Desi was walking through the costume aisles of the local department store. She needed a great costume. Her father's Halloween party was always the biggest in the town and everyone was going to be there. The Abbotts were definitely coming, as they did every year. The Harpers always came. The Browns had been invited too. Desi hoped Ephram would come. She needed a story. She had actually been studying various animes. She went into come chatrooms and the people there seemed to think she was an actual fan. If she can fool them she can probably fool Ephram. But first, she needed the perfect costume. She already had her clothes for the séance picked out, but she had to make an appearance at the party before she went.
She took a step around the corner when she saw Amy Abbott discussing a costume with two of her friends. Desi pushed herself against the row of costumes and hid herself pretty well. Hiding had been something she had actually been practicing at. She was getting pretty good at it too.
"I can't believe you asked him to join us," one of Amy's friends said to her, pulling a costume off of the wall.
"I suppose you want to wander around that old house on Halloween by ourselves?" Amy asked her.
"She does have a point," the other friend mentioned to the first.
"Yea, well. Why him? Why not Bright?"
"Bright wouldn't come and you know it."
"Well there has to be someone else."
"There isn't. Besides, he's really nice. Plus since Dinah is vacationing in Paris this month we need another girl to sit with us. And Ephram and Jig are best friends. One probably wouldn't come without the other," Amy said.
"Oh please Amy, Ephram would leave Jig in a ditch if it meant spending time with you," the first friend said. Amy frowned.
"Come on Taylor. Ephram really isn't that bad," the second friend told the first.
"His hair is purple Andrea, is case you didn't notice!" Taylor told her.
"It's not like it's natural," Andrea responded. Taylor scoffed.
"I know that!"
"Come on guys. What about this one?" Amy asked them, holding a long, 1770's style dress to herself. Taylor sighed.
"I think the blue would be better," she said. Desi carefully slid out through the costumes and back out of the aisle. She smiled and chewed one of her fingernails. No one had told her Ephram Brown was coming to the séance. That could be unbelievably good for her. It'll help her become friends with Ephram and Jig. Now she had to go home and re-pick what she was going to wear.
Again Delia sat across from Murasaki at lunch, and again they were both silent. This actually gave Delia time to get to know Murasaki. Silence let's people learn things that words could not. Delia just sat watching her. Murasaki had several odd quirks. When her left hand was unoccupied, she would tap her thumb on the table. She had a strand of hair that always fell into her eyes that Murasaki never seemed to notice. And something Delia just learned today. Murasaki eats pizza with a knife and fork. She brought a lunch to school Tuesdays and Thursdays but the rest of the week she'd buy a lunch. When she brought a lunch it was always a peanut butter and banana sandwich, a kiwi fruit, and a thermos of milk. Murasaki would always eat the kiwi first and then the sandwich.
"What are you going to be for Halloween?" Murasaki asked her shyly. Slowly they both looked up at each other.
"I was thinking I'd be a witch," Delia told her. Murasaki smiled. "What were you thinking?"
"A black cat," Murasaki said. Delia smiled.
"Maybe we should go Trick or Treating together," Delia said nervously. It was a broad step for them, and she wouldn't like being refused. Not that she had to worry about that, for Murasaki's smile only grew stronger at the suggestion.
"I can show you the houses that give away the best candy!" Murasaki said.
"I'd like that!" Delia said and they both giggled in anticipation of Halloween night.
"Ephram!" Jig yelled running through the hall, avoiding the kids walking there. Ephram, hearing his name called, stopped, and turned around. He waited for Jig to rush over to him with an obviously distressed look on her face. When she finally reached him she tripped and fell on him.
"Sorry," she said regaining her balance.
"It's okay. What's wrong?" he asked her more out of curiosity than worry.
"Do you remember that raccoon? The one that fell into my arms, that day you and Amy made me go for a walk?" she asked him barely slow enough for him to comprehend. He nodded.
"Yea, it scared us half to death."
"Yea, well. It's following me," she told him seriously. Ephram paused for a few moments before chuckling softly.
"It's following you?" he asked just to make sure. She nodded.
"When I walked off of my porch this morning, it was sitting at the bottom of the tree in the front yard. Do you know the tree I mean?" she asked and he nodded. "Well after I walked past it and down the sidewalk, I turned around to see if it was still there. It was ten feet behind me, following me! It followed me all the way to school! Then, in second period, I looked out the window. And it was sitting the tree watching me! I'm being stalked by a raccoon Ephram!"
"You sure it wasn't just Wendell in a raccoon costume?" Ephram asked laughing more at the visual than the situation. Jig didn't find it as amusing.
"I'm serious here Ephram! The wildlife is following me!"
"You were probably just imagining it Jig. Why would a raccoon follow you?" he asked her. She shrugged.
"I don't know! Everyone seems to be following me here!"
"Maybe it's one of Wendell's spies. Was it carrying a camera?" Ephram asked her laughing. Again Jig did not find it amusing.
"You're not taking this matter seriously Ephram…" she stated the obvious.
"Okay, okay. I'll walk home with you today, and if it follows you we'll call animal control or someone," Ephram said, knowing he'd prefer "someone." His value of the people at animal control was not high, not since the deer.
"Okay, good. This is really creeping me out here," she told him. He nodded.
"I could tell."
It was slow at Dr. Brown's clinic that day so he sat in his office reading a cookbook. It had been hard for him to acquire it. It was one of those things he wanted to buy, but didn't want anyone to know he wanted to buy. Dr. Brown was sure his children would replace "wanted" with "needed." He had confessed the want/need to Edna in confidence, and she saved him the trouble by giving him one of Irv's. Irv, it seemed, had been given cookbooks unjustly, and was happy to be rid of them, not that he knew how exactly they were being disposed of. Dr. Brown was finding them highly interesting. He was actually beginning to see some things he had been doing wrong. He was actually eager to start that night's dinner, which was rare. There was one dish that looked both easy and fun. He'd have to pick up a few things before he went home, but he needed to buy candy for Halloween anyway. Trick or Treating in Everwood lasted from four to eight. After that the Mayor held a giant party for the entire town. He thought he might go to that with the kids until Delia got tired. That sprung an idea into his head. He needed a costume.
Amy had liked the blue better too. She had bought the dress and was now staring at it as it lay spread out on her bed. It had been so beautiful she had bought it without really thinking. She was sick of it already. It reminded her so much of the dress she was wearing last July Fourth. Of the dress she was wearing when Colin went into that coma. She had burned that dress and felt like burning this one. She had to get rid of it. Some how, she had to get rid of this dress.
"How old are these costumes?" Irv asked as Edna spread two costumes out on the couch. She picked the jacket of one and beat it against the couch to get some of the dust off.
"We wore these a few years ago, remember?" she asked him. He surveyed the costumes with a slight frown.
"I guess I've blocked it from my memory," he muttered.
"Come on, you looked great. Everyone got a laugh out of it. Now, where's that wig?" Edna asked herself moving back across the room to an open closet.
"There wasn't a raccoon Jig!" Irv heard Ephram's voice say as he followed Jig into the house.
"Hey kids," Irv said to them. They both walked over to him and looked at the costumes laying on the couch.
"Whoa, what's with the Frankenstein costume?" Jig asked him. Irv sighed in reply.
"Here it is, I found it," Edna said walking over to them carrying a black curly wig with white streaks going up the sides.
"And there would be the bride," Ephram said upon seeing it. Edna wiped some of the dust off of the wild wig and placed it on her head, using her hand to sweep some of her bangs under it.
"How do I look?" she asked them.
"You look like a freak Edna, an absolute freak," Jig confessed. Edna chuckled.
"Good. It's Halloween, I'm supposed to be a freak," Edna said.
"Do you two know what you're going to be yet?" Irv asked them.
"Well, I'm going to be the Phantom of the Opera and she's-"
"Undecided," Jig finished for him. Irv nodded in understanding.
"Well, if you need any help deciding, ask Edna, she has a million of them," Irv said. Edna laughed and slapped Irv playfully in the shoulder.
"Come on, we need to find you some green face paint," Edna said and she and Irv left the room. Jig was smiling, filled with happiness because of the couple. Ephram was smiling for much the same reason but then he turned to Jig.
" 'Undecided?' After all of the stuff you gave me for not knowing what I was going to be?" Ephram asked her. Jig shrugged.
"I'm just not big on Halloween this year," she told him. Ephram rolled his eyes.
"Well. That's start with all of the animes. Sailor Moon?" he asked her. She laughed.
"With no Tuxedo Mask? No!"
"Well you think of something."
"I will, don't worry about it. Something will come."
"You could always be a raccoon."
"Oh shut up!"
