July 27th 2022
Chapter 208
Our Haunting of Pumpkins
It had started off as a joke in passing from Eliza, shortly after last year's harvest of the Friars' pumpkin patch. She'd thought it would be funny to decorate some of the little ones for Marianne's birthdays. Pumpkins for the pumpkin, she'd reasoned. Naturally, presented with an idea like that, her older sister had fallen under the spell of a project, and she'd had months, a whole year, to consider it ahead of this day. It had demanded this amount of preparation, as it also demanded for them to be able to grow what she needed, specifically six mini pumpkins that would somehow remain unseen by the young gardening helper. Once they could be taken inside, they had become a secret task for Maya to undertake. She'd brought them to school, so she could work on them in breaks between classes.
Now, this morning, even though it was Sunday and neither of them had to go in to work anytime soon or at all, they'd set their alarm early enough so that they could put their plan into motion and hopefully Maya wouldn't have to miss it for reasons of morning sickness. Maybe it was the luck of Hallowannie on their side, but it all fell into place. Maya did make a dash downstairs, even as Lucas went about setting the six painted pumpkins outside their – currently – eldest and youngest in-house daughters' room. She made it back up the stairs with enough time to spare so that they could both be there when Marianne emerged from her room, as she usually would, to come and see them.
From where they stood, they could hear her voice, back in her room, as she got up. Her first act on this day was to get out of bed and go say good morning to her baby sister, talk to her and ask her how she slept, until she remembered about her tooth and went to check the star bowl. She reacted in awe, and a moment later she was hurrying out of her room, on her way to go show… She stopped, noticing the pumpkins, noticing her parents… Oh, it was so much all at once! Eventually, she decided to start off by running over to her parents and show them what she'd gotten from the fairy after Lucas had pulled her into his arms. With big hugs, kisses, and wishes given to the birthday girl, she soon wanted to be back on her feet, just so she could go and see the pumpkins again. She sat on her knees and picked them all up one after the other, observing the painted details going all around. She could see very well that there were six of them, because she was six. She also knew that her mother had made these, and she went and thanked her.
"We gotta take pictures, a lot of pictures," Marianne told her. "Before they go bad." She had learned from experience, a couple years back, what happened when she tried to hold on to a pumpkin for too long, so she understood it was an inevitable thing… mostly.
"We'll definitely do that," Maya promised. "Although we could try and keep one of them in the freezer downstairs," she offered, and Marianne turned back around, left with the Very Difficult Choice of figuring out which pumpkin she'd keep.
They'd already done Halloween up at the school, back on Friday, and since Marianne had wanted to wait to hear about it until today, Maya finally shared her stories over breakfast. The start of it was something they'd experienced at home, of course. It had been too funny how the triplets had reacted when they'd seen their mother getting her costume on. As far as they were concerned, if she was putting her costume on, then it meant that they were supposed to get theirs on, too. They couldn't actually dress themselves yet, especially if the clothes in question were not what they were used to, but they tried, until Maya appeared, meaning to show them how she looked, only to find Kacey, Remy, and Lucy in a stage between undress and trapped in the pieces of their costume that they'd been able to get their hands on. It had been easier to let them go full costume than to explain to them that there were still two more days before the actual holiday, so they'd spent that day with their Granny Mel in their guise as the three little pigs. Meanwhile, Maya had been school bound.
She would see many of these kids back in their costumes on Sunday, if they dropped in at the games outside the house, but that didn't change how thrilling it continued to be, to be at school when they had Halloween, whether on the day itself or a day or two early if it was on the weekend. It definitely brought out the worst in some people, who would not be satisfied without pulling at least one prank, or making a mess of one thing or another, but these were really just outliers as far as she was concerned. The best part was everyone else… especially those she found in her class.
She could think of the likes of Ava Nash, who had started out as a freshman who would never be caught dead getting dressed up in any way and instead would look at those who did with a good bit of eye rolling, to today… It wasn't her first year coming in costume, but Maya knew she'd never seen her look so genuinely happy to be there, in full Halloween glory along with her girlfriend and friends, the whole of We Are Sisters in both the senior and junior classes – plus Britt O'Connell, and Maggie and Lara – having worked out a theme together.
The most that Friday had felt like a Halloween party, to no surprise, was third period with the sophomores. Everyone had their costume in that class, and she did mean that they had them, when they walked in, because a couple of them were just carrying theirs and wearing their regular clothes. They'd meant to wear them, but they hadn't finished them in time. They'd hoped that they might be able to work on them while they were in art class, and Maya not only agreed but she used this as an exercise for the others. Their costuming pair would be models for the others to draw that day as they sat and worked on their own things. It would be an action pose, easy. And if they managed to finish in time – which Maya did her best to facilitate – then they could get changed and show everyone.
She'd been most curious about the freshmen, as could be expected. They didn't have so many of these 'I wonder how they'll do with this thing' milestones left to get through, but Halloween was one of those. They did not disappoint. Like any class… well, most classes… there were some who did not get dressed up, but as she'd suspected, this was not so much about not enjoying the concept of costumes for all of them. For some it was really just that it was Friday, and Halloween was on Sunday, and they were going to wait until then to 'transform.' As for the rest…
Angel had not planned to get dressed up, really. As he told it, he felt that he'd just get teased and he didn't want that, and anyway if he did get dressed, it wouldn't be at school. But then Raj was staying with him, and he did want to get dressed up, and since Angel was who he was, it hadn't felt right not to get dressed along with him. So, he'd done it. The two boys had worked together on their costumes, and they were satisfied enough with the results that they'd been comfortable about wearing them to school. It might have helped to some degree that they were getting to hang out more and more with Ash and Maia.
Ash had been true to their word, and they had started coaching Angel in his performing as soon as he'd gotten to see his name there on the cast list. And Ash, well… They exuded such levels of 'do you honestly want to mess with me?' vibes that no one would mess with them, or their friends for that matter. So, Angel was safe, and Raj was safe, untouchable. It would make both Ash and Maia laugh, and Maya, too, as it went to show how little they knew Ash, as though they would do anything.
When the two freshmen had arrived on Friday, they had drawn many eyes as they went from class to class. They easily had the best costumes of their year, and if they didn't have the best of the whole school then they were pretty close. They'd both been working together on these from October 1st, which had been the routine between them for a few years already. Ash may have been the definite top artist with a pen or a brush between the two of them, but given a needle and thread, Maia was the secret weapon. And if this was what they could do on their first year here, then their art teacher really could not wait to see what they would come up with together over the next three years. They would be at the house on Sunday, at the games. Maia had already known about these from both her mother and grandfather being on the basketball team with Lucas, and of course she and her enbyfriend would be on hand. If they didn't win their category and the overall prizes in the costume contest, Maya would be very surprised.
Before they made it to the juniors and the end of the day, there was the afternoon break, which usually meant a visit from the day's sitters with the little girls. This day, thanks to the morning's 'confusion' it meant a visit from the three little pigs and their baby sister. Melinda had taken the initiative, seeing as her other granddaughters were dressed up, to dress the littlest one, too, putting her in her costume… a violet macaron. For a little while, Maya had gotten to watch her trio of piggy butts chase one another, while Macaron Mack prodded and tapped at the round shape of her costume, as she might her most intriguing toy.
They'd all be back in play today. The macaron, the little pigs… Marianne had worn her costume on Friday, too, at school, and it was back on today. She'd once wanted to be dressed like her Nana's alien character, and this time she wanted to be dressed like her aunt Haley had been in her movie. As predicted, she'd been obsessed with it, had gotten to see it a few times more since that first time, and whenever her aunt's scenes would be coming up, she'd be sitting up at the ready. No one knew about the costume among the Hunters, not yet. They would see it for the first time when they all came over later that day.
"Hey, hey, come on, chew first," Lucas reached over to stall Marianne's fork before she went and shoved another bite along with the ones she was still working through. "You can get changed when you're done. They won't be here for a while."
"Mmph mmph," Marianne told him, crossing her arms in front of her mouth while she chewed. They'd tried telling her she only had to put her hand for that, but she was good with her method, and it did the work.
"Keep this up and the Tooth Fairy is going to have to come back again tomorrow," he made a face at her, and she shook her head at him. No, she was alright, just one single gap… for now.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
