All Hallows Eve

"Hello, hello," Jamie called to his family as he and Eddie entered the back room of the Reagan family home, where most of the Reagans were gathered around a television playing the Jets game. Jamie felt all eyes in the room go to his face.

"Jamie, I know I call you 'kid,' but you really should leave the wearing of Halloween costumes to the actual kids," Danny joked as he took in the mummy-like bandages his brother was sporting.

"Funny, Dan," Jamie grumbled.

"What happened to you?" Sean finally asked.

Jamie pulled the cuff of his sweater further down his arm in an attempt to cover the bandages there, as if that would distract from the matching bandages on his face. "Nothin'."

From the couch, Danny snickered. "Jamie's a little cursed this week."

"He's not cursed," Eddie insisted again. "He just had a run of bad luck this week."

"Which some might say comes from being cursed by a black cat," Danny argued with a smirk. "I mean, how does all of that," Danny gestured to his brother's bandages, "happen to someone who isn't cursed?"

"And just how did you hear about my 'bad luck,' anyway, Dan?" Jamie asked.

"A little birdie told me." Danny cast a glance toward his brother's new wife.

"Ed?"

"Babe, I thought with the week you had, we could have some of your favorites for dinner today. I thought Danny would know what they were. Because who wouldn't know their own brother's favorite foods, right? But all he knew was mac 'n' cheese, so we had to call Erin, and she wanted an explanation."

"So everyone knows." Jamie sighed.

"I am the police commissioner. I know everything," Frank added.

"I'm the father of the police commissioner. I know everything he knows, at least when it comes to curses on family members," Henry joked.

"He's not cursed, at least not by Kiwi" Eddie insisted. "He's just had a few accidents this week. Right, babe?"

"Maybe." Jamie pointed to his bandaged jawline with his bandaged hand. "But this wasn't an accident; this was an attack by that little demon spawn..."

"Traumatized kitten," Eddie interrupted.

"… 'traumatized kitten,'" Jamie put in air quotes, "that you and Witten brought into the house."

"Okay, so Kiwi lashed out at you because she was scared, but she didn't make you fall. You slipped in the puddle from the leaking sink," Eddie argued. "Bad maintenance, not bad luck."

"Yeah, but this…" Jamie gestured toward the bandages on the other side of his jaw and neck, "is definitely the result of some kind of black cat chicken curse. How else do you explain getting attacked by a headless chicken?"

"A headless chicken? Really?" Sean asked. This story was getting more interesting by the second. "What happened?"

"Jamie responded to a chicken-hostage situation, tried to save a headless chicken from falling to the ground, and it repaid him by clawing his neck," Danny explained to his son. "You know chickens. Critters that can fly. And being headless, was probably already dead and wouldn't be hurt by hitting the ground."

Jamie sighed. "I didn't know that at the time, Dan. Must have been that curse, messing with my head."

"If there was any curse, it wasn't Kiwi's doing, she's a tiny little thing and that was one big chicken! And also, any curse has worn off by now; it only lasts for a day or two. And second, you've done all the things you should do to get rid of the bad luck," Eddie argued. "You did the the walking backwards three steps, when you say Kiwi in the car yesterday, and the spitting three times, last night when you were brushing your teeth, and the knocking on wood three times, also last night. And so far, no bad luck today, right?"

"Someone did some internet searches," Jamie explained to his family.

"Because someone thinks a tiny little kitten cursed them!"

"Eddie, in your internet searching, did you see that black cats are considered good luck in some cultures?" Frank asked. "Including, I believe, in your heritage."

"Yes!" Eddie exclaimed. "I told your son that last night. Most Eastern European cultures see any color cat, including black cats, as a sign of good luck."

"And, in a way, Jamie, Kiwi may have given you some good luck. What did the doctors say about those cuts on your neck?" Frank asked

"A little deeper or slightly different location and I'd still be in the hospital recovering from major vascular surgery," Jamie admitted.

"Sounds like 'good luck' to me," Frank replied as he sent a quick prayer of thanks up that that scenario had not happened.

"Good luck, and the grace of God," Henry added.

"Amen."

"So, anyway, what happened to the chicken?" Sean asked as the conversation paused.

"Mrs. Markley says it was going to be their dinner last night," Eddie explained when Jamie didn't answer.

"Really? Ugh!" Sean made a disgusted face.

Jamie shook his head. "I am never eating chicken again."

"Oh, that's too bad," Eddie remarked.

"Why?"

"Kid, you do remember what you've said your very favorite dinner is?" Danny asked, trying to hold back a laugh.

Before Jamie could respond, Erin walked into the room. "Dinner's here. Jamie, I got your favorite." Erin called out, holding up two familiar red-and-white striped buckets. "The Colonel's best extra crispy fried chicken."


Happy Halloween!