Part I: Tricks for Treats
The buzz of the sewing machine filled the room as Mabel diligently worked on her brother's costume. Dipper waltzed into the room and stood in front of the machine, waiting for his sister to acknowledge his presence.
"Hey, Mabel," he held out Wendy's flyer. The buzzing stopped and she looked up to see the colorful picture.
"Hey bro. Almost done." Her head cocked to the side. "What's that?"
"Well, I wondered if this year, we could change things up a bit? How about after we do the trick or treating thing, we go to a party?"
Mabel stared at him for the longest time. Dipper returned a wide grin, his eyes nervously twitched.
"Oh, that's Wendy's party, right?" she asked.
"H-how did you know?"
"She already told me about it yesterday. Yeah, it's fine." Mabel received squinting eyes from her brother. "Really, it's fine," she tried to convince him.
"Okay. Great!" he happily replied.
More buzzing erupted from the sewing machine.
"I'll be downstairs," he said.
"Okay," Mabel responded.
Down the winding wooden steps and into the hallway, Dipper made a right turn into the TV room. He adjusted the lumberjack hat as he often did after a certain amount of movement. He continued into the room and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a tall wolf monster sitting at the table. It stayed perfectly still.
"Oh, it's just a decoration," he said, feeling silly that he was intimidated by it. Dipper walked casually towards the table. Just as he reached the table, the giant wolf jumped out at him, growling ferociously. The teenage boy jumped back with a horrified cry. He crawled backwards with wide eyes, grabbing a golf club next to the yellow chair. Springing to his feet, he raised the weapon, ready to swing.
"Whoa! Wait!" a human voice came from the creature. Dipper stared wide-eyed as his great uncle removed the mask.
"Ford? What? Oh man, you got me! I'm surprised. Usually this is something Stan does."
"Um yeah. I'm trying to get into this holiday." He sat down on the wicker chair beside the table. "I haven't celebrated any holidays since—" his voice faltered. "—Stan and I were your age. We actually celebrated our birthdays while in the Artic this past year. It felt so weird—"
"You're feeling how I did last year. I felt I was getting too old for trick-or-treating and it hurt Mabel when I told her. But then, I just went along with the flow and I found my love for the holiday again."
"Really? Just like that?" his great uncle asked.
"Well, there was this whole incident with this shadow creature called the Summerween Trickster. I kind of insulted him and then we had to get five-hundred pieces of candy—"
Ford stared thoughtfully at Dipper, causing him to trail off. "It was an interesting night."
Suddenly, Stan stuck his head into the TV room.
"There you are! Get over here Sixer, we gotta go over the plan for tomorrow night."
Ford let out a groan. "Go with the flow, huh?" he asked. Dipper smiled. Ford made his way towards his grinning twin who followed up with, "I've got really special tricks up my sleeves this year!"
The next evening, the teenage twins stood in front of their mirror with full costumes, Dipper as the chocolate bar and Mabel as a wide spread of colorful candies. They descended the stairs just as a knock came from the front door. Both teens froze. A quick memory from the previous year flashed in Dipper's mind. He remembered opening the door to see a tall shadowy figure...
Another knock.
"Are you going to get that, bro?" Mabel asked. Dipper edged his way over to the door as a second knocked pounded from the other side.
Slowly, the thirteen year old opened the door.
"Oh, it's you guys." Candy stood in torn clothing with fake blood all over her and Grenda sported her cheerleader costume. Interesting choices fro the both of them.
"Hi!" Candy beamed.
"Let's get that candy!" Grenda bellowed.
"You guys already got me," Candy joked.
Mabel waved her hand. "You guys!"
"I'm glad to see you in a real costume this year, Dipper," Candy said.
"Well, you know, it is free candy," he replied.
Everyone laughed as they walked out into the cool night air.
Stan led Ford over to the door, a bucket of candy in his hand.
"Okay, so if they're brave enough to stay after the trick, they get the treat," he said, shaking the bucket.
"Do these kids really get scared from silly parlor tricks?"
"The young ones do."
"Young ones? How young? I don't want to be mean to kids, Stanley."
Stan rolled his eyes. "Oh come on! They're the ones parading up to the house of strangers asking for sugary treats. That's gutsy enough! But, they gotta have real guts to get this candy."
Many voices of children sounded from the other side of the door.
"We got some live ones! Put on that wolf mask! Stay out of sight until I signal you."
Ford did so as Stan put in his vampire teeth. He pulled open the door and grimaced at the young group of juveniles.
"Ooh lookie here. Do ya kiddies want some candy?" he asked in a sinister tone.
The children nodded and giggled. "Yeah!" they screamed.
"Okay, just don't let my dog know I'm giving this to you. He can get kind of jealous." Stan did a quick twist of head, which was a signal to Ford. Suddenly his twin jumped out with a loud growl. The three youngest kids cried out and ran away. Two were left. In fact, they looked kind of familiar to Stan.
"Uh-oh! You better run! My 'dog' might bite off a limb or two."
"If he does, we'll just get our dads who happen to be lawyers," one boy in a pirate costume said.
"You've got lawyers in you family?" Stan asked with a tinge of concern. Then, he returned a twisted smile. "Oh I see. Trying to scare me, huh? Sorry, you can't scare someone who has all the powers of the undead," he lifted his arms as a bunch of bats flew out of his sleeves. The boys ducked as the paper decorations fell onto the porch.
"That was lame," said the other boy dressed as a Viking.
Ford shook his head. "Just give them the candy," he told his brother.
"Wait! Wait! I got something—caught in my throat!" He began coughing violently. What appeared to be internal fluids and bile regurgitated from his mouth. It landed on the porch inches from the boys' feet. Stan fell to his knees hacking and coughing. It was pretty convincing, so much that Ford almost bent down to attend to him. But maybe that would make the trick more convincing it he did that. Suddenly, Stan stopped the act and looked up at the boys.
"Oh now I remember you," the pirate boy said. "You tried all these stupid tricks last year."
"Yeah, yeah. You want your candy?" Stan stood up and held out the bucket. The boys put their hands inside, but pulled them out to find red sticky substance on them. They gasped.
"Oh, sorry, forgot to tell you that I store the blood of my victims with my candy," Stan said slyly. Ford just watched in amazement. Stan really knew how to play this field.
"Hey mister, have you ever seen this video?" The Viking boy asked, holding out his phone.
"Nice try, but I'm up to date on your young technology." His lips curved up into a wicked grin. He leaned down to the boy. "But you can show my brother, here?"
The boy shoved the phone into Ford's face. "Look at this, Mister."
Ford watched a video of a couple of puppies playing. Ford smiled. "Aw how cute—" Suddenly the video changed to a hideous face and a high pitched scream. Ford cried out, his hand went to his waist, inside the costume. It came out with his inter-dimensional gun. A beam shot the phone right out of the kid's hand. It landed on the wood panels and shattered into pieces. All four of them looked down at the mess of plastic shards. Stan shoved a couple of hundred dollar bills toward the boys. "Here take this to replace your phone and keep your mouths shut." The boys eyed one another and ran off.
House after house, Dipper, Mabel, Candy and Grenda enjoyed the festivities of trick or treating. It was much more enjoyable without a monster threatening their lives. The four of them just left Lazy Susan's house.
"She was much kinder to us this year," Dipper said as he held up three pieces of 'good' candy.
"Yeah bro. You know we get better treats when you wear the costume," Mabel replied.
"So, what now?" Candy asked.
"What time is it?" Dipper asked.
A few people came out of their homes and blew out the candles in their jack o melons.
"It must be around nine or so," Mabel answered.
"Nine?" Dipper cried out, almost hysterically. "The party is at nine!"
Mabel spun around, narrowing her eyes. "Dipper!"
"A party?" Grenda asked.
"Where is this party?" Candy asked.
Mabel sighed. "Wendy is throwing another party."
"So, you and Dipper are going?" Candy continued.
Mabel stared at her two best girlfriends. "You know, I was going to go, but forget it. There's still more trick or treating to do!"
"Mabel! I thought we agreed we were going together."
His sister cocked her head to the side, her eyes focused on him as if he were a puzzle. "Why do you need me to go with you? Just go on your own."
Dipper opened his mouth, but then lost his words. He studied his twin for a moment. "Really? Last year you were pissed at me because I wanted to go to a party."
"I'm not that same person anymore. Just go. We all had our fun."
A small smile formed on his mouth. "Okay. If you guys want, just come later. I'm sure Wendy and her friends won't mind."
Mabel shrugged. "We might," she replied.
Dipper ran off. Mabel's smile slowly faded. She knew it would be selfish of her to tell Dipper to stay with them, but that's what she really wanted.
N/A: Thanks for reading. Happy Halloween!