Disclaimer: This is the last time I will post the disclaimer for it will count for the rest of the story. I will never own The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Author's Note: For those of you reading, thanks for being patient. I know it's been over a year, but I now have an eighth chapter for you loyal readers. Enjoy!
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The mayor refused to leave Jack's side as he whined about everything from the amount of time flying by to the amount of time taking to complete their plans, to trivial matters such as the color scheme of their current project.
"Those colors don't match," Mayor complained.
"We'll deal with that later," Jack replied, attempting to keep his voice down.
"But it's blue and black, it should be red and black, or green and black. Blue and black won't work."
Jack growled and spun around towards the mayor. "I said we'll deal with that when the painter arrives!" he howled.
Mayor gasped and fell backwards.
"I'm sorry," Jack said straightening his posture and holding his forehead. "I didn't get much sleep last night."
Mayor picked himself up and backed away as Jack strolled towards the graveyard.
"Where you going?" Mayor called.
"I need to clear my head," Jack answered as his slender body slipped behind the gate.
Jack moved through the ever somber soil decorated with marble stones as he made his way to his favorite spot. That solitary location dubbed itself as a shared point where he and Sally would venture either alone or together as a minor vacation from the stresses of Halloween.
Mayor turned around wishing he could be as graceful as Jack. He frowned to himself wondering how come he was still alone. After all he was the mayor and had been elected five times in a row.
It was Jack's idea that the political power of Halloweentown be split for he wanted the residents to have a say in the planned activities. Sure he still pulled rank, especially since he was the only one who could fix any pickle the town found itself in, but felt it both fair to the subjects and less a burden on himself to share power. At first the citizens were overwhelmed by the idea of a mayor, but soon found the idea to be grand. It took nearly a year before they found someone with enough experience to run the town under Jack. Mayor had been handpicked by Jack years before as the head of many projects, including being appointed official note taker and overseer of production for the past seventeen years. On top of that he himself accidentally found a new use for slime. With all that to his name the people of Halloweentown chose him as their mayor. Jack still handled anything that had to do with Halloween or frights, and made the laws, but Mayor acted out the roles of more localized government.
Mayor sat down on a bench and covered his face with his palms. The wrinkles in his skin soon wiped away the forming sweat. He looked up at the sun and wondered how come courting never seemed to work out for him. He pondered if the fact he was so dependent on others proved to be the reason for scaring away women. Jack was lucky enough to find a good woman to love and honor him for the rest of eternity. Mayor leaned back knowing he was nowhere near as great a man as Jack, but still figured he deserved to be happy and eventually find love. He cared not how she looked, sang, or anything of the sort, he just wanted someone to accept him for who he was. Although not picky, he preferred someone with a dominant personality so she could take care of the majority of the decisions. Maybe someday he would find what he lacked in life.
Mayor woke from his pity by the phone singing the choired tune of "This is Halloween." He looked at the caller ID to find a number recording itself as an unknown Halloweentown resident.
Mayor flipped open the phone and answered, "Hello."
"Hello," a mellow voice returned.
"Mayor of Halloweentown speaking," he clarified.
"Yeah, I want a large with extra cheese, sausage, and anchovies," the voice said.
"What?"
"No, make it two larges."
"Who is this?" Mayor asked beginning to bite his nails.
"Dude, I want a large pizza. Two large pizzas."
"You have the wrong number," Mayor said.
"No. Listen. Two large pizzas with…"
"You have the wrong number," Mayor cried.
"Dude. Don't talk to your customers like that," the voice hissed.
"JACK!!!" Mayor called turning away from the phone.
Jack glanced up from his moping position to find the Mayor out in the courtyard waving his arms over his head, nearly knocking his hat off. Jack sighed and began his walk back to the elected official.
"Dude, you listening?" the voice called over the speaker.
Mayor put the phone on the bench and backed up, contemplating if he should hang up. Pizzas. He had no clue how to make a pizza, nor did he currently hold the resources to refer the other party to the correct number.
"What now?" Jack asked returning to his friend.
"Jack!" Mayor gasped.
Jack put his hands on his hips waiting for an answer.
"The phone," Mayor cried pointing to the phone.
Jack shrugged.
"They want pizza," he squeaked.
At first Jack raised his brow, but soon slouched and reached out his hand to pick it up.
"Yes," Jack answered putting the phone up to his head.
"Yeah, man. I want some pizza. Why you ain't listening?" the voice boomed.
"Look there is no pizza, you have the wrong number," Jack said calmly with a hint of firmness in his voice.
The other end went silent for a few seconds.
"Hello," Jack said drumming his fingers on the inside of his opposing elbow.
"Sorry, man. Wrong number," the voice said before hanging up.
"Strange," Jack said to himself before tossing the razor back to the mayor. He began walking away to check on the ghosts' progress of the scare tactics, the major flaw in yesterday's rehearsal.
"Jack, I was so worried," Mayor confessed. "I didn't know what to do."
Jack spun around glaring at the mayor, "You know, maybe you should start to show a little more spine, then maybe people will take you seriously,"
Mayor stopped in his tracks not liking the tone in Jack's voice.
"You're the mayor," Jack explained. "You need to show confidence."
Jack left the Mayor with those words as he headed off to continue with his work.
Mayor looked down at the blank phone trying to make sense of what Jack meant. He put the phone away before looking back at the skeleton moving away.
"Jack, wait!" cried Mayor. "I need the plans for displaying confidence. WAIT!!!"
Several miles away in the top room of the tree house three children cackled while rolling on the floor.
"Great," Lock said dropping his phone.
"You got the wrong number," Shock mocked almost rolling on the phone.
"Careful!" Lock snapped grabbing his phone out of his sister's range.
Shock smacked Lock in the face before sitting down next to Barrel.
"Who should we call next?" Barrel asked staring up at the ceiling while unwrapping a pumpkin flavored lollypop.
"How about the Halloween queen?" Lock answered with a smirk.
The other two nodded as Lock's fingers dialed the number for the Skellington mansion.