April 25th 2021

Chapter 115
Our Spooks For Garlands

The first time Lucas had been at the ranch again when Halloween rolled around, he'd felt just… a well of old memories spilling over with warmth, with love… His grandmother had been, according to his Grandpa Jax, the type to think it strange to carve a pumpkin and let it rot when you could make so much great food out of it. Now he, he was the Halloween nut, he was the one who nurtured his grandson's love for the whole season, and it really was that for him: a season. It started on October 1st, and that was only officially.

Lucas had this distinct memory of helping his grandfather detangle garlands, up in the attic, and it was definitely September. He'd been five, six, seven, eight… Each of those years, he'd been his grandfather's assistant in covert 'pre-Halloween,' so that his grandmother wouldn't 'scold' him about starting ahead of what was already 'much too early.' Lucas had loved those days… more than most.

And then his Grandpa Jax had died, very suddenly in mid-summer. The months that followed, they'd been difficult on everyone. His grandmother, his mother and uncle… himself…

September 30th, they'd been summoned to the ranch for dinner, him and his parents, his uncle Michael and who had at the time been 'cute neighbor on his way to being cute boyfriend' Keith Reyes. Marianne Sullivan had singled out her grandson and asked him to accompany her up to the attic.

"Help me take these down, will you, angel?" she'd asked him, indicating a stack of boxes. Lucas had recognized those boxes right away, and they'd made him happy and sad all at once. "One day early," his grandmother had held up her finger, holding his gaze. Even at nine years old, he'd understood she was as good as telling him she'd known about the attic days with Jax, and she'd kept their 'secret.'

They'd decorated Sullivan Stables, all of them together. They'd done it again the year after that. The year after that, Marianne the first was gone, too, and their spooky new tradition had fizzled out of existence. Lucas continued to love Halloween the way he did with his grandfather, but never at the ranch… just couldn't do it.

Now, he knew that Juliet had done her best to keep it up to 'the family standard.' And when Lucas had started coming back around, that first Halloween, Juliet had asked him to lead the decorating effort again. It was the right way to go at it. He had 'the inside knowledge.'

"Alright, I'll do it. But I'm doing it the Jax way."

The decorations had gone up a week ahead of October. When he'd reach into the box, when he'd start untangling those garlands, the white ones with the ghosts, the orange with the pumpkins, the black with the cats, the purple with the witches… he would hear his grandfather's voice. Every year, I put them in this box, everything is in order, and every year after that… You know what this means, of course. Ghouls and goblins, little tricksters.

Orange… pumpkins… He pulled at one of these, just like his grandfather would do it, and he thought of his baby girl. In a few years' time, he'd have to show her how to do it. They would revive the tradition together, the two of them, and Maya, and his parents, and his uncles and cousins, and Juliet, everyone…

"Oh, good, there you are!"

His musings and memories were stalled with the arrival of Donna Devereaux, advancing toward him at that hurried pace she'd take whenever she believed someone would get away from her otherwise. Watching her, most people would be drawn to meet her halfway, just so she wouldn't keep going and end up falling or rolling an ankle. Today, she was going with a large bag in hand, and Lucas went hurrying as fast as he could while still appearing to walk rather than run.

"Easy, easy, I'm coming," Lucas told her, offering out his hand.

"Thank you, dear," Donna took that hand with a laugh, only to place the handle of the gift bag in his grasp. "Wouldn't happen to have a little sweetheart to give this to?"

"You know what, I just might know a girl," Lucas smiled, tipping his head in thanks. "Oh, here, have a look at… this…" he pulled up the video on his phone and showed it to her. If there was magic in a one-year-old girl in a pumpkin costume, surrounded by a trio of dogs, Donna felt it as much as he'd done and still did.

"You give her at least a few good hugs and kisses from me, won't you?"

"Half a dozen sound good?" Lucas nodded.

X

"Okay, what's this costume emergency you texted me to… woah!"

Maya smirked when she spotted Morgan's reflection in the bathroom mirror.

"Yeah, turns out I forgot one part about doing myself up like this for today. Do you mind?" she asked, indicating the makeup kit on the window ledge. Morgan stepped up at once and jumped in with the applicator sponge.

The idea for her 'at school during the day' costume had come to her all at once, and it had been instantly perfect in its relative simplicity and 'thematic accuracy,' as Cara had put it. All she needed was the correct clothing in the right tone, sprayable and washable paint for her hair, and a whole lot of makeup for her face, neck, arms, feet, and – as it turned out – part of her back. And now she was a statue.

"Next year, we have got to coordinate this, I am terrible at coming up with ideas. Either that or I come up with some kind of pun, and I think I'm hilarious, and then no one gets it," Morgan shook her head.

"What, you look great," Maya insisted. Morgan paused.

"What am I?" she challenged.

"My favorite music teacher?" Maya answered with a sweet smile. Morgan 'squinted' at her before finishing up the last spot.

"There. All done. Do you have a pose? You gotta have a pose." She did, and she showed it. "I would think you were stone," Morgan complimented.

"Hey, maybe next year we can convince the whole faculty to go as like… people from a different era, ancient or more recent, I don't know…" Maya suggested. "Or it can be just the two of us, too. We'll think of something."

Oh, she hadn't realized just how much she'd missed this time right here. Arriving at school that morning, getting her classroom ready, and then putting on her costume, waiting for her students to arrive… This was her favorite day to work, period. If ever the 31st fell on a weekend, well… Well, it would be great as far as Marianne was concerned, but Maya would definitely be marking the day with her students somehow anyway.

She waited for the first of her seniors to arrive by checking her phone. She had a feeling it would never be very far away from her hand today. She just wanted to see how her birthday pumpkin was doing. It wasn't as though she got to spend the entire day with her parents when it was her birthday, and the same would be true of just about anyone. And still she wished deeply that she could be with her today. She wanted to be with her again as soon as possible, but she couldn't be there yet, so until then all she had to rely on were photos and videos. Soon, she'd have a whole album solely dedicated to the adventures of the Princess Pumpkin's Birthday Adventures with her grandparents, and great grandparents, and everyone else she'd come into contact with today. She was definitely having a great time from what Maya saw in those pictures. It reminded her of the debate about whether or not they'd put her in the other costume tonight, and honestly, she didn't know what they'd do yet.

"Zombies in primetime this year?" Maya grinned when she saw Missy and Kai shamble into the room.

"It's our senior year, why hold back at this point?" Missy asked, from underneath her zombie ballerina makeup. She'd done everything herself this year, and it took her art teacher and neighbor back to that first time, when she'd asked for her assistance.

"You have a point," she tipped her head in full appreciation.

Morning went off about as one would expect Halloween in a high school to go. There were many students in costumes, but also others in plain clothes, either because they didn't do costumes or because they hadn't had time, or means, or inspiration. Either way, they had a great time. Maya would particularly love to mess around with her students, stopping every once in a while, freezing in one pose or another for a minute or so before starting to move again as though she'd never stopped. Her crowning achievement was when she'd gotten to startle both Shelby twins at the same time.

Maya: Do you really want to just go home already or is that just me?

Lucas: Not just you. I'd say misery loves company but I'm not sure this qualifies as anything like misery.

Maya: Maybe not. But also, yes, I see what you're saying. It helps to know it.

Lucas: 732 and happy Hallowannie

Maya: That is still easily one of the best things you've ever come up with. 732 and happy Hallowannie to you, too. Can't wait until tonight.

With lunch time upon them, Maya was still hoping that her makeup would hold and that she wouldn't be eating a whole lot of white paint when they arrived in her doorway.

"Mrs. Friar, can we come in for a minute?" Stella Buckley asked. Maya could see the rest of the quiz team with her, including newly inducted freshman member Lea Sullivan-Reyes, but also a selection of her other students from across the grades.

"Yeah, sure, come on," she waved them in. "What's up?"

"We all made something, and we wanted to give it to you," Rochelle explained.

"It was her idea," Stella indicated Phoebe.

"Yeah, but I don't trust myself with sharp objects like that, even now," Phoebe chimed in. "We all decided that those two had the steadiest hands," she now pointed to Stella and Bodhi.

"I snuck the picture for reference," Missy Sanderson chimed in with a smile.

"What picture?" Maya asked. The group parted, the better to let Lea through. She was free of both cast and crutches by now, though she still walked carefully, especially today, with the load she'd been chosen to carry.

The pumpkin was not one that had come from her own patch, she was pretty sure, but its significance was not lost on her, nor was the carving along its surface, all around… Swans, very much like the one on her arm, only larger, and flying all around the pumpkin. Swans for Marianne, swans for the pumpkin girl.

"We thought it'd look nice in here, and then you can take it home," Kai smiled; they all did. And right about now, her lunch wasn't the cause of her needing to touch up her statue makeup before afternoon classes. Talia had brought a spinning table, deposited it on her desk before Lea set the pumpkin on top. Roman clicked on a little battery-operated light, which he set inside the carved pumpkin, the better to let it show the full effect.

"Alright, well… No homework this weekend, I think that's fair…" Maya sniffled, setting them all laughing. "I love it so much, thank you… thank you… Oh, all of you come stand around there, let me get a picture, yeah?" One of these days, when Marianne was old enough to comprehend it all, she'd have to tell her about these kids and what they'd done for her. She wouldn't soon forget, and when she showed it to him, neither would Lucas.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners