They booked the job two weeks in advance. MJN would be flying clients out to South America to look at granite for their kitchen counter tops. Apparently it's a thing people do. Ten days before Halloween, Arthur started begging.
"Oh mum, pleeease?"
"I already said no, Arthur. We have a job that day and you have to be professional." Arthur had dressed up every October the 31st since he'd discovered the holiday; Carolyn indulged him for a while, but gave up when he was about 12, thought that had never stopped him. He made his own costumes and repurposed old costumes every year. Carolyn thought it was ridiculous, but she still watched scary movies with him and shared a huge bag of sweets every year. This was the first time they'd had a conflict with work.
"But it's a holiday mum, people will understand it'll be fun!"
"No." And with that Arthur let it be. For the day.
"What if it's just a little bit of a costume? So I could still do my stewarding, but still be dressed up for Halloween?" She didn't answer.
"It would be sort of fun for them wouldn't it, mum?" He confined the long drawn out "please" to a look in his big brown eyes. Ever the scheming, Carolyn devised a win win scenario. "Only if you can convince Martin and Douglas to dress up as well." He jumped out of his chair in excitement, "Thanks mum!" She knew they'd never give in to such foolishness. But if by some stretch of the imagination they did, her whole crew would look like idiots instead of just her son. Bless his heart he did enjoy a good holiday.
Martin was sharing a chicken sandwich with one of the agricultural students when Arthur rang. "Oh, uh, that's odd, sorry Jonathan, do you mind if I take this real quick?" Jonathan smiled and shook his head. Jonathan noticed the pilot after the first couple weeks of school, and when they ran into one another, Jonathan would offer up some of the baked goods his family always sent. He introduced him to the other students and chatted in their spare time. One of the student's, Jonathan's roommate, slept around more than he slept at the flat, so Jonathan invited Martin to use the extra space. The two were gone so often, no one really noticed that they managed to squeeze an extra person into the dorm. The students sometimes shared their meals, and in exchange Martin did a few chores. He loved finally coming home; he had a place at someones table.
"What is it?" Martin asked.
"Slow down, Arthur."
"Why?"
"No, I can't Arthur, look, I don't-"
"Well, I'll think about it." He held the phone a good distance away from his ear, Jonathan heard a small cheer come through the speaker. "Okay, okay, bye Arthur." he finally flipped the phone shut. Jonathan looked up from his chicken sandwich inquisitively. "Arthur, the steward, he wants me to dress up for our trip to South America on Halloween. I'd hate to let him down, but it wouldn't be very professional, and anyways I don't have a costume, and I can't buy one," Martin quibbled over the details, trying to talk himself out of it.
"Oh that's nothing," Jonathan was far more enthusiastic than he was. "You can always put something together from what you've already got. You could be a serial killer, they look like everybody else." He joked as he strode over to the fridge. Martin gave a little laugh; not being thrilled with the prospect of explaining to Arthur. Jonathan retrieved a bowl of green jelly, in which grated carrots were suspended. The odd dessert had been a gift from the Residency Assistant which all the other roommates declined. "I know exactly what you can be Martin! Don't you have an interview suit or something?" Martin nodded. "Wear that and stick a box of jelly in your pocket; you can be Tim, from The Office." He grinned as he gestured to his desert like he'd discovered a new species.
"Hmm," Martin took to the idea, "Maybe." Jonathan encouraged him with another suggestion.
"If you want to back out, you can always swap out your uniform jacket and you're covered." He held his hands out as if presenting a gift and grinned at his own cleverness.
Douglas took less convincing that Arthur expected. He investigated the details of Carolyn's agreement. "Mum said I get to wear my costume if you and Martin will too."
"Did she include herself in this deal?" he asked eagerly.
"Um, not really, but I bet I could get her to do something." A costume idea popped into his mind which would result in two very amused Shappeys and an irate Martin. How could he pass up the opportunity?
"Alright, Arthur I'm in. Try and get your mother to dress up as well." he put on his manipulative tone, "No sense in her missing out on all the fun."
He started work on his costume seconds after getting off the phone with Douglas. Carolyn saw him scrolling through sewing patterns on the computer and realized she'd bet wrong. Stupid holiday. She added her two bits, trying to salvage some degree of professionalism.
"Arthur, I would like your costume not to get in the way of your uniform. We do still have to look like we run the airline rather than a few Americans who raided a costume shop before sneaking on board a flight to Brazil" Carolyn cautioned as he scrolled through patterns online.
"Okay, that's fine. Anyway, it'll be less sewing that way as well. You're going to dress up too, right mum?"
"Of course not, CEO's of charter plane's do not dress up for silly American holidays. And anyway that wasn't the deal."
"You could just wear a hat or something, like my teacher Miss Stapleton. She wore a purple witch hat, with the buckle and everything."
"Arthur, are you suggesting I wear a witch hat to work?"
"No, you could do anything really. You could wear that sweater your sister gave you, the one with the pumpkins and ghosts and black cats."
"I'd rather wear the stupid hat."
"Brilliant!"
The crew met up early Halloween morning for the Brazil flight. Martin beelined for the coffee he smelled once he arrived. "Well, you look interesting don't you?" he remarked. Arthur beamed.
"Oh you like it? I'm a super steward!" Arthur wore a narrow mask over his eyes, golden gauntlets on his wrists, tall black boots, and a yellow cape. He stood akimbo, knuckles on his hips and face turned to the side to present a dashing profile.
"Very nice, Arthur, very nice." Martin caught Arthur's enthusiasm and smiled a bit himself.
"So what are you dressed as, Martin? Ooo, let me guess, uh, a banker, a lawyer, umm an undercover spy, your granddad, um, a serial killer, uh-"
"No, no, I'm Tim, from The Office, see?" he pulled out the empty jelly box.
"Oh right! Neat!"
"Thanks, it was one of the student's ideas." he bragged for Jonathan. "Where's your mother anyway? Did she dress up as well?" He was rather eager to know if she'd been roped in. Red capes, black hoods, and pumpkin suits filed through his imagination; Carolyn would look ridiculous.
"I don't know where she is, Skip, I drove here on my own. She said she had an appointment to make. But she wasn't dressed up when I left so..." He sounded a little disappointed that his mother hadn't joined in.
"An appointment? Before a flight? Wonder what she could be up to." He sipped his coffee and forgot about it. He appreciated Arthur's costume for a moment; he'd done quite a good job. Douglas sauntered in, wearing his uniform. Martin scowled, feeling every bit the fool. He had a reprimand on his tongue for the first officer about keeping his end of the deal when he caught on to Arthur's initial disappointment.
"Now before you say anything Arthur, I promise I did dress up; look very carefully." Martin saw it first and opened his mouth in indignation. Douglas gestured for silence, he really wanted Arthur to figure it out.
"Um, well, you're wearing your hat, which you don't normally do. And, um, well it's not a- Oh! You've got four stripes instead of three. You dressed up as Skip!"
"I added some gold braid to my hat, and threw on a few shiny pins for good measure."
"How clever." Martin glared.
"Isn't it though, Skip?" Arthur agreed wholeheartedly. Arthur seldom did anything with less than all his heart.
Carolyn arrived twenty minutes later, just as they were getting underway. She wore neither silly hat or horrible sweater. Douglas had already run off fuel into his Lexus and Arthur had finished a rather animated cross check of the cabin, complete with superhero sound effects.
"Well of course you'd get out of dressing up wouldn't you Carolyn." Martin said as she crossed the tarmac. Arthur looked mildly disappointed.
"No, I decided to enjoy it too. Which is why I was admittedly late," Carolyn talked a bit oddly, as if she wore a retainer,"I stopped to get these." She grinned horribly, revealing two small fangs attached to her incisors. Douglas stifled a laugh and whispered an aside to Martin, "Brings new meaning to horrible bosses doesn't it?" Martin giggled.
"Would you care to share with the class, Douglas?"
"If I were to peg any of us as a bloodsucking undead monster it would be you Carolyn." He remarked snidely as they boarded.
"Well I called in a favor so it was easy and cheap and Arthur likes it, so there."
"Does he? He didn't say anything to us. So I'm guessing he hasn't seen them." Douglas deduced.
"What is your point?" Carolyn demanded.
"Getting the most mileage out of it. He's in the galley making coffee, ask him for a cup." Carolyn smirked as she saw the fun she could have.
"Arthur!" she shouted from the cabin. Super steward poked his head out the door. "Get me something warm to drink would you?" Carolyn said and grinned slowly.
"I'm just putting coffee on no-AHHH!" he shrieked and fled back into the galley and the rest of them broke down in unstoppable laughter.