Jeff groaned as he sat in his sitter's kitchen doing his homework. Since his aunt was teaching again he now had go to Mrs. McCormic's house after school, who lived a few house down from his bus stop. He didn't like going there. The place smelled like moth balls, and she had a dozen cats that liked to claw at his legs.

He looked over at the calendar that was hanging from the refrigerator, again taking in that counting today it was still four days until Halloween. After Christmas and his birthday, Halloween was his favorite holiday. You got to dress up in a fun costume and get free candy, and there were special scary episodes of his favorite shows. Who wouldn't like that?

His mom finally arrived at 4:30pm, and brought Jeff home. When they got into their apartment she told him she had a surprise for him. "Here you go young man," she said as she handed him a pirate costume kit. "See, it came with a red bandana, an eye patch, and a clip on gold earring. And I'm going to get you a few things from Good Will to make pirate clothes for your costume."

"Cool, thanks mom," he said enthusiastically as he opened the package and looked at the costume pieces.

"And I have some more good news. I rearranged some things at work and I'm taking a half day that day. So now I can take you trick or treating after school."

Jeff looked at his mother before deciding to ask her something he had come up with earlier. "Can Annie sleep over on Halloween? Then we can trick or treat together and watch scary movies and it's on a Friday so there's no school the next day."

"Well…if it's okay with Annie's parents I don't see a problem with that." She couldn't help smiling at Jeff's excitement at the news. "You really like Annie, don't you?"

"Of course I like her," Jeff said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She's my best friend."

"And I remember how you didn't want play with her at first because she was a girl," his mom reminded him.

"She's just Annie. I don't even think of her as a girl anymore. I mean, I know she's a girl, but she's not a girl," he stressed

"You notice she's a girl someday when you're older than seven," Doreen said thoughtfully. "She actually is quite pretty."

"EW!"

"Your uncle's right. Boys will be boys. Let me just talk to Annie's parents and see if they're okay with Annie staying over." With that Doreen got on the phone and called Annie's house. "Hello, Mariel. Its Doreen…I'm good. Listen, I wanted to know if it would be all right if Annie spent the night here on Halloween. Jeff wants her to trick or treat with him and then have a little sleepover…I'm sorry, what?" She frowned deeply as she listened to Mariel's response. "You do know they're six and seven and don't even know what…to them 'fooling around' is making funny faces…okay, let me speak openly for a moment. If you don't want to 'perverse their childish innocence', then the simple way to avoid that is to let her sleep over her friend's house. Because Annie is an inquisitive girl and will probably ask you why she can't come and stay over. And I know Jeff will ask me why he can't see his friend. And by telling them your reasons for objection it will just lead to more questions from them. Questions I'm sure you would rather wait a few years before they have to be answered…oh, so you've decided to change your mind. Well I look forward to telling that to Jeff. Good day."

She sighed in exasperation as she hung up the phone, before seeing her son standing there looking at her wide eyed. "Was Annie's mom mad," he asked, correctly guessing who his mom was speaking to on the phone.

"She…she just had a couple questions," Doreen said, greatly fudging the truth. "But she said it's okay if Annie spends the night."

"All Right!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

At last Halloween arrived, much to Annie and Jeff's delight. While school was fun that day with a class party with cookies and punch, neither of them could wait for it to be over so they could trick or treat together and have their sleepover. Once school finally let out Jeff and Annie got on the bus, talking excitedly about their planned evening. They agreed to trade whatever candy they got with each other once they got back to Jeff's house afterwards.

When they were let out at their bus stop they saw both of their moms waiting for them. Jeff went home while Annie went with her mom so she could change into her costume and get her stuff for their sleepover.

"Where are they?" Jeff asked impatiently as he looked out their apartment door again. He had changed into his costume as soon as he got home (along with the accessories from the pirate kit he had on baggy black pants cut into pantaloons and an old dress shirt his mom had added ruffles to). Once he was ready he waited for Annie to arrive, growing more anxious the longer he had to wait.

"It hasn't even been fifteen minutes. Just hold your horses," his mom told him.

Jeff sighed as he looked out the door. Finally he smiled as Annie's car pulled up in front of his aunt's house. "They're here!" he announced as he ran outside, his mom following.

"Hi!" Annie yelled as she got out of the car. She was wearing a flowing purple princess dress with big dragonfly like wings attached to her back, and a plastic tiara atop her head. "I'm a fairy princess."

"She couldn't decide between being a fairy or a princess, so she decided to be both," her mother said distastefully. She set down Annie's sleeping bag and overnight bag (which looked like a child's size piece of luggage complete with wheels and a pull out handle) before making sure she had her daughter's attention. "Now Annie, remember tonight that you're to change into your pajamas in a different room then Jeff, and are to sleep in your own sleeping bag. Understand?"

"Okay?" Annie answered back questionably, since she hadn't even thought about doing otherwise.

"Mariel," Doreen pointedly said.

"I'm just setting down a few ground rules," she said in a false would be casual tone.

Doreen strongly resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that comment. "I'll call tomorrow after the kids wake up and have breakfast. I rented a couple movies for them to watch tonight. Hocus Pocus and Charlie Brown's Halloween. I just wanted to check if it's alright if Annie watches them."

"Alright, sure," Mariel said. "Annie, you have fun tonight and I'll pick you up tomorrow. And remember, don't go away from Mrs. Winger when your trick or treating and don't eat anything that looks strange or dangerous." With that she quickly kissed her daughter goodbye before getting back in the car and driving off.

The two kids waited for Jeff's mom to put Annie's stuff inside before they could finally set off. They excitedly ran to the house next door, Doreen briskly walking to keep up with them. Jeff and Annie knocked on the door at the same time, waiting only a moment before their neighbor Mrs. Kensington opened the door. "Trick or Treat!" they happily said in near unison.

"Oh, how adorable. Here's some candy to the scary pirate. And some candy to the cute princess."

"Thank you!" they both said as they set off for the next house. Suddenly they both ducked as a kid on a bike wearing a plastic tiger mask threw eggs at them.

"Ben! I swear I'm going to call your mom and tell her what you're doing!" Doreen yelled.

"No one can stop El Tigre!" Ben Chang yelled out as he peddled away in search of other victims.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, you think you've had enough and are ready to start heading home?" Doreen asked after they had walked five blocks.

"I'm not tired," Jeff declared. "Are you Annie?"

"I'm good. Unless you want to go home Mrs. Winger?"

"No, we can keep going," Doreen sighed, figuring they could at least go on until it started getting dark. She frowned as she saw a big girl push another kid to the ground and grab his candy bag. "That's not right."

"That's Big Cheddar," Annie said in fear.

"Who?" Doreen asked.

"She goes to our school," Jeff explained. "She's really mean. No one messes with her."

"Come on," Doreen said as she took Jeff and Annie by their hands. As she led them to the next house Shirley watched them go by. While she would have loved to riffle through their half full bags, she knew better than to try anything while they had an adult with them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Eventually the sun started to set and their sacks became so full they were ready to burst, causing Doreen to decide it was time to go home. Once they made it back she got on the phone to order a pizza for dinner. Jeff and Annie sat on the floor and dumped out all their candy as they began trading and bartering with one another.

"I'll give you two Snickers for a 3 Musketeers bar," Jeff proposed.

"I only have two 3 Musketeers bars," Annie whined.

"That's why I'm giving you two Snickers. I'll even give you a Skittles too," he said, since he didn't like Skittles.

She thought about it for a second before stating, "I'll give you a 3 Musketeers bar for two Snickers, a Skittles, and a Tootsie Pop."

"No! That's not fair! I'm not giving you four pieces of candy for one," he complained.

She drummed her little fingers against her chin as she contemplated how to proceed. "How about…you give me two Snickers, a Skittles, a Tootsie Pop and a candy necklace, and I'll give you a 3 Musketeers and my popcorn ball."

"You'd give that to me?" Jeff asked in awe. While they had gotten a lot of good stuff, the chocolate covered popcorn balls they got from the house with a toy skeleton in the bird bath was easily the best and most coveted item they'd received. Jeff couldn't believe she would dare part with hers.

"Yup. If you give me the other candy."

"Okay, deal."

With that Jeff gave Annie her requested five pieces of candy, also throwing in a vanilla Tootsie Roll, while Annie gave Jeff one of her 3 Musketeers bars and her popcorn ball. They continued to trade candy with each other until the pizza arrived. After they ate dinner Jeff's mom gave them another surprise, which were large chocolate cupcakes with orange icing and candy corn for desert. "Why don't you two change into your jammies before having dessert, and then I'll put on a movie."

"Okay. Thank you Mrs. Winger," Annie said before taking her mini suitcase and going into the bathroom.

After they came back in their pajamas (Annie in pink ones with white horses, Jeff in red and blue ones with Spider-Man) they ate their cupcakes while Doreen cleaned up. "Now kids, since you've already had a cupcake I don't want you eating a bunch of candy and getting sick." She put each of their piles into two big bowls and put the bowls on top of the refrigerator before taking a few pieces from each and giving them to the children. "Here's some for tonight, but that's it."

"Okay Mom. Can we sleep in the living room and build a blanket fort?" Jeff eagerly asked his mom while Annie enthusiastically nodded her head.

"A blanket fort," she stated, her voice equally full of exasperation and amusement at the request. "Alright sure. But you have to clean it up tomorrow." She looked around, not seeing too many needed materials. "Let me just see if your aunt and uncle have anything you can use," she told them as she went upstairs.

A few minutes later Doreen came downstairs with Brad, both their arms loaded down with blankets and sheets. "Here you go kids," Jeff uncle said as they dropped everything in the living room. "This should help you with your project. You need any pointers?"

"We're good, thanks," Jeff told him.

"We'll be upstairs if you need anything," Doreen told the two of them before she and Brad went upstairs to watch TV with Sheila.

"We need to create walls out of cushions to put the sheets and blankets over," Jeff told Annie as he pulled the cushions off the couch.

"No," she countered. "We can make walls out of sheets. We need to make a pole in the middle, like at the circus."

"No, my way is better," he insisted.

"No, my way is better!" she yelled back.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

While construction was a bit rocky starting off, they were able to build a blanket fort together.

"I never want to be a grown up," Jeff declared as they sat in the fort. "Cause then I couldn't have an awesome fort like this."

"I know," she sadly agreed with him. "Why don't grownups ever make blanket forts?"

"Cause they're old and stupid."

She giggled at his response before frowning at the movie they were watching. "Why does everyone keep giving Charlie Brown rocks? He should get candy also."

"I don't know?"

"Well, we should send him some of our candy, since he didn't get any."

Jeff nodded in agreement at Annie's suggestion. "Yeah, but I don't know his address."

"Then let's get it. Tom…orrow," Annie said as she let out a big yawn.

An hour later Doreen came back downstairs to check on the kids and turn in for the night. She found them in their sleeping bags in their blanket fort, fast asleep. She smiled as she turned off the TV before heading to bed herself.