November
Beatie's sixth birthday had finally arrived, after much anticipation, and Beetlejuice had been in charge of the preparations, in both worlds.
The human world party, held at the Deetz house in the afternoon, was held with six of her friends from first grade and featured games and a massive squirt gun battle outside in which even the adults took part. There was pizza and lemonade and dessert was cupcakes that the kids decorated themselves. Beetlejuice was everywhere – he kept an eye on the kids, made sure their escorting parents were entertained and comfortable (and had provided towels after the kids had vanquished the grown-ups – somehow, miraculously, he had never gotten spritzed), provided the refreshments when they were due, and had made sure his daughter thanked everyone appropriately when the party was over.
Then it was time for the party in Neitherworld with a cook-out in the Juice family's back yard. All the neighbors were invited and six of Beatie's friends in that world.
"She's getting so big now," said Flubbo admiringly. His and Monica's three children were among the six invitees. "And she looks more and more like Lydia."
"Yeah," grinned Beetlejuice. "Good thing she didn't take after me, huh?"
Lydia came to stand next to them, watching the kids playing tag. The littlest skeleton suddenly spotted something on the ground and immediately picked it up and put it into his mouth and Beetlejuice rushed off to take care of it.
"He's running himself ragged today," Lydia confided to Flubbo. "It's so important to him that everything is perfect. He even did all the decorations." She waved at the hanging bats and spiders and skulls. "In fact, he did them. Then he re-did them. Then he did them all over again. Of course he wants to give Beatie something she'll always remember. And he's trying to show her how much he loves her. You should see what he does for my birthdays." As she smiled in remembrance, Beetlejuice waved to her that all was well with the worm-eater and she waved back before turning again to Flubbo. "How in the world do they eat anything? The skeletons. I mean, where does it go?"
"Beats me," Flubbo replied, looking puzzled. "I've always wondered how they . . . you know, how they . . ." he waved a hand at the child who was now listening to Beetlejuice's gentle admonitions, "how they have children." He and Lydia looked at each other, then shrugged.
The dinosaur ribs and beetle burgers were nearly ready at that point. The Monster Across the Street had volunteered to take charge of them, even though he was now The Monster Four Streets Over and Half a Mile Down. "Chuck wagon's open," he yelled. "Come and get it!"
Aside from the ribs and burgers, there were side dishes like cole slop, macagroany salad, and devilish eggs. For the humans – Charles and Delia Deetz, Lydia, and the birthday girl herself – there were hot dogs. When the other children saw the hot dogs, they all wanted a taste and then clamored for hot dogs themselves. Beetlejuice obliged and even provided ketchup for them, though it made him shudder. He himself was nearly too tired to eat, but the beetle burgers tempted him and there were soon four fewer than there had been.
There were a couple more games after everyone had eaten, then a big surprise – dragon rides! Even the grownups had a few of them. Then fireworks finished off the party with a bang.
ooooo
Beetlejuice was exhausted from arranging everything, overseeing everything, keeping track of all the kids at both parties, and basically being in charge. When Lydia had tucked Beatie into bed, she found him collapsed, supine on their bed.
Lydia plopped down beside him and considered the exhausted ghost. "You okay, my Beej?"
"Unnh," was the only answer she got.
"Oh, dear, that's too bad. I was kind of thinking we could . . . um, celebrate Beatie's birthday some more. Know what I mean?" She smiled slyly and gave him a gentle poke in the ribs.
Beetlejuice managed to lift one eyelid. "Unnh?"
Her smile grew wider. "You know, I think this is the very first time you've been too tired."
She looked up as there was a light tap on the door. Lydia opened it to find Beatie there, sleepy but determined. "I wanted to kiss Papa goodnight and thank him again."
Beatie's Mama admitted her and she went straight to her Papa, who had rolled to one side and reached out an arm to her.
"Love you, Papa," said Beatie, stretching to kiss his cheek. "Thank you so much and lots and lots for the parties. They were the best parties anybody ever had. Oh, and thank you for the Ghostly Dungeon, too. I love it! But not as much as I love you."
"We're just glad you had a good time," he told her. "Sleep tight, my Trix," and he kissed her small hand.
When Lydia returned from ushering her daughter back to bed, she found Beetlejuice sitting on the edge of the bed, grinning at her. "What was that you were saying about celebrating?" he asked.