Chapter Five: A Duet at the Town Meeting

Disclaimer: I guess I'll put another one of these on here, since there's a song in this chapter. The music is the genius masterpiece of Danny Elfman and does not belong to me in any way. But oh how I wish it did.

Musically: Okay, Victoria. It's your big night. Are you pumped? Are you in the zone?

Victoria: (glares) Get away from me.

Jack: (has recovered, and looks on interestedly) This meeting should be interesting, no?

Victoria: NO!

The rest of the afternoon was spent setting up the Christmas scene that would be on display on the stage. As Jack grew more and more ecstatic, Victoria became nervous. The lights seemed to burn down on her as the sky outside grew darker through the glassy windows, shining accusingly towards her small figure.

"Jack?" Victoria asked quietly. Jack made a mumbling noise in response; he was busy putting a blanket around the base of the tree to prevent pine needles from falling on the floor. After he had accomplished this task, he stood up and stretched his bony limbs.

"Yes, what is it?" Jack replied loftily. Victoria looked at the ground, reluctant to meet his gleeful expression.

"I don't know if I can talk to them. What if I don't explain it right? What if they don't like me? What if- what if they throw rotten FOOD at me?" Victoria sailed into a bombardment of "what if's" and made Jack quite confused and dizzy. He tapped her once on the shoulder. The coldness of his bones caused her to inhale sharply, and then she looked at him distressingly.

"I'm not ready," she said miserably. Jack laughed and shook his skull. Victoria glared up at him resentfully and crossed her arms on top of her chest. "And I don't think it's that funny, either." Jack wiped an imaginary tear out of his eye socket and then bent down to Victoria's level to talk with her. She looked away childishly.

"I merely find amusement in the fact that you think the people here are all horrible and vile! Are all humans like this?" he asked bemusedly.

Victoria glanced over her shoulder and said, "Well, it's hard to think otherwise when we've heard stories like that all our lives." Jack looked at the ceiling and then back at Victoria with a sympathetic expression.

"Of course, I should have guessed. I believe I was once human as well, but my memory mostly faded away when I came to Halloween Town," Jack reminisced as he rose back up. Victoria unfolded her arms and looked up at him.

"Victoria, I won't force you to speak in front of my friends," Jack said consentingly, "But I think it they might grasp it more easily if I had help. Are you sure you're not ready?" A sickening sense of guilt came over Victoria. She realized that most of the monsters must be like Jack; how could she ever be afraid of them?

Nodding slowly, Victoria got to her feet and replied, "I guess I am ready, Jack. You convinced me." A smile spread across his skull and a similar once danced across her lips.

"Glad you're ready," Jack said excitedly, "Because they're here!" His index finger was aimed squarely at the locked door, and Victoria could hear several voices squabbling outside the wall. Her stomach hit the floor. Jack's bony hand tugged on the tassel that held the curtains open, letting the heavy fabric fall into place. Victoria quickly got out of the way. Jack strode over down the aisle to let the citizens in, and Victoria retreated to behind the black curtains.

"Welcome, fellow citizens! I have a real treat for you all tonight, so please, take a seat and we'll get started in just a few moments," Jack announced. Wild cheers came from the townspeople as they scattered about to find a seat with a good view of the stage. The general noise of conversation filled the room. The air was thick with anticipation and wonder, and whispers grew into loud voices as the wait continued. Jack disappeared behind the curtain.

Victoria gasped as Jack whispered, "Boo!" behind her.

Clutching a hand to her heart, Victoria muttered, "You're going to kill me if you don't stop scaring me." Jack snickered.

"That would be so much more fitting, though, wouldn't it?" he laughed. Victoria scowled murderously. With an icy shove, she was forced onto the stage with Jack trailing behind her. She gasped unwillingly in a kind of excited horror.

Demons, werewolves, mummies, and corpses lined the rows of seats that lay before Victoria. Everything that she had been taught to fear was sitting in front of her, cheering her on. Strangely, she felt flattered. They were clapping for her! Her moment of pride was interrupted by Jack, who now took center stage.

"Friends," Jack said loudly, "Before I begin, I'd like to introduce you to a very special girl I met earlier today. Her name is Victoria, and she will be helping me to make this presentation. Let's all give her a warm, Halloween Town welcome!" The crowd applauded raucously and Victoria felt herself blush.

"Thank you!" she said, stunned. After the applause faded, Jack took his place at the podium, and Victoria stood beside it faithfully. The spotlight flashed on, making several bats take wing and fly across the room. Victoria squinted as her dark green eyes readjusted to the bright, blinding limelight, making the audience almost completely disappear into darkness.

Jack cleared his throat and then began, "Listen, everyone! I want to tell you about Christmas Town." Excited murmurs came from the crowd as Jack drifted across the stage, away from his podium and going towards the center of the stage. To Victoria's surprise, he started to sing.

"There are objects so peculiar; they are not to be believed! All around, things to tantalize my brain. Victoria?" Jack stopped his song, clearly wanting Victoria to add on. She shot him a look that fully read, 'Are you crazy?', but he nodded his head anxiously. She sighed and cleared her throat as well.

"It's a world unlike anything you've ever seen! And as hard as I try, I might not be able to describe all the parts of this Christmas scene," Victoria sang in a smooth alto voice.Almost like magic, the curtains were flung open to reveal the Christmas tree and fake fireplace, both of which were lit and bright. A collective gasp rose from the audience as they took in the sight.

In an undertone, Victoria whispered, "How was that?"

"It was wonderful," Jack replied, "I didn't know you could sing!"

As they faced the crowd, they sang together, "But you must believe when we tell you this."

"It's as real as my skull!"

"And it does exist," Victoria finished. Jack strolled over to the Christmas tree, bent down, and picked up the red and gold present. He returned to center stage, handing the gift to Victoria.

"This is a thing called a present," she explained, "And the whole thing starts off with a box." She held it out so the audience could get a clear view of the scarlet cube. To her astonishment, she heard voices calling out from the seats of the restless citizens.

"A box?"

"Is it steel?"

"Are there locks?"

"Is it filled with a pox?"

"A pox, how delightful! A pox." Jack broke in at this point.

"If you please," he said, and the voices stopped. He took the present from Victoria and held it up into the air, where the paper shone like a burning red star.

"Just a box with bright colored paper," he mused, "And the whole thing's topped off with a bow!" Jack plucked the golden ribbon, and it puffed up for a second before deflating again. Shockingly (to Victoria), two witches flew up to the stage, circling Jack and her while in midair.

"A bow?"

"But why?"

"How ugly!"

"What's in it? What's in it?" they shouted, closing in on the present.

Victoria, who was becoming annoyed, snatched the gift away from them, singing, "That's the point of the thing, not to know!" With a haughty look, the witches sailed back into their seats. Random guesses began to pour from the crowd.

"It's a bat!"

"Will it bend?"

"It's a rat!"

"Will it break?"

"Perhaps it's the head that I found in the lake."

Jack shook his head and said, "Listen, now! You don't understand."

"That's not the point of Christmas Land," Victoria explained, casting a worried look towards Jack. He seemed to ignore it and headed over to the fireplace, reaching for a fur-trimmed stocking that dangled over the fireplace. With a barely audible sigh, Victoria followed.

"Now, pay attention," Jack announced. The audience was silent, waiting for the next discovery. Jack held up the stocking proudly, and Victoria watched on.

"Now we pick up an oversized sock-"

"Stocking."

"And hang it like this on the wall." Jack pressed the stocking against the fake rocks of the fireplace, imitating the others that hung safely on hooks. Amazingly, a Mr. Hyde replica appeared beside the two of them, letting tiny clones of himself burst out of his top hat.

"Oh, yes! Does it still have a foot?"

"Let me see. Let me look!"

"Is it all rotted and covered with gook?"

Victoria shook her head and relieved Jack of the stocking. Defeated, Mr. Hyde took his seat once again.

"Um, let me explain," she said, spilling out the contents of the stocking into her hand, "There's no foot inside, but there's candy! Sometimes it's even filled with small toys." Again, the audience added their commentary.

"Small toys?"

"Do they bite?"

"Do they snap?"

"Or explode in a sack?"

"Perhaps they just spring out and scare girls and boys!"

Another, unfamiliar voice came from the rafters of the town hall. Looking up, Victoria spotted a stout, fat man dressed in black and a top hat operating the spotlight, a toothy grin showing on his peachy, cone-like face. A red ribbon on his chest showed that he was the mayor Jack had talked about.

"What a splendid idea! This Christmas sounds fun. I fully endorse it; let's try it at once!" the mayor agreed excitedly. Victoria noticed his face swivel around to a blue, worried expression as he threatened to fall over the rafter. She looked back at the audience, shaking her head.

"Everyone, please now! Not so fast. There's something here you don't quite grasp!" Victoria said pleadingly.

Jack rested a bony palm on her shoulder (making her shiver) and whispered in her ear, "Well, we may as well give them what they want." Victoria stayed behind as Jack took center stage once again, sweeping his arms out wide to draw attention to himself. In a nearly frightening whisper, Jack addressed the audience.

"The best, I must confess, I have saved for the last, for the ruler of this Christmas Land is a fearsome king with a deep, mighty voice! At least, that's what I've come to understand."

At this point, Jack had hopped off the stage and was now walking among the seats. The spotlight had drifted off of Victoria, now following Jack like a sort of weird puppy. Engrossed in Jack's solo, Victoria listened.

"I've also heard it told that he's something to behold! Like a lobster, huge and red. When he sets out to slay with his rain gear on, carting bulging sacks with his great big arms, that is, so I've heard it said," Jack sang dramatically, using his slender limbs to illustrate the monstrosity he was explaining. Victoria had now begun to put two and two together…who was this that he was singing about? It didn't sound like it had anything to do with Christmas.

With a giant leap, Jack landed back on stage, and the spotlight blinded Victoria yet again.

"On a dark, cold night, under full moonlight, he flies into a fog like a vulture in the sky!" Jack sang frightfully as he danced across the stage. Victoria realized something. Slay and rain gear sounded suspiciously like sleigh…and reindeer! He was talking about Santa Claus, but he had a completely wrong idea. Or did he?

Jack's voice lowered dangerously for his finale, "And they call him Sandy Claws!" A blood red light darkened Jack's face, and he contorted his expression into a wicked grin. Soon the normal light returned, and Jack took a bow. The crowd went wild. No sooner had the song ended than the crowd began to flood out the door, their heads filled with the new idea of Christmas.

After they were all gone, Jack hung his head and returned to the Christmas scene with Victoria following. The skeleton grabbed the snow globe and shook it once again, letting the snow fall onto the landscape enclosed in the glass ball. Victoria saw a troubled frown on his skull.

"At least they're excited," she sang softly.

"But they don't understand," he replied. Their voices joined together in a quiet harmony.

"That special kind of feeling in Christmas Land."

Victoria and Jack looked at each other for a moment, and then Jack turned away. He walked over to the tree, which now looked forgotten and cold in the dim lighting of the town hall. The pair began to remove the ornaments and lights from the tree and placed them into the sack carefully. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Jack looked at Victoria and spoke.

"You don't have anywhere to stay, do you?" Jack inquired. Reality hit Victoria like a brick. The sickening feeling of being stuck in Halloween Town settled inside of her once more, and she nodded forlornly.

"No," she answered bitterly, shoving some tinsel in the bag. Jack held up the bag so the tinsel gently slid inside.

"You know," he said quietly, "You could always stay in my guest room. It hasn't been used in a while though, so it could be a little dusty." Victoria laughed in disbelief, surprised that her luck had turned around that quickly.

"Are you…are you serious?" she asked hopefully. Jack's smile returned and he nodded. Victoria returned the grin and answered, "You bet! Thank you, so, so much!" The girl dashed over and caught the skeleton in a hug, ignoring the icy coldness of his touch.

And for once in a long time, Jack felt the emptiness inside fill up a little.

Musically: (cries) This is the sweetest thing I've ever written.

Victoria/Jack: Shut up!