Author Notes - Like I said a while back, I'll only write and release a Guppies story if I have an idea that I can work with. And lucky you, cos I've got one! This time, involving an out-of-season holiday experience. If you're wondering why I'm releasing a story that takes place in early November halfway through the year, it's because this is the only Guppies story idea I have where I really know what I want to do with it. I do have others, including one that is sure to be rather tragic, but I'm waiting on those until I know what exactly I want to do with them.

The idea of this story came about cos I've been really into Latino culture as of late, for reasons I can't explain. Blame Encanto and Handy Manny (yes, really) for that, I guess. Many other writers have had Molly be of Mexican descent in some way, but I don't know if anyone's really done much with that yet. So, I decided to write about Molly celebrating a Mexican holiday - Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

Now, I'm not Mexican. I'm just a random white woman from Australia, to be exact. My knowledge of Spanish extends to what I've learnt from the aforementioned shows (and Google Translate), and all my knowledge on this holiday is from research. But if I only wrote what I knew personally, then I'd have a grand total of... five, maybe ten topics to write about?

CHAPTER ONE - SKELETONS

'AND that's the last of them!' Deema declared, shutting the costume box and dusting her hands off.

Gil took the last bat decoration down from the wall. 'I think this year's haunted house was even more successful than the last one!'

Oona giggled, and washed the green paint off her hands. 'That mirror gets Mr Grumpfish every time!'

After their big haunted house celebration at their school - the second one, and the first one Zooli got to be a part of - it was time to put all the props away and get out of costume. Which would normally be a difficult and tedious job, but the teamwork of seven Guppies, their teacher, and a puppy got the work done in almost no time at all. Very soon, the classroom looked just like how it used to.

'We couldn't have done it without Goby.' Zooli said, sitting down in her usual spot. 'His monster drawings were so convincing!'

Goby scratched the back of his neck and chuckled. 'Nah, it was nothing. They wouldn't have done it if Nonny didn't know right where to put them.'

'We were both important.' Nonny said. 'Without the other, we would have failed at scaring people.'

In fact, there was only one decoration that was still out in the open: a plastic skeleton, which had frightened Gil at least five times over the course of that day. Molly pushed it across the floor, thanks to the wheels attached to the base, all the way to her teacher who was stacking the 'spooky' storybooks away.

'Mr Grouper,' She said. 'Would it be okay if I borrowed this for just a couple of days? I think my family would love another skeleton decoration.'

'Of course you can, Molly!' Mr Grouper replied. 'You can even keep it, if you want. It would look great!'

'Oh, thank you!'

Gil had seen this whole exchange, and it just left him a little confused. The least of which was due to Molly's desire to have… that thing in her house. Unless her family was just super obsessed with skeletons or something.

'Uh, Molly,' He said. 'Halloween is pretty much over now. Don't you think it's a little too late for Halloween decorations?'

Molly giggled. 'Oh, sorry Gilly, I wasn't being very clear. I don't need this skeleton for Halloween. I need it for Dia de los Muertos!'

This explanation did not help. In fact, now she had five confused looks coming her way instead of just Gil's. As to be expected, Nonny was the only one who looked like he understood a word she just said.

Deema rubbed her chin in thought. 'Wait… that sounds Spanish. Dia is day, and I think muerto means…' She gasped. 'You need that for a thing called Day of the Dead?! ... I swear I've heard that from somewhere.'

That was the day that Molly learnt that Deema actually knew a bit of Spanish. The other Guppies didn't have the time to be shocked by this factoid, for they were too busy staring at Molly in shock and/or confusion.

'Of the dead?!' Gil cried, before he gulped. 'T-That sounds… s-scary.'

'Nonny, what's the… Day of the Dead?' Oona asked.

'I believe it would be best if Molly were to answer that question.' Nonny replied. 'I only know the basics. She would know a lot more about it than I would.'

'Thanks, Nonny!' Molly said, pushing the skeleton aside.

A little feeling of happiness bubbled within her as all of her friends looked at her, awaiting for her to give an explanation. As far as they were aware, if Nonny had decided that she should explain it, it must've been good! And, as for her, she got to explain a part of her family's culture too!

'Dia de los Muertos is an important holiday for my family.' She said. 'You see, my grandparents used to live in Acapulco, which is a city in Mexico, before they moved here. They didn't really celebrate Halloween like we do here, but they did celebrate Dia de los Muertos. It's a beloved holiday over there. Even after my family moved here, they continue to celebrate it. And I do too!'

'Is it as scary as the name makes it sound?' Gil asked, trembling a little.

'It isn't scary at all! … Well, mostly. It isn't quite like Halloween, though the decorations can be kinda similar. It's a holiday where we celebrate our family members who have died, so we'll never forget them.'

'Geez…' Zooli said, cringing a little. 'Don't know why you'd want to celebrate that kind of holiday. It just sounds kinda sad.'

'But that's the thing!' Molly said, a little louder than she was expecting. 'It may sound kinda sad, but it's anything but! Our relatives wouldn't like it if the day we celebrated them was so sad, so we make it as cheerful as we can.'

She sighed blissfully as she thought about the last time she celebrated this wonderful holiday. Any prior celebrations were hazy in her mind at best, due to her young age at the time, but last year was clear as day. She could easily remember the beautiful decorations and wonderful music, and all her family members talking and laughing about those who weren't with them anymore. Even the memory alone was amazing.

'Wow.' Goby said. 'That sounds like a really cool holiday!'

'It is!' Molly said. 'I'd love to tell you more, but you really have to experience it. Just hearing about it isn't enough!'

Gil approached her, tapping his fingers together in a rather nervous manner. 'Hey, uh, you said that this Dee-uh… um… Day of the Dead holiday is celebrated by people from Mexico. Can, uh, other people celebrate it too?'

Molly giggled, seeing right through him immediately. 'I take it you guys wanna celebrate it with me. And you're welcome to!'

The boy did a double-take. 'Wait, really?'

'Yep! Just come over to my place tomorrow afternoon. My family would love to see you there!'

'That would be wonderful!' Mr Grouper declared.

The other Guppies cheered, brimming with excitement to be a part of this wonderful holiday, and even Nonny smiled. It touched Molly's heart to see her friends caring so much about her culture, even if they reacted this way at anything new.

'Do we need to bring anything?' Zooli asked. 'Like a present? Or is it one of those 'no need to bring anything' kind of parties?'

'You won't need to bring presents or anything like that.' Molly replied. 'But if you have…' She paused. 'Any framed photos of loved ones who aren't with us anymore, you can bring those for the celebration. But only if you want to.'

She found herself glancing over at Oona as she said this, though she didn't want to.

'I do warn you,' She continued, trying to steer the discussion away from that. 'My family is a lot bigger than you may realise.'

'How grande of a familia are we talking here?' Deema asked, presumably just to show off her Spanish knowledge.

Molly tapped her chin. 'Hm… I don't think I've ever counted. There's my mom and dad, obviously. And you all know my baby sister Mia. There's also my mother's brothers - Tios, we call them. And my dad's big sister too. And then-'

'Okay! Forget I asked. We'll figure it out when we meet them.'

November 1st… the end of the year seemed to have so many holidays. Aside from the obvious Christmas and Halloween, there was also New Year's Eve, Thanksgiving, and now Dia de los Muertos. The Guppies weren't complaining, though. It was just another reason to celebrate.

'Okay guys,' Gil said, approaching the front door of Molly's house. 'It sounds like there's gonna be a lot of people here. Are we ready?'

The rest of the Guppies, excluding Molly for obvious reasons, waited behind him. None of them knew the dress of this new holiday, except for Deema apparently - she had done her face up like a skeleton, decorated with little colourful dots and lines. Her make-up looked just like that of the plastic skeletons standing up in front of the door. Both were holding up maracas and were posed like they were dancing.

'I hope I've got this make-up right.' She said. 'I did a little research on this holiday, and I think this is right. And if it isn't… I'm gonna look like an idiot.'

'Don't worry, Deema!' Oona said. 'I'm sure Molly won't mind if it isn't quite right.'

'But isn't that like… an insult to her culture or something?'

'Deema,' Goby said. 'She won't care that much. She'll probably be happy that you're trying so hard to be a part of it!'

Some of the Guppies had arrived empty-handed, as per Molly's words. Zooli and Gil couldn't really think of any fallen relatives, at least those who hadn't already died before they were born. The rest of them, however, had at least one photo on their person. Oona, in fact, had two.

'I hope they accept photos of animals.' Deema said, glancing down at her photo. 'Wattle was the only member of my family that I could think of.'

'Who's Wattle?' Gil asked. 'If you don't mind me asking, of course.'

Deema spun the photo around, so her friends could see it. 'She was an old pet of mine. I was only three when she died, but I still loved her.'

The other Guppies were a little shocked to find that the animal in question was a turkey. Three-year-old Deema, whose hair was no less crazy, cuddled up into the bird's warm feathers, giggling as they tickled her skin.

'Your family used to have a turkey for a pet?' Zooli asked, before realising how mean her tone sounded. 'Not that there's anything wrong with that!'

'Of course I had a turkey for a pet!' Deema said. 'Why else would I be able to speak turkey?'

'Oh.' Oona said, frowning. 'I… I never thought of that.'

'Wait…' Zooli said. 'You can speak turkey?!'

Any further discussion was stopped when Gil knocked on the front door and it opened almost immediately. On the other side of the door was a man, with pink hair much like Molly's. At first, they all assumed that he was Molly's father, until they remembered that Marty did not have pink hair like his wife did.

'Oh, hello!' He greeted, with a loud cheery voice. 'You must be Molly's friends from school, right? Here for Dia de los Muertos? Well, I'm Micah.'

Author Notes - I was originally writing this story as a oneshot, until I realised that it was about 9,000 words long before even getting to the final scene. That's a bit long for a oneshot, so I'm dividing what I've written into several chapters. So the starting and end points of each chapter may be a bit strange.

For those who didn't see or remember 'Firefighter Gil to the Rescue', Deema is revealed to know a bit of Spanish in that episode. When the fire-breathing dragon reveals that his hiccups were caused by extra hot sauce (that's a rare sentence), she says 'muy caliente'. A trip to Google Translate taught me that it translates to 'very hot'. Since 'muy' and especially 'caliente' aren't quite as common as 'hola' or 'si', Deema would have to know at least some Spanish to be able to say that so casually. Her abilities to speak Turkey were revealed in 'Gobble Gobble Guppies'. The reasoning behind it (she once had a pet turkey) was made up by me, though.

I'm pretty sure this makes Deema the only Guppy who is officially multilingual, so there's some Bubble Guppies trivia for you.