'll talk to you soon. Love you. And love to Steve."

Catherine smiled. "Love you. Go, Cubs, go."

She heard the smile in her mother's voice as Elizabeth answered, "That's right."

After ending the call, Catherine set her phone down thoughtfully. She picked up her tablet and did a quick search, smiling when she found what she wanted.

She glanced up as Steve came in the back door with Cammie. The happy dog headed for the kitchen and her water bowl while Steve approached Catherine on the sofa.

"How's everybody?" he asked, nodding toward her phone.

"Good," she said. "Gram's got her lucky Cubs shirt ready to go."

He chuckled. "Nice."

"Hey, do we have popcorn?" she asked.

He rubbed at the sweat on the back of his neck from playing in the backyard with Cammie. "Yeah, I think so. Why?"

She smiled. "I think it's movie night."

"Okay. What do you want to watch?"

"An old movie. It's called The Thin Man."

He made a face.

She rolled her eyes. "I think you might actually like it."

Sighing, he folded his arms and looked for her to elaborate.

She tilted her head and said in a convincing tone, "It comes Grandma Ang recommended."

His lip quirked in a half smile. "All right. But only 'cause Grandma Ang likes it," he said with a teasing wink. His smile grew full. "I'll make the popcorn."

"I still don't know what I want to be," Jacob said as he climbed onto his bed.

Dylan was already sitting on his own bed. Casey and Kaitlyn hovered in the doorway while Cody and Jenna stood in the middle of the room.

"I thought you wanted to be a ninja cowboy ballerina, like the monster in the book," Cody teased.

"Not a ballerina!" Jacob protested. "But maybe if I had a badge I could be a cowboy sheriff."

Jenna smiled. "There's still time to decide, but you should start narrowing it down, honey."

"Do you know what you're going to be, Mom?" Kaitlyn asked.

"Well . . ." she started.

"I think you should be a superhero," Dylan said.

Jacob's eyes widened in excitement, and he jumped out of bed. "Yeah! Supermom! You can wear a cape! And a M for Mom!" he said, tracing the letter on his own chest.

"That's a pretty good idea," Cody said, looking at Jenna.

"Yeah," Casey agreed. "You are Supermom."

"You're the best superhero I know!" Kaitlyn said. "Even better than Gum Girl!"

Jenna looked at all her children, touched by their words.

"Well, it sounds like it's unanimous," she said, smiling. "What color should I wear?"

"Pink!" Kaitlyn said immediately.

"No, red!" Jacob countered, jumping up and down.

"Blue," Dylan added.

Jenna laughed. "I guess that part's not unanimous."

"Wear whatever color you want," Casey said, thinking of Kono's words earlier. "Make your own decision."

"Thanks, honey," Jenna said, smiling at her.

"Ohhhh," Jacob said with an enormous smile, his arms shaking in excitement. "I can't wait for Halloween!"

"You know what?" Jenna said, looking at them affectionately. "Me, either."

Hope you enjoyed!

The book mentioned is Monster Needs a Costume by Paul Czajak and illustrated by Wendy Grieb (Scarletta Kids, 2013)

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