'What is Power Swap?'

'Sounds like the plot of Trading Places.'

'Is that the one you like with Murphy Eddie, there, Jay?'

'No, it's Eddie Murphy before he went all soft and family friendly. Oh, we should totally watch Shrek, homeboy's a beast!'

The questions, anachronisms and asinine comments - thank you Trevor No-Pants, which Jay still found the most disturbing part of his morning - flew around his head like swarming summer gnats. To his left sat Sassapis and Pete; across from them sat Thorfinn and Flower with Isaac Hetty and Alberta forming a horseshoe around the end of the table-top and Trevor pacing back and forth.

'Everyone just quiet I gotta…think, this is…this is not good, I've got things to do to get ready and I need to focus,' Jay muttered half to himself, half to his new buddies. 'I'm not…how did this even happen?'

'Well, when a man and woman love each other very much- oh wait, no that's the talk my old man had with me after a memorable night with Olivia Thomasino after junior prom,' Trevor chuckled, then offered a semi-transparent palm in proffered high-five to his new bro. Jay looked at the hand, then at Trevor, then back to the rest of the group.

'Just trying to bond, bro,' Trevor muttered with slighted pride.

'The question isn't how it happened but how long will it last?' Isaac pointed out, 'and even more alarmingly, is there a guarantee that once Jay's sight is gone Sam will get hers back?'

A horrified ripple went through the gathered ghosts, each offering up their own oaths and declarations.

'Lord Almighty, I'll sing gospel every Sunday if it'll help,' Alberta said, casting her eyes skyward.

'By Odin's beard, Thorfinn would give his eyes for Sam and Small Man,' the Viking declared.

'Full moon cookie wish,' Flower piped up dreamily, which had everyone's fear minimally abated while Jay just stared at Flower.

'What's that?'

'Pay her no mind, she's mad as a hatter some days,' Hetty sighed, then frowned in consideration. 'Actually, I think the hatters have more command of their faculties.'

'Oh yeah, I've seen Alice in Wonderland, he wasn't much use at all.'

'Flower plenty useful,' Thorfinn growled, 'just not with words…or actions…'

'Now Jay,' Isaac sat down with Lady Living's spouse, 'first of all, I'm not certain what your given name is and in my day, sobriquets were reserved for outlaws and Prussians so perhaps you can tell me the longform?'

'Jayendra.'

Isaac considered a beat. 'Jay, I was a captain in the army that birthed this great nation. I was a virulent list maker, and very good at organizing people, commanding them, bending them to my will. I'm certain that everyone here is more than willing to take my direction and we will whip this menu plan into shape! Or at the very least, into hasty retreat across the Delaware.'

'Isaac, not that I don't appreciate your motivation but here.' Jay held out his oatmeal spoon. 'Can you hold this for me?'

'Certainly, my good man, it…' Isaac trailed off as his fingers pass vaporously through the stainless steel. He tried again, again with the left, then the right once more. 'Alright, your point is made, but we can still help, we can create a timetable and count things, watch things, read things.'

'Too many cooks turning spit ruin roasted boar,' Thorfinn suggested, 'are you sure all are needed in kitchen?'

'This is all hands on deck,' Jay said aloud as Sam wandered back in, looking distressed. 'Babe? You okay?'

'It's too quiet,' she said, 'I was getting my clothes ready to go to the market for the supplies we'll need to get the pastries and soup and everything ready, and I couldn't hear Hetty, or Flower, even Thor. Did everyone just vanish? Did I hit my head again and no one bothered to tell me?'

'Babe, umm, I think you should sit down,' Jay suggested, then hastily added, 'not there' when she nearly wound up on Trevor's lap.

'What's wrong?' Sam inquired.

'I don't know how it happened but I woke up this morning and came to get coffee and oats, just like the cowboys would, and I could see the ghosts.'

'You could see them?' she asked incredulously. 'You can see them now too?'

'Yeah, about that…' Jay motioned behind his back. 'Who's behind me right now?'

'No one.'

'Liar!' Hetty gasped, which had Jay's lips twitching into an involuntary smile.

'Hetty says you're a liar.'

'But that's…I mean why can't I…I can't…' Sam lifted a trembling hand to her mouth. 'I can't see them?'

'Full moon cookie wish,' Flower repeated, stroking the ends of her hair like she was Blofeld with his beloved Persion cat.

'Will you stop babbling and let the man talk,' Alberta started, but Jay turned back to Flower and squinted in thought.

'Sam, can you grab my iPad?'

'Uh-huh,' she said numbly, and wandered off; once his wife was out of earshot, Jay turned to the ghosts.

'Guys, was last night a full moon?'

'Not just a full moon, a harvest moon, it's actually how the fall festival got its name,' Sassapis offered helpfully, 'and it was also the time that the local indigenous tribes would meet to trade and discuss peace boundaries and what not and take part in dancing and story-telling.'

'Flower, you are a genius!'

'Did you hit your head, Jay?' Pete asked with genuine concern. 'I mean you were out in the woods in the dark last night, easy enough to take a tumble if you don't have the proper hiking footwear or don't know the area all that well.'

'I was walking down the hallway to my room when I heard Sam say last night that she made a wish with a fortune-telling cookie.' Flower adjusted her glasses. 'Everyone knows the veil between the two worlds is at its thinnest when it's a full moon.'

'Here you go.' Sam returned from the living room and passed Jay the tablet, noting how he looked hopeful and relieved at the same time. 'You look happy. Did Trevor tell you his frog joke?'

'Nope, and we can wait on frogs for a moment because…yup!' Triumphant, Jay turned the tablet back to Sam and pointed. 'You made your fortune cookie wish on a full moon, babe, and it looks like it was granted. Twenty-four hours of ghost free time with me in charge of the gang.'

'How can we be certain it is just twenty for hours?'

'Sometimes, even for a day, I wish you could see what it's like to commune with the dead,' Flower parroted like a schoolgirl reciting a textbook passage. 'That's what I heard you say.'

'Okay, so twenty four hours, so midnight tonight. That's not so bad, a day without my powers and then I get them back.' Sam shrugged affably. 'It'll be like I'm Mom on vacation and the kids are with the nanny!'

'But we want our mummy!' Thorfinn blurted out, which made everyone begin snickering while the Viking blushed beetroot red. 'You know what Thorfinn mean, Sam understands us!'

'Apparently one of your kids is upset Mommy gets a break for a day. Don't worry, big guy, Daddy Jay's got it covered,' Jay reassured him with a confident wink and 'this guy' thumb jerk towards himself.

'Thorfinn?'

'Apparently he misses you already.'

'Aww, Thor, I'm right here pal.' Sam turned towards Jay's right, and he guided her back so she was looking over his left shoulder instead. 'I'm sure Jay will take great care of you guys while I'm gone, so to say.'

'Doubtful, he would probably just feed real children rice pudding all day and let them run around on the good carpets in muddy shoes,' Isaac muttered.

'In my day we'd never allow such behaviour, the au pair would have whipped the little hooligans into shape or be sent packing unless Elias decided her other natural talents made her worth keeping on staff,' Hetty sniffed imperiously.

'My parents would tell me to make better choices, it's why I went from insurance to the stock market,' Trevor offered, 'worked out well for T-Money.'

'Until you died in a haunted house with no wife or children, no notable legacy and no bottoms,' Sassapis reminded him.

'Like you're one to talk, Chief Sulks-a-Lot.'

'Again with the casual racism, man, cheap shot!'

'You started it.'

'You-'

'Enough or we're not watching tv tonight!' Jay snapped, making Sam jump; he softened as he explained, 'Sass and Trevor No-Pants are fighting.'

'Let me guess, Trevor made a casually offensive comment and Sass is standing his ground?' Sam made a friendly grimace and then pointed vaguely. 'Just because Mommy's got a day off doesn't mean the rules don't apply. You treat Jay with respect while I go get supplies from the supermarket in town. Pete, can I count on you to make sure things go well?'

'You betcha, Sam!' Pete chirped cheerfully even though he knew Sam, sadly, couldn't hear him. 'We'll show Daddy Jay the ropes!'

'Please don't call me that, Pete,' Jay moaned as he grabbed his supply list off the table for his wife. 'Remember fresh peaches and if not peaches, get apricots, not nectarines. Oh and the organic cane sugar, I know it will be a little more expensive but it's worth it for the quality of the finished product.'

'You got it babe, and then I'll be home to help with the baking.'

'Please don't threaten me like that,' he teased her.

'I can measure and mix things,' Sam retorted as her husband followed her to the front door where she tugged on her boots and wrapped her scarf around her shoulders. 'I'll leave the hard part to you. Love you.'

'Love you too, Sam-Sam.'

Jay waved her off, then closed the door and turned around; he jumped about a foot in the air when he saw Alberta, Thorfinn and Hetty all behind him.

'Look, guys, you need to let me know when you're showing up, it's going to be a busy day in a kitchen full of hot pans and sharp knives, I need everything in working order. No slicing and dicing of me, just the onions and pumpkins and cracking eggs, maybe whipping some cream.'

'Slice, dice, crack, whip? Being chef sound like fun.'

'Ugh, trust me Thorfinn, it's hard work, we had to employ over twenty kitchen staff to get events ready in this house. Seven course meals for a dozen or so guests with only the most refined palates. They had weeks of notice for preparation,' Hetty informed them, 'I am very concerned how Jay and Samantha will accomplish everything they're hoping to in such a short time.'

'Fortunately, Hetty, we're not living in the age of the Titanic anymore,' Jay informed her politely as they made their way to the kitchen and he washed up, heading for the pantry to retrieve various flours, sugars and seasonings. 'Modern kitchen technology has come a long way since coal-powered

'Well that's just uncalled for.'

'Hey, Jay, buddy? Can you be a gem and turn on the tv for us? The cast of Dallas, Lieutenant Eve are the guests on Come On, Get Up New York,' Flower told him.

'We wanna see if Detective Peabody is as hot in her movie-star clothes as she is in her cop uniform,' Trevor added as Jay deposited the jars of baking ingredients on the large kitchen table.

'Doesn't that air at like four in the morning?' Alberta inquired.

'Sam showed us how The TV Library works,' Pete supplied in his continuously upbeat tone, 'recording live tv without a VHS machine, what will they think of next?'

Jay chuckled, then waited when Isaac approached the table, looking confused. 'What's up, Colonel Mustard?'

'I see your dry stores are in order, however where are your measuring weights?' Isaac asked, and Jay pointed to his digital scale.

'Right there.'

'That puny little box?'

'Isaac you've seen Jay work in the kitchen before, why are you so shocked by all of this?' Alberta asked him.

'Because pastry making is an art. There was a French chef sent over with Lafayette who was in charge of just the bread-making.' The colonial captain sighed wistfully. 'He did have the best sticky buns I've ever enjoyed.'

'Is that a metaphor, my man or…' Jay trailed off, looking distressed, and Hetty jumped in.

'There's some things we don't discuss with Isaac and French dessert euphemisms are one such verboden topic,' she explained, 'and while I don't often agree with him, Trevor is correct on this point, we would like to enjoy our morning programming. Trevor and I have the Friday selections - Come On, Get Up New York for him, Island of Brian for myself - before our morning walk.'

'Seriously, you're into home renovations, Hetty?'

'In my day, my husband and I would often travel by steamer to Barbados or Bermuda in winter months and the exotic locale of the series reminds me of simpler, happy times. Much like the way you cling to your cartoon t-shirts as reminders of the safety and security of childhood with your mutated turtles and Japanese-power rangers.'

'I feel like you just called me immature and I should be insulted but everyone knows Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers are timeless classics of my era, and also I have too much work to do right now to think too hard about it, so Trevor, you go get the tv ready for everyone, okay?'

'T-Money is on it!'

The pantless ghost zipped away, with everyone but Sassapis following him through the walls of the kitchen.'

'Jokes aside Jay, I really think you're onto something here with the Hudson Valley authentic menu.'

'Thanks, Sassapis.' Jay flipped open his menu book, scanned the index; he was man enough to admit that when it came to baking he still used precise step by step directions which was probably why his free-spirited 'mix it together and see what happens' attitude his wife had towards dessert making. 'Now, where did the recipe for those blueberry scones go?'

'Hey, Jay?'

'Yeah Sass?'

'If we're really good and we don't bug you and Sam trying to get all you work done for the festival, what are the odds we could have some pepperoni pizza for dinner tonight?'

'Out!'