"He really talks like that?" incredulously asked Buffy, handing back the card to Xander after she'd finished examining it.

"Yep," the teenage boy cheerfully answered, carefully tucking the business card once more into his jacket pocket. At his side, a smiling Willow nodded in agreement.

Buffy looked a bit askance at her friends standing there in their costumes in the main library room, before she tried another question, "What makes you so sure?"

"'Cause just like the stories we got from the older kids before it was our turn, at the beginning of freshman year, we had a school assembly for us new guys, and he came out from behind the curtain in the auditorium and made a long speech, all about us starting a really important chapter in our lives," reminisced Xander, sharing a nostalgic look with Willow.

Her face showing her sudden puzzlement, Buffy asked, "How come I didn't have that when I came here?"

Willow reminded the Slayer, "You were a sophomore transfer, remember? That's probably why you missed it."

"Yeah, Buffy," Xander agreed. He then looked a little sad, as the boy gently touched the section of his jacket where he'd put away the signed business card. Gazing off into the distance, Xander now quietly spoke, "After the speech, we were out in the hall heading back to class, when we saw the Mayor coming at us, with the principal and some other adults we didn't know. Right away, Jesse dared me to ask for his autograph, and I decided to go for it."

Glancing at Buffy's astonished face over hearing that, a faint smile now touched Xander's lips, as he chuckled, "Well, I stopped Mayor Dick right then and there, and told him I'd like him to sign something for me. He looked really surprised, and then he just grinned, whipped out a card, one of the other guys gave him a pen, and he wrote what you read on the card before giving it to me."

Reaching out to give Xander a hug, Willow beamed, "I was there too, Buffy, and that's how it happened."

An arm reached out to return the red-haired girl's embrace, and standing together in their costumes, Xander continued, "After that, I kept the card, and for a couple of days, I watched the local Sunnydale cable show, where Mayor Dick would give a speech and outline his plans, until I got his style down pat. Then, when I was around Jesse and Wils-" (the boy hugged her again) "-I'd pull out the signed card and start imitating the mayor, usually snarking at things like Cordy and her sheep, the local teachers, whatever. I always made you guys break up, didn't I, Wils?"

Willow looked up from where she'd been resting her head in the ghost costume's white hood against Xander's shoulder, to smile into his face. "Yeah, you did."

"Anyway, after a couple of weeks, I think I got bored, so I just quit doing it, put away the card in my wallet, and forgot about it. I wasn't until I was there yesterday in that costume shop with you guys that I remembered, when I got the idea for this outfit." Xander now gently let go of Willow and she did the same, both stepping away from each other, with the boy then looking down at his outdated clothing, a sudden smirk on his face.

Seizing this opportunity to end her guilty thoughts over her fellow Scoobies' friend that she hadn't managed to save (and could barely remember), the Slayer blurted out, "Xan, what's with that thing on your chest, anyway?"

"Oh, the sash?" Xander touched this strip of cloth with the letters stapled on it, and his smirk turning into an actual grin, he sniggered, "That came right from the Simpsons character Mayor Quimby."

It took a few moments until both girls there recognized the name of that corrupt politician on the animated tv show, who always wore a sash with his title to make sure people knew who he was, and then Willow and Buffy giggled in delight. As Xander proudly regarded his laughing friends, Willow managed to gasp, "Uh, Xan, what's with the suit? Does the mothball smell mean something?"

Rolling his eyes in mock exasperation, Xander snorted, "Nah, I just needed some kind of formal suit to wear, and Grandpa Harris' best clothes were right at hand. Hey, before you complain about the smell, just try to image what it was like a few hours ago. I think it would've knocked out a vamp faster than Buffy ever could punch the bloodsucker into dreamland."

At that last statement, the girls started laughing again, with Xander enjoying this, until finally the boy glanced at the main entrance to the library, his face brightening in expectation at what was going to happen next. Looking back at Buffy and Willow, Xander cackled, "Hey, guys, it's now time for my biggest performance of the night. You're all invited."

Willow got it first before Buffy, with the redhead screeching in alarm, "You're not gonna pretend to be Mayor Wilkins in front of Snyder?"

"Oh, you betcha," snickered Xander, who continued in absolute glee at the bogglement on the others' faces. "What's the little troll gonna do about it, anyway? Say that he hates my costume and character? Think how fast that'll get back to the original guy! Uh-huh, Snyder's not gonna dare to do anything to piss off Mayor Dick, not with that politician being on the school board. On second thought, please let that jerk principal shoot his mouth off or do something else that'll get him thrown out of here! I tell you, it's a win-win solution!"

It was Buffy who objected then. "What if you get in trouble with the guy you're dressing up as?" glowered the young lady in her red gown.

"Hey, I got the perfect defense. I'm just a kid who thought it'd be fun to pretend to be that guy on Halloween, somebody who impressed me by being nice a while back when I asked him for his autograph. It wasn't like I planned to say or do anything nasty as him! Nope, totally innocent Xander Harris here, who honestly thought it'd be taken as a big compliment, Your Mayorship!" At the last sentence, Xander then plastered an angelic expression upon his features, followed with opening wide his ingenuous eyes, and quivering his lower lip at this schoolmates.

Willow and Buffy considered their clearly-insane friend, and then the two girls glanced at each other with serious faces. The Los Angeles native thoughtfully muttered aloud to her fellow Scooby, "So, what do you think are his chances of getting away with it?"

Giving a resigned shrug of her shoulders, Willow opined, "I think I'm going to have to bake him a cake with a file in it for his escape attempt when he's in jail."

"Can I lick the bowl afterwards?" eagerly asked the Slayer.

"Ha, ha, ha," sarcastically interrupted Xander. "Watch, and learn, ladies." At that, the teenager headed towards the library door to the school hallway outside, with the pair of girls trailing after him, both now having extremely dubious expressions on their faces.

Soon enough, the trio came to the head of the corridor leading into the main school lobby, from where issued the sounds of excited children chattering among themselves. Cautiously peeking around the corner of the hallway, Xander hastily pulled his head back, and then he looked down to give his costume one last check. Satisfied, the teenager took a deep breath, looked over his shoulder at his friends while giving them both a maniac grin that stayed on his face as Xander turned his head forward and then strode onwards with a purposeful air.

Willow and Buffy immediately rushed towards the hallway corner, and imitated Xander's actions of several moments ago in peeking around this, just in time to hear and see a politician walking with a spring in his step, his right hand out to give a manly handshake, and uttering a loud bellow that instantly silenced everyone else there, "SNYDER, MY BOY! IT'S WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

This named person had spun around at hearing his name, and then the principal had become frozen in absolute shock, gaping at the teenager he detested coming up in that outdated suit, the sash, and the clear madness shining from Xander Harris' eyes. Snyder was still too paralyzed by his astonishment to react in time before his hand was grabbed by an iron-hard grip and then started to be pumped up and down numerous times, all while a wave of words washed over the older man.

"You seem to be in tip-top shape, my good man! Have you been working out?" At that, the faux-Mayor's free hand patted Snyder's stomach hard several times, causing that taken-unawares man to whoosh out his breath before he could find his wits to demand an explanation and the prompt liberation of his hand. As Snyder struggled to draw in some air, Xander kept on talking.

"Always an excellent idea! A sound mind in a sound body, as they say!" The politician's free hand went from Snyder's stomach to the top of his body, giving some more equally-hard pats on top of this man's hairless skull, with the thumps! of this resounding throughout the otherwise totally silent school lobby, as the crowd of young trick-or-treaters there in their costumes stared in absolute awe at what was happening, while listening to the following resolute speech.

"Well, it's been enjoyable having this chat with you, Principal Snyder, but alas, we all have our responsibilities, don't we? I'm quite sure that in the future we'll have the chance for a much longer discussion about current events, and I'll certainly look forward to it with great expectations, in the firm hope that there'll be no unwarranted likelihood of any possible negative incidents involving our recent tête-à-tête." Xander even managed to pronounce the last word correctly.

During all that, Snyder's hand had been relentlessly shaken, until this abruptly stopped, with the Mayor then giving his subordinate one final powerful squeeze of the other man's fingers that made the principal's face contort in agony. Dropping Snyder's limp arm, Xander now spun around to confront the children there in the lobby, waiting to be escorted around the town tonight.

All of those kids there at once took a step back after noticing those gleaming teeth and mad gaze presented on the face of this weirdo, who now flung out his arms horizontally, to make shooing motions with these, as he stepped forward, while trumpeting, "Gosharootie, little buckaroos! Tonight, we'll pluck this conurbation clean, taking every delicious scrap of chewy confections, if you possess the astuteness to pay utter and complete attention to my counsel! Now, who's with me?"

There was dead silence for a single moment, until an ear-splitting cheer burst from all the children there, with every one of these youngsters dashing towards the school front entrance in preparation for their despoilation of the candy bowls and trays waiting for them tonight in Sunnydale's homes. They were urged along by Xander Harris strolling after, singing:

"Move 'em out, head 'em up,

Head 'em up, move 'em on.

Move 'em out, head 'em up:

Rawhide!

Cut 'em out, ride 'em in,

Ride 'em in, cut 'em out,

Cut 'em out, ride 'em in:

Rawhide!"

A few moments later, the school lobby was totally deserted, save for one last figure. Swaying slightly as he stared sightlessly straight ahead, Principal Snyder currently had his entire forehead throbbing in fury, accompanied by the grinding of his teeth that was wiping out several thousand dollars' worth of dental work. Unnoticed by the man, Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg were tiptoeing away down the school hallway, both silently agreeing with each other that the smart thing to do was to leave the school through another door, rather than risk having the principal catch them, and then circle around the building to join up with Xander at the front with the kids they were supposed to escort.

It was already clear that this Halloween night was going to be very…interesting.