It was the weekend before Halloween and Kate should have been on patrol In the coral sea, however they were all ready to sail and head out when all the onboard systems crashed and couldn't get them back online. After 2 hours the issues couldn't be isolated so they were grounded until the problem could be fixed. She was just grateful that they were still alongside rather than in the middle of the ocean. Eventually Marine Tech isolated the issue as a blown fuse that had tripped all the switches but the trip had caused a small spark which meant a large proportion of the bridge had to be rewired so they were grounded for 2 weeks at least.
Standing in the middle of Target she was looking at the Halloween decorations. She didn't normally bother on account of it being very American to decorate the front of the house and she had been at sea the past few years so it was Mike taking the kids trick or treating. But with everything that had happened this year it would be a bit of fun for the kids. she had a plan of what she was going to do. She was going to turn the front lawn in to a graveyard. Add a few of the fake gravestones they had in the dollar store along with zombie arms, a few of the plastic bones and it would be perfect
"so what do you want to be this year" Kate smiled at Nicole "how about this" she held up a zombie cheerleaders costume
Shaking her head Nicole shrugged not really interested.
"come on Nicole" Kate sighed "cheer up please."
Running her hand along the shelf Nicole pulled off a emerald green witches' hat. It had a black net over lay with a spider web pattern on. There was a green satin band with a black rose and feather attached. Further down the aisle was a long deep green medieval style dress which she pulled off the shelf looking at it.
"can I have this one" Nicole smiled looking up at her mum
Running her hand down the arm of the dress. It had huge trumpet sleeves with a gold lace inlay. There was gold threading down the bodice of the dress. The price tag was attached to the bottom of one of the sleeves.
"$25" Kate sighed it was a little much especially as she would only wear it once. The hat was a an additional $8.
"please mum it's the only one that isn't lame"
"okay" Kate sighed once Nicole had finished with it she was sure Grace would love it and find some use after some alterations.
"okay" Kate smiled "go on then" she added it in to the basket.
"mummy can I have the new frozen dress please" Grace ran up holding out 2 dresses
"Grace you already have one frozen dress at home you hardly wear I am not spending another $40 for it to sit in the dressing up box"
"but Nicole is getting a dress" Grace sulked
"and it is a Halloween costume. What do you want to be for Halloween?" Kate asked sighing it was the fifth time she had asked Grace
"umm monster zombie alien princess" she said holding up the Elsa dress and the bottle of fake blood that was $1
"i am not spending $30 on a Elsa dress for you to cover in fake blood. Why don't you be a witchy princess" Kate said holding up a black and silver dress with a large skirt. It looked like a early Victorian gown and had little puffed sleeves.
Cocking her head to one side she looked at it thoughtfully. The clogs in her mind could be seen ticking over. "okay. Can I have a cauldron" she said picking up one of the large cauldrons.
"you can have one of these cauldrons" Kate said picking up a slightly smaller and cheaper one.
"okay" grace said sulkily
Looking down the line of costumes she was trying to find the perfect costume for Chris. There was nothing she liked and knew he would have a meltdown if he had to wear. at the end of the aisle there were some more 'normal' dressing up costumes where. Pulling off one she smiled it was a Roo onesie from the Winnie the Pooh film.
The Winnie the Pooh stories had been a favourite of hers growing up and the Disney films that came out when she was a child were just as magical despite not actually being very true to the books. With lockdown it had been one of the things she was grateful to find on Netflix as could you ever be too old for Winnie the pooh.
Pulling a wig and wig cap off the shelf for her own costume idea she had the rest at home which would be perfect. She just had to get some pumpkins to carve but she would leave that until a few days before to stop them getting bashed bruised and go rotten.
"mummy what are you going to be?" Grace piped
"its going to be a surprise" Kate smiled "right then we need to get some more decorations so lets pay for these and go and see what else we can find.
2 hours later Kate carried the shopping through the door placing it in the hall.
"what's all this?" Mike asked looking at all the bags
"just a few bits for Halloween" Kate smiled
"Halloween since when did we move to America?" Mike folded his arms
"come on it's a bit of fun for the kiddies, I thought we could turn the front in to a haunted graveyard with a grim reaper" she smiled
"and how much did all this cost?" Mike asked looking at all the plastic skeletons, bones and body parts as well as the polystyrene grave stones"
"its fine as we can use them again next year"
Shaking his head, he looked at the costumes for the kids "so what are you going as" he asked looking through the bags unable to see an adult sized costume.
"that is a surprise. And I have ordered your costume from amazon so it should be here soon" she smiled
"i am not dressing up again this year. Last year you had me as a bloody reindeer"
"okay that was the girl's idea for you to be seven. " she grinned "and you love it really" she smiled "this year I have chosen and we will match so that wont be a issue" she said
"fine but if it is a bloody cartoon character then you can forget it and I will stay in" he folded his arms
"spoil sport. I was going to get you to be the Beast to my Belle" she grinned
"forget it" he called heading back in to the kitchen
He would put whatever costume on to make the kids smile. He could tell Kate was teasing as the corner of her mouth twitched but that still gave him no clue as to what her costume could be. There were so many pairs and he couldn't read her mind as to what it could be. If there was a costume ordered of amazon then it couldn't be a good thing could it. There was only a week to wait so he just hoped if it was embarrassing then it got lost in the post
so hope you like this.
the winnie the pooh idea comes from my own love for the stories and the original drawings the way they were published around the text so it read how it was meant to sound was beautiful. i did have the idea of the whole family being charaters from the stories (kate as Kanga, Mike as pooh bear nicole as rabbit and grace as tigger) but went with my original idea so you will have to wait a few chapters to see what Kates costume is.
anyway enjoy and let me know what you think x
