31) Who's Your Secret Ghoul?
Henry Andrews pushed the shopping cart slowly, looking over the rows and rows of spaghetti sauce. He wasn't in the mood for it today, but it was quick and easy to make – and Jason never seemed to get bored with it.
The cart rocked as Jason jumped on and plopped two bottles of soda in the basket.
"Want anything else?" Henry asked, although he wasn't really listening for an answer.
"No. I'm good."
Jason dipped down, sliding onto the basket under the cart. He rolled onto his back, staring up at Henry.
"Henry?"
"Hm?"
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to decide which sauce to make for dinner tomorrow."
"What are we doing for dinner tonight?"
"I dunno. What are you in the mood for?"
Jason grinned. "Chinese!"
"K."
Jason frowned for a few seconds. "Henry?"
"Hm?" Henry leaned over, taking a can from the bottom and reading the ingredients.
"Should we get cupcakes?"
"If you want them."
"For the party."
"I already put an order in for your school party, kiddo. Here's a recipe for porcupine meatballs. We have everything for it. Should we give it a try?"
"Okay. Not my school party. The Wall party."
"What Wall party?"
"The one you said you had last year at The Wall."
Henry stopped reading and focused on his little brother. "What?"
"You told me that last year you guys had a party at The Wall for Halloween. Everyone put their name in a hat and picked one out for their secret Ghoul. And then you all bought presents and brought party stuff and had a party. You told me about it three weeks ago, remember?"
Henry drew in a long breath, held it and released it. He smiled at Jason. "We're not doing it this year."
"Why?"
Henry turned back to the can. "Do you want bow ties instead of spaghetti with this?"
"Why'd you change the subject, Henry?"
"You sound like dad when you say that."
"I do?"
"Yes. That wasn't a compliment, either."
Jason climbed out of the cart and stood up in front of his older brother. He yanked the can away, glaring at him when he looked at him.
"What?" Henry asked.
"Why aren't we going to have the party this year?"
"Lots of reason. Get two more cans and let's check out. I want some time to watch a movie before I go to work."
"Not until you answer my question," Jason informed him.
Henry leaned over, looking him in the eye. "This is not the place for this discussion or a temper tantrum. Got it? Either do what I told you or move."
Jason wasn't intimidated by Henry's threat. Henry sighed, yanking the can away and dropping it in the cart.
"No one wants to, Jason. We're… We're just not ready for that right now. Okay? Can you live with that?"
"Because Warrick died and Sara went away again?"
"Partly."
"What's the other part?"
"Money. With the economy in the pot, the city's been making budge cuts, and our salaries were one of them Okay? Can we go now?"
Jason moved over to the cart, watching Henry get two more cans. He held onto the basket as Henry pushed it. They waited silently in the checkout line. Jason watched as the food was slid across the barcode scanner. He looked up at Henry, watching him watch nothing.
"Are we having trouble with money too, Henry?"
Henry shook his head. "We're good."
Jason looked at the food. Suddenly he darted off.
"Jason!" Henry cried.
Jason raced into the aisle with pre-mixes and grabbed a variety of bags for cookies, cupcakes, brownies, and two cans of sprinkles. He raced back as the last item was slid across the scanner, and dropped them on the belt. The cashier looked at him, then Henry, waiting to make sure it was okay to scan the items. Henry looked down at his little brother.
"What is all that for?"
"We're going to have a party. I'm going to bake the cupcakes and cookies."
"Jason I just told you—"
"I have an idea that will make everyone happy again."
Henry stared at him. Jason smiled, hugging Henry. "I have an idea, Henry. I do. I promise it's a good one. Please?"
Henry smiled. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to get to make these cupcakes and cookies?"
Jason shook his head. "No. Me."
Henry looked at the cashier, motioning to them. The woman scanned them and took his debit card. The two headed for the door with their cart.
"So what's your great idea, kiddo?"
"I'm working out the details. I'll tell you when I have all the rules made."
Henry smiled. "Okay. Let me know when."
#
Ecklie looked up when his door open and watched as The Wall Crew enter, each one holding a piece of paper. The Water and Sanitation supervisor on the other end didn't appear to notice Ecklie had stopped saying 'uh-huh,' 'mm-hm,' or 'I see.' Mandy was the last person in and shut the door behind her.
"Chris, I need to call you right back."
"What? Why?" Chris asked.
"Something's come up I need to take care of. I'll call you right back." Ecklie hung up before Chris could argue. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Grissom told him. He handed Ecklie his piece of paper. "Young Andrews has planned The Wall Crew Halloween party."
Ecklie took it, but didn't look at it. "I thought we agreed to pass on that this year, with everything that's happened."
"We did," Catherine said, "but it's for Jason. He doesn't really understand why we can't do it and so we decided to go ahead after all. He's come up with a way we can do secret gifts without too much money, too."
Ecklie looked down at the piece of paper. He held it up, reading what was written on it out loud – despite knowing the others probably had already read their paper.
"Rules for the Secret Ghoulie Tune. Rule number one, none of the songs can have bad words in them or be really mean. Rule number two, they have to have your secret ghoulies name in the title. The name can be any derivative of their name, their middle or last name. But you cannot ask your secret ghoulie what any of these are – you can only use what you know about your secret ghoulie. No nicknames either. Rule number three, if you're unable to find a song with your secret ghoulie's name, then you have to write a poem or limerick or something. Rule number five, you may submit more than one song, but you have to let DJ Ghoulie know which is your first pick. Rule number 6, you may not ask DJ Ghoulie for any help what so ever."
Ecklie paused, glancing at them, and then continued, "The Secret Ghoulie Guessing Game will be to guess which rule is for which ghoulie. The ghoulie that guess the most rules will receive a free meal the next time The Wall Crew goes out to eat. All rules have to be nice and must be something your secret ghoulie did, but probably shouldn't do again."
Ecklie looked up at them. Hodges was holding out a CSI baseball cap with folded pieces of paper in it.
"Jason already drew his cuz he had to get to school. Your turn," Hodges said.
"And the rest of you?"
"We thought we'd give you the first draw honor," Hodges said with a smile.
Ecklie looked at the rules, then the hat. He motioned Hodges to him.
"Who's the DJ Ghoulie?"
"I volunteered," Archie said.
Conrad drew out a piece of paper and smiled at the name. He folded it again, slipping it in his pocket. The crew drew out names.
"That all?" Ecklie asked.
"They answered, "Yes."
"Then get back to work. Crime isn't taking a coffee break."
It made him smile to hear a couple of them laugh. It had been two weeks since he'd heard any of them do that. When they left he pulled his paper out, staring at the name. Already he had a few songs in mind.
His phone rang and he heaved a sigh, putting the paper back in his pocket. Back to facing the end of his shift. He answered the phone on the fourth ring.
#
For most of the Crew, the walk to The Wall was long and difficult. Most of them hadn't been back since the first week Warrick passed away. It made coming down the hall a little emotional, but they didn't want to disappoint a seven-year-old that, according to Henry, had shown up at six in the morning to wait in the room for everyone. They were so focused on this that no one noticed Archie had disappeared at eight.
What waited at the end was a surprise. Not even Henry had expected the room to be decorated, or to find such a lavish buffet set out – he hadn't even known his brother was doing this much.
"Jason… Where did you get all this food?" Henry asked.
"I used my allowance."
"You only get twenty dollars a week!"
"Yes, but I've been saving it since you started giving it to me."
"You've been saving your allowance for a little more than a year?" Hodges asked.
"Yep! So I had Gina order us food. She used to cater and she helped me set it up."
"I come back to the, ''You've been saving your allowance for a little more than a year'? Henry, who is this kid? Is he really a kid?"
Jason laughed, grabbing Hodges' hand and dragging him to the table. "And I got one of everything everyone likes. See. Those little corn dogs you say are your Achilles' heel."
Hodges smiled. "You sure are a funny kid, Jason. But I like you!"
"Where are our rules?" Wendy asked. She guessed they were hidden behind the thick 'web' of cotton, but had to ask. She didn't want to look at them since the web ended under the last rule Warrick had written.
"Oh. I covered them up so it would be fair."
"Good thinking, Jason," Ecklie told him.
"You think so?"
"I do."
"Well, Archie had to go get the CDs. He said to start without him and he'd be here as soon as he could be."
"Get the CDs?" Catherine asked.
"Yep. We had them made to look all kinds of professional."
Henry crouched down in front of him. "Did you miss the concept this wasn't supposed to cost a lot?"
"It wasn't supposed to cost them a lot." He motioned to the rest of the group. "And it was my money. You gave it to me."
The look on Henry's face said he had things to say, not angry things, but he wasn't going to do that here. He reached out, putting his hand on his little brother's cheek. "How can a big brother argue with that?"
Greg clapped his hands together once, breaking up the moment. "So what's first, Jason?"
"Hey, hey, hey! Archie is in the building," Archie said as he came through the door with a sack. He picked a CD out of the bag, holding it up. The cases were orange and the front was a pumpkin with a collage of pictures of the entire crew. "Just called it the Monster Mash since I didn't have anything more creative." He handed a CD out to everyone.
"The CD, I guess," Jason said with a missing tooth grin.
"Hey! When'd you lose that tooth?" Bobby asked
"I lost it two nights ago. See?" Jason offered an open mouth for him to see. "An' dif one if loof too."
Bobby laughed. "Loof toofs are the pits, huh?"
Jason nodded.
"Okay," Archie said. "This is the most convoluted mix CD I've ever produced. Where you all found these songs is beyond me! So don't blame me for the weirdness of it."
He put his copy in the old, blocky boom box sitting under the TV on the rickety TV stand. The funny thing was no one could remember when the boom box appeared or whose it was.
The last thing Archie pulled out of the bag was a large sign that he taped next to the cotton 'web.' Next to each son was a blank line. He taped the sign next to the hidden list and sat a marker on the TV.
2008 Wall Crew Monster Mash
1. C.S.I. – Camillo Perazzoli (Author's personal favorite)
2. Nick the Stripper – The Birthday Party (It was this or 'Nick' by Edge City. Coin toss decided song...)
3. Special Agent Conrad Uno – Man or Astro-Man (Coin tosses decided between 'Conrad Takes On The World' by Anne Summers, 'Conrad We Love you' by Untold Legends, and the ultimate winner)
4. Wendy – The Descendents (Although the author voted for 'Tomorrow, Wendy' by Concrete Blonde)
5. Gina Knows – Lauden Swain (The author liked 'Gina' by Blues Traveler, and Geggy Tah. It was pointed out Geggy Tah's is about a cow. We tossed a coin to decide which of the remaining two would make the playlist.)
6. David – Russell Crowe & 30 Odd Foot of Grunts
7. Hodge's Time – The Konnarock Critters
8. Albert – Tokyo Joe
9. Gil – Marlin Drixan
10. Chasin' Jason – Jeff Berlin
11. Dance With Me Henry – Etta James (Had a coin toss between this and 'Henry Nearly Killed Me' by Ray LaMontagne)
12. Greg – Billkidney & Complete Control
13. Hey Bobby – Cocoa Tea
14. Catherine – Dr. Pants (The author was gunning for a song by the same title by Jaed, but she was reminded a 7 year old present and perhaps the lyrics wouldn't be very appropriate)
15. James – Huffamoose (There was a great debate on which artist for this song title to choose. We finally drew from a hat, but the other artists were The Bangles, Billy Joel, Blue October, and Maritime.)
16. Please, Mr. Johnson – Buddy Johnson (Author was really pushing for 'Mr. Johnson's Head' by Insane Clown Posse, but was reminded a 7 year old would present and agreed a song about a homicidal teenager might not be the best choice.)
17. Mandy – Barry Manilow (Again, the whole 7 year old thing made the author give up the suggestive and explicit lyrical musings of 'Mandy Goes To Med School' by The Dresden Dolls)
18. Las Vegas With the Light Out – Geggy Tah (The author was told Sara emailed the DJ Ghoulie this song, but swore not to reveal this until after the party...)
"Nick the Stripper? Who am I going to kill?" Nick asked.
"You think that's bad," David told him, "Mine is sung by Russell Crowe. That's scary. Plain scary."
Catherine scoffed. "Mine is sung by some guy named Dr. Pants. And Conrad a secret agent? That's a stretch of an imagination." She looked sidelong at Jason. "Perhaps a short man's imagination?"
Jason just smiled.
Archie hit the play button and continued. "Now the rules," Archie said and pulled down the web.
Everyone grabbed paper and pens, arming to guess what rules was meant for whom.
488. I will not greet my supervisor, "What is it you wish of me, Lord Vadar?" (Submitted by VessaMorana) (Greg's handwriting)
489. I am not allowed to write 'Fail' on crime scene photos that were out of focus, not of the crime scene, or otherwise mis-shots. (Ecklie's handwriting)
490. EMTs care more about the living than the evidence. Any attempt to convince them otherwise will result in a black eye, or possibly waking up from a nice sedative induced nap with your keys locked in your vehicle. (Catherine's handwriting)
491. My supervisor does not care why I showed up at a crime scene wearing a fez. (Hodges's handwriting)
492. If a suspect's name is Susan, I may not say repeatedly, "What can I say about Suze?" (Submitted by CsiFREAK24 and a friend) (Wendy's handwriting)
493. If you are a boy, you do not have a Moon Spiral Heart Attack, disguise pen, or transformation brooch. Nor do your crime fighting partners dress up in Japanese schoolgirl uniforms. (Mandy's handwriting)
494. Revisit: Even if a child repeatedly smacks me with a Nerf bat, I cannot arrest the child for being rude. (Robbins' handwriting)
495. When asked for what has contributed to crime dropping over the last quarter, you are not allowed to answer, "Because we hired Dexter as our blood spatter analyst." (Brass' handwriting)
496. Victims of natural deaths will invariably have obstinate relatives. (Bobby's handwriting)
497. I will not use Shrek's onion analogy to describe upper management persons and/or their spouses. (inspired by the last llama) (Grissom's handwriting)
498. While on shift, always order food 'to go.' (Brass' handwriting)
499. EMTs are not to be referred to as 'Empty Minded Twit' or 'Educated Monkey Trainer.' (Jason's handwriting)
500. Inflatable sheep are not to be seen processing a crime scene. (Henry's handwriting)
501. If my goldfish dies under 'suspicious circumstances,' I am not allowed to bring it in for an autopsy. (submitted by csiFREAK24) (Nick's handwriting)
502. We do not refer to fleeing suspects as a 'track star.' (David's handwriting)
503. We do not have a ceiling cat in the interview rooms that sees and hears all. Nor do we convince extremely gullible persons that we do. (Gina's handwriting)
"I have the entire list," Mandy said.
"No way!" Hodges cried out.
"Listen and weep, Spanky…
Hodges drew Greg,
Greg drew David,
David drew Brass,
Mandy drew Bobby,
Bobby drew Grissom,
Grissom drew Henry,
Henry drew Nick,
Nick drew Gina,
Gina drew Wendy,
Wendy drew Robbins,
Robbins drew Catherine,
Catherine drew Hodges,
Ecklie drew Jason,
Jason drew Ecklie,
And Brass drew Mandy, but he wrote an extra rule for Archie just to throw the rest of us off the scent."
"Now why on earth would you do that, Jim?" Catherine asked.
"Like she said. To throw you off the scent, stir things up. And I do not go around yelling 'track star' at fleeing suspects."
"Yes you do," Nick, Greg, and Catherine told him. Greg added, "And you started it after watching that new TV series about the cop that finds himself in the '70's. It's really annoying when you order, 'Go after that track star, Ace! I'm too old to run.'"
Brass grinned. "Really? I've started that. Maybe it's subconscious revenge for all the hell you and Nick put me through out there."
"We don't do that. We respect you too much for that," Nick told him with a straight face.
"Is that why I caught you processing the scene with Bobby's inflatable sheep?"
"It needed to go for a walk."
"It's plastic."
"It won't contaminate the crime scene."
"You're not winning this one, Nicky."
Nick started to retort several times but stopped. He frowned. "You know that respect comment I made earlier. I retract it."
They laughed, making Nick grin.
"Jason…" Ecklie started. "I, uhm… I'm not really sure where you got my rule."
"I've heard you call EMT that."
Ecklie looked down at him, but everyone else looked at Ecklie.
"I do not call them that."
"Yes you do."
"I do not."
"Would now be a good time to point out you're arguing with a seven-year-old, sir?" Hodges asked.
"I have never called EMT that. Ever."
"Ever?" Grissom asked with a baiting tone.
Ecklie cleared his throat, avoided their eyes. With a sigh he admitted, "Okay. Maybe I have. A couple times. To myself."
"You called that one you drug into the storage room to yell at for destroying evidence both of those. You were really mad at him."
Ecklie looked down at him, unable to hide his shock. "That's it. You can't come into the building until I've left."
Jason grinned, taking his hand. "I promise to never ever tell anyone that isn't part of The Wall Crew, ever. Cross my heart."
Ecklie tried to resist and stay angry, but it didn't last when Jason batted his eyes. He grabbed the child's shoulder, giving it a hard squeeze.
"No more eavesdropping."
"Kinda hard not to when you can hear it you're in the meeting room behind the storage room," Wendy muttered loudly. "Which is where he was when we both got to hear it."
"I got work to do. Thanks for the party. Bye."
They watched him leave before bursting into laughter.
"Tell us about Gina's fish story, Nick," Bobby urged.
"No," Gina said. "It's not that interesting."
"The hell it isn't!" Nick retorted.
"I forbid you to discuss it."
"So she comes in, after her shift was over hours ago, with a dead gold fish in a baggie."
"You can stop now.
"No he can't. We gotta hear this," Mandy told her.
Gina covered her face with her hand.
"She says, 'Nick, my goldfish died. I've only had it for four days. Can you tell me why it died?' I say to her, 'Gina, it's a goldfish. They die.' She tells me 'But Rudolph shouldn't have died after four days. I need to know why he died. I might have a civil case here because I got his other friends from the same store and I'm worried about them.' So I take the fish, test it, nothing strange. Suddenly she becomes Grissom's natural caused death with obstinate relatives."
Brass commented with a chuckle, "Add a blind man and a bar to that, and it'd be a good joke."
"I was not that bad."
"You showed up at my house and stood on the step yelling, Gina."
"I wasn't yelling. I was talking loudly. There's a difference."
Catherine's phone alarm went off and she looked at it. "I have to go, guys. Lindsay has a dentist appointment. Thanks for the CD, Archie. And Jason, you throw a good party. Bye everyone."
She left and signaled the departure of everyone else until Jason, Henry, and Grissom were the only ones left.
"I have tomorrow off, Henry. I'll help Jason clean up if you want to head on home," Grissom offered.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. See you at home, Jason."
"Cake!"
"Pie," Henry said as he walked through the door.
Jason started taking down the decorations. Grissom eased into a recliner and followed it with a long sigh.
"You did a good thing with the party, Jason."
He stopped, turning to him. "Do you think everyone liked it?"
Grissom smiled. "Yes."
Jason climbed onto Grissom's lap, laying his head on his shoulder. Grissom wrapped his arms around the boy. It always surprised him how much better he felt when he held Jason. He closed his eyes, teetering on the edge of sleep.
"I want to ask you a question, but it will make you sad," Jason said.
"You can ask anyway," Grissom told him.
"Why wouldn't Henry let me go to the funeral?"
"You were in school and he didn't want to take you out for it."
"Do you think Warrick is in heaven with my mom and dad?"
"I have no doubt he is."
"You look tired. Do you want to take a nap? I can finish cleaning up."
"No. I'll help." Grissom moved his hands to the arms of the recliner, anticipating getting up. But he didn't open his eyes; sleep was a little stronger than will power.
Jason grabbed his wrists and wrapped Grissom's arms around him. "You take a nap, Grissom. We both have the day off, so we can take as long as we want. Henry won't mind. He never minds when we hang out."
Grissom smiled. "Okay, but you wake me to help get the things off the ceiling so I can get them. Then we can take all this food back to your house and make some lunch, okay?"
"Okay. You take a nap."
Grissom nodded. "Thank you," he whispered.
Jason turned over on his back, toying with Grissom's watch and humming. Grissom drifted to sleep under the warmth of the boy and to his soothing sounds.
( o :
Author's Note: All of the songs are on iTunes, if'n you'da like your own 2008 Wall Crew Monster Mash CD.
What?
You didn't really think I made up those songs and artists? Did you?
: o )