Chapter 12
The next couple weeks where pretty uneventful. Anya stopped by a couple of times. We took Davanee to the park and the Tastee Freeze but that was pretty much it. Night school was going pretty good. We got the night off for Halloween.
To me it didn't really seem like Halloween. It was hot and muggy outside. Darry and Soda both had to work that day so that left me to get the candy for tonight. I was excited about tonight. I mean, I'm always excited about Halloween but this one was special. It was Davanee's first Halloween.
Davanee and I were just about to leave to go to the store when Two-Bit and Johnny showed up.
"Where you goin'?" asked Two-Bit.
"We where gonna go to the store to get some candy and a costume. You wanna come?"
"Sure. We can take the car" said Two-Bit.
"We can't" I said.
"Why not?" asked Johnny.
"'Cause her car seat is in Darry's truck" I pointed out. Both Two-Bit and Johnny said oh. So we ended up walking to the store. Two-Bit and Johnny picked out the candy while Davanee and I picked out a costume. I had never noticed there where so many costumes for babies. None of them really appealed to me but Davanee seemed to like one. It was a pumpkin that had the face of a jack-o-lantern.
"This one?" I asked, holding it up in front of her. She smiled. I guess that meant yes since she couldn't talk yet. I wanted her to start talking soon but I was in no hurry for her to start talking back to me. That I could wait for.
We met Two-Bit and Johnny over in the candy idle.
"Where's your costume?" asked Two-Bit.
"Don't you think I'm a little too old to be dressing up for Halloween?" I asked.
"No. I still dress up. I have no idea what I'm gonna be this year."
"I've got an idea. Why don't you go as a Mickey Mouse loving Greaser with long side burns? Oh wait a minute, you already are" I said.
"Oh ha ha, very funny" said Two-Bit.
"Are we almost done here 'cause we still gotta get a pumpkin" I said.
"Yeah, we're done. Here's the candy" said Johnny, holding up a bag that had a bunch of different kinds of candy.
"Get two" I said. We always had a lot of kids come to our house on Halloween. We bought the costume and the candy and left. Next stop, the pumpkin patch. When we got there, all that was left where the bruised pumpkins. Serves us right to wait until the last minute to get a pumpkin. I let Davanee play around in the little play center they had for the kids while Two-Bit and Johnny picked out a pumpkin. Davanee kept picking up the little pumpkins and tried to eat them or she looked at them like 'what the heck is this?' She threw it down and continued playing with the hay. She liked it when I tickled her with a piece of hay.
Once Two-Bit and Johnny where done picking out a pumpkin, we left. When we got home, Darry and Soda where already home, ready to carve the pumpkin. Davanee watched with wide eyes as Darry and Soda carved the seeds out of the pumpkin. None of us ate pumpkin seeds so we threw them away. Darry and Soda finished carving the pumpkin while I dressed Davanee in her pumpkin costume. It was getting dark out which meant people would be here soon.
"Your not dressing up?" asked Soda.
"Not this year. Maybe next year" I said.
"She looks cute" said Soda, gesturing to Davanee.
"Yeah she does. Where's the camera?"
"It's in the closet."
I opened the hall closet and found Dad's old camera. Before he died, he didn't really have time to take a whole lot of pictures so it had a lot of dust on it. I dusted it off and took a few pictures of Davanee on her first Halloween. Once we where done taking pictures, we joined the rest of the gang outside on the porch. Of course, none of them had dressed up either. I think most of them found the whole concept of dressing up for Halloween stupid.
I let Davanee play with one of the old trick-or-treat buckets while the rest of us handed out candy to the little kids.
"So why aren't you taking the kid out?" asked Dallas.
" 'Cause there's really no point. She can't eat candy yet. Next year I will" I said.
Just then, I saw someone very familiar coming up the walk.
It was Anya.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"What, are you not happy to see me?" asked Anya as she approached the front porch.
"No I am, it's just that I haven't seen you in a while. What have you been up to?"
"Nothin' really, just takin' Hailey trick-or-treatin' for Stephen. He had to work late tonight" explained Anya, "so who are all these people?"
"Well this is the gang. That's Darry, Soda, Johnny, Dallas, Steve, and Two-Bit. Guys this is Anya" I said, pointing to each one as I said there names.
"We've heard a lot about you" said Soda.
"Like what?" asked Anya.
"How pretty you are, how you're always over here when we're not, how you two kissed" said Soda.
"You told them about that?" asked Anya in a rather mad tone.
"I didn't think you'd mind. Your not mad are you?"
"Uh, kinda. You're not suppose to kiss and tell" said Anya.
"I didn't mean to. They kinda forced it out of me" I said.
"Right" said Anya, just before walking off to the next house, Hailey trailing behind.
"You had to go and open your big moth, didn't you?" I snapped.
"Sorry. How was I suppose to know she'd get mad like that?" asked Soda. I walked back up to the porch and sat down in the rocking chair.
"Hey, Pony?" asked Johnny.
"What?" I replied.
"Look" said Johnny, pointing at the baby.
I looked down at Davanee. She was crawling right towards me.
"She's crawling" I said, a smile creeping across my face.
I scooped her up and gave her a bunch of kisses.
"Looks like we'll hafta drag those baby gates out" I said, "she's mobile now."
I let Davanee crawl around the porch for the rest of the night, careful not to let her go down the stairs. Once the kids stopped coming, we went back inside. I gave Davanee a bath and put her to bed but she wouldn't fall asleep.
"You know your really growin' up. It seems like just last week I was holdin' ya for the first time and now your crawlin'. Do me a favor and slow down a little, will ya?" I asked, messing up her hair, well it really wasn't hair. It was more like peach fuzz. She giggled slightly. She always giggled when people rubbed her head like that.
I smiled and gave her a kiss goodnight.
"Night baby" I said, turning out the lights. I stepped outside her room and closed the door quietly.
"She asleep?" asked Soda.
"Yeah. Took her a little while though" I said, "I'm gonna go to bed. I'm pretty tired." I said goodnight to everybody and went to bed. As soon as I laid down, I was asleep. I had no idea I was that tired.