The big night finally arrived. Skeletons, pumpkins, cobwebs, and coffins decorated the neighborhood as each house prepared for a large share of trick-or-treaters.
The Loud House had finished dinner and the kids went to put on their costumes. All the while, Rita was pouring bag after bag of candy into a wide punch bowl and Lynn Sr. was digging through the crevices of his bedroom trying to find the camera. By now, both the parents knew the drill: Lynn Sr. took out the kids while Rita tended to the neighbors. But even with this understanding, Halloween became more difficult every year as the family got larger. Every year, it took a little longer to put on costumes, to head out, to go from house to house, and to scan every last mini chocolate bar. Indeed, the tumbling, sifting, chatting, and chuckling upstairs lasted for fifteen minutes, plenty of time for Lynn Sr. to locate the camera and the tripod stand.
"Dad! Let's go!" Lori cried out.
Grasping the cue, Lynn Sr. emerged from his first-story bedroom to be greeted by his five daughters all dressed up. Accompanying the scene were Rita's footsteps directed towards the foyer. He immediately noticed that Lori appeared even more impatient than last year—frowning and gripping baby Lynn in her arms. But the father wasn't about to barge out without completing some "rituals".
For one, it was tradition in the Loud House for the youngest to wear an infant-sized pumpkin costume. It started with Lori's first Halloween and every year since it had passed on to the next child, but lucky Lynn got it for a second.
"Aw! You all look great," Rita exclaimed, beaming, as she entered the room.
"You're just in time," he replied as she grabbed Lynn from Lori and handed her to his wife.
"Mom! Dad! Do we have to do this?" Lori moaned, tapping her foot.
"It's for the album!"
Rita smiled and held up Lynn, who was distracted by the interior decorations lining the walls. Lynn Sr. didn't mind and he snapped the camera, producing a glaring flash. The final result materialized on the screen in the camera's back. It was beautiful.
"Yes!" he cheered, "Now before we go, I want a picture of all of us."
Lori sighed and clumped with the rest of her sisters. Rita gathered behind them as Lynn Sr. attached the camera to the tripod. After aligning and setting the timer, he raced to the back and wrapped one of his arms across his wife's shoulders.
"Smile!" he said through his teeth.
The girls obliged and, after what felt like an excruciatingly long time, there was a giant flash that threatened to blind them all. The vigilant father paced back to the camera to see the result. All of them were smiling, even if Lori's looked forced. He, his wife, and Lynn all looked excited for the night of laughter and memories that was to come. Luan appeared decked out in her clown costume, ready to take on any grumpy ghost or ogre. Then there were Leni and Luna, both dressed up as Oscar. They were both hugging each other and their faces emanated a sisterly love; even though they weren't technically twins, they sure acted like them. Lynn Sr. couldn't help but smile at those two.
"Thank you," he said calmly, "Now let's have the best night ever."
"Finally!" Lori said.
The eldest sister led the way towards the door, tempted to burst out.
"Remember to stick together kids," Rita said as she saw them move, "And don't eat any candy until me and Daddy check it! Love you!"
Lynn Sr. knew he had to act quickly. In a swift motion, he detached the camera from the tripod, snatched Lynn's candy bag, and took the infant out of Rita's hand. He then burst out the door and caught up to the girls.
"Okay kids," he said from the back, "First stop is Mr. Grouse's."
Lori groaned.
"But Dad! He's old and grumpy!" she complained.
"Now girls, I think he would really like it. It's not every day that he gets visitors," he said as he tried to keep up with Lori's breakneck pace.
Mr. Grouse's house was lonely and barren. The lawn was nice—thanks to the help of a volunteering teenager—and the paint was far from dull or chipped, but the lack of decorations made the abode stick out. Not helping matters was the fact that aside from the front porch, the house was dark aside from a single lamp light glowing through the shut curtains covering the window. The only thing even remotely festive about the place was a bowl of licorice and mints that rested on the porch's top step.
"Alright girls, make sure to take only one," Lynn Sr. said as he did so for his youngest girl. It wasn't hard for the others to obey, as they all appeared eager to get off the wooden steps as quickly as possible. The father found it sad that his daughters had no interest in befriending their elderly neighbor.
"Hold on," he said. Rather than freezing, the girls allowed themselves to slow down. Ever so gradually, "Before we leave, I think it would be really nice if we said 'hi' to Mr. Grouse."
Lori didn't even bother trying to protest this time; she had accepted the fact that she was going to have to follow her dad's weird ways.
While holding Lynn, he turned to the door and gave it several hearty knocks. From inside, he heard mumbling and movement. And then, he was greeted to Grouse, appearing as his usual self—sagging shoulders, tight lips, loose cheeks, and bent back.
"Hello Mr. Grouse," Lynn Sr. said with a peppy grin, "We the Loud Family would like to wish you a Happy Halloween!"
Grouse sighed and lowered his head, staring at his welcome mat. It took a mountain of effort to get it back up to face his neighbor.
"Yeah. Just take the candy and go."
Before Lynn Sr. could reply, Grouse slammed the door. He didn't falter, though, as he maintained his cheery attitude as he faced the girls.
"Let's go!" he said, trying to come across as pumped.
The Louds began making their round around the neighborhood, going from door to door and accumulating chocolate, taffy, M&Ns, and other treats. Outside of Mr. Grouse, most of the neighbors were parents and gave the Louds a warm reception from their doorsteps. Lynn Sr. mainly relegated himself to a simple greeting and farewell to these grown-ups, all in an effort of maximizing the kids' candy load.
At one house, the McAllisters, the bowl on the doorstop had a wide array of options, far more than what most people do. Lori decisively snagged a mini Mershey's bar and practically leaped off the porch. In the following ten seconds, most of the other sisters had made their choice. But Leni stared at the bowl and dabbled her hand along the surface of plastic and paper wrappers. Meanwhile, the others were focused purely on the straggler.
"Just pick one already!" Lori exclaimed.
"Lori. Be patient," Lynn Sr. replied.
Mr. and Mrs. McAllister, however, chuckled at the scene.
"So many things to pick from," Mr. McAllister said from his lawn chair, a tight fit for the narrow porch.
"It's okay, Leni. Choose whatever you want," his wife added, throwing on a smile. Although it took another twenty seconds, she eventually settled for a mini Mershey's bar—her twelfth of the night.
"Thank you, have a happy Halloween!" Lynn Sr. said as he waved to the neighbors.
"You too Lynn," Mrs. McAllister said, "And tell Rita I said 'hi'!"
As the Louds continued their trek, they came across other familiar faces. Many of the houses recycled the same decorations, making the neighborhood feel like a bubble frozen in time. Lynn Sr. admired how his community embedded tradition, treating some things as something to be remembered rather than erased by the rapid waves of change.
Although Lori was the one pushing the group along, the momentum halted as she suddenly veered from it.
"Emily! How you doing?" she said, taking off her mask, running up to hug her friend, who was dressed up as Riley from Los Angels.
"Great! I have so much candy!" Emily answered as she presented her bag, which was nearly full.
"Lucky! I should have hit more houses by now, but these babies are slowing me down!"
"Hey!" Luna jeered.
By this point, Lynn Sr. had realized that the boat had been anchored and decided to stir up a conversation with Emily's parents. Meanwhile, the younger sisters were left to wait.
"Let's go!" Luna said.
"Can't you see I'm busy," Lori shot back. She then turned to Emily and rolled her eyes, "Sisters."
"You should have come with me. The two of us could have made it to the other side of town."
"Tell me about it," Lori said. It wasn't that she had forgotten about her friend; she did ask her parents if she could trick-or-treat with Emily instead. Unfortunately, family won out, "But enough about that! Where did you get that costume?"
"The Haunted Mansion," Emily said, showing off the T-Shirt and wig with luscious brown curls that embodied Riley's appearance.
"Did they have Marcy there?" she asked slowly, anxious to learn the answer.
"Yes."
Lori felt her uneasiness evolve into jealously, which then quickly morphed into bitterness. She was ashamed by her costume's tackiness. The notion that her desired outfit—Marcy—was out of reach made it easier to accept the tacky dress, the sad attempt to imitate designer heels, and the mask that acted as an airtight oven. Lori felt robbed of a better experience, all in the name of maintaining the status quo.
"Does this...look good?" she asked, awkwardly putting the plastic mask back on.
"Of course," Emily replied, "Who doesn't like Barbie?"
But Lori knew better. She could tell by her friend's soft and mellow tone that she was just trying to be nice. She couldn't blame her.
"Why thanks," she said, inflating her voice and projecting it through the material layer, "I love Barbie. And I'm gonna get so much more candy with it!"
"That's great. I'm happy for you," Emily said. She then waved to Lori's siblings who, for the most part, weren't paying attention to their conversation.
"Well...I'll let you get back to trick-or-treating. I have so much houses to go to!" Lori declared.
"Okay then," she replied before giving her friend another hug, "Happy Halloween."
After they separated, the two first graders alerted their parents that the travel break was over. Luna rejoiced as she set herself back on the path, although it was Lori who was acting as if she was suffering from the lost trick-or-treating time.
"Hey Luan," Luna said, walking alongside her little sister, "What do you have in there?"
"Uh..." Luan held out as her hand sifted through her bag, "Candy."
Luna peered into the bag and saw the mixture of lollipops, chocolate bars, and taffy. She then got an idea.
"If you give me one of yours, I will give you one of mine," she said grinning.
Luan didn't answer right away. She wasn't sure what would happen if Luna dared snatch one of her prizes. But before she could come to a conclusion, Luna reached into her own bag and pulled out a lollipop.
"I want Mershey's," Luna said, holding the stick up like a dog treat. Luan, however, wasn't salivating at the mere sight of the candy. Not helping matters was the fact that the pop's wrapper said the flavor was random. Luan turned away from her big sister, trying to ignore the offer, "Come on Luan! You love lollipops! Give me a Mershey's!"
"No! I like Mer...sheees," the three-year-old Luan said, fighting the limits of her ability to pronounce words. But even with her outright refusal, Luna pressed on, trying to get the candy bar out of her. Luna started to lose her patience and yelled, threatening to use her hands to take it by force.
"Girls! Stop!" Lynn Sr. interjected as he halted the group. The other sisters watched as Luna was leaning against a crouching Luan trying to steal her candy. He handed Lynn to Lori and went to the quarrel to separate the two. In the midst of this, Leni walked up with her typical expression-less face to the three with her candy bag. She looked in her bag, which was filled with nothing but Mershey bars and took one out. She then held it out in front of Luna.
"Luna, look!" Lynn Sr. said, noticing the gesture, "Leni wants to give you one of her's."
The instigator immediately pried herself off Luan and accepted the wrapped piece of chocolate.
"Thank you," Luna said, her frown having quickly been replaced by a smile. She then dropped it in her bag and presented her loot to Leni, "Here, take one."
But Leni merely went back to her original position; her face didn't move a muscle. Luna found it weird, but she went on.
"She can pick one when we get home."
And so the journey continued as normal—more houses hit, more candy (especially Mershey's bars), and more friendly neighbors greeting Lynn Sr. and the kids. The peace and rhythm of the routine persisted as the night wore on. Luan had even forgotten all about the incident and could enjoy everything Halloween had to offer.
Eventually, they came upon the Santiago house. For the past couple years, Lynn Sr. had always saved this one for last. It was a part of a cul-de-sac entrenched in the middle of the neighborhood. Although many of the houses on it had light decorations, the Santiagos loved to go full out. The entire front of the house was caked in a thick cobweb, a fleshed out vampire was standing on one side of the lawn, and on the other was a giant inflated spider.
As the house came into the Louds' sight, there was a sharp screech. Lynn Sr. jerked back to see Leni screaming. He knelt down beside his second daughter and hugged, all while softly shushing into her.
"It's okay, honey. You don't need to be scared," he said. To add to it, he started rubbing her back. Such actions were natural and fluid for him at this point. But although the screaming halted, Leni's eyes remained like shaking saucers.
"Leni...it's okay," he said, allowing her to see his reassuring face, "It's not a spider. It can't crawl on you. It can't hurt you."
Her breathing, though, remained airy and unsteady. Seeing this, Lynn Sr. gave her a smile and his eyes lit up.
"You know that I am also scared by spiders, but I don't feel scared because there's no spider here," he said, placing one of his hands on her shoulder, "If you want, I can hold your hand as we go here. Would you like that?"
Leni stared at her dad, her face still wrecked by terror. But, she found herself able to open her trembling lips.
"Okay..." she said.
Lynn Sr. then stood up and offered his hand to Leni, who slowly accepted it. With that, the group walked up to the front steps of the Santiago house. Leni dragged her feet at several points, however she was able to move on with the help of her father's words.
At the front porch were the two Santiago parents and their son Bobby, who was dressed as Batman. The most prominent feature was the bump on Mrs. Santiago's stomach. It wasn't as large as Rita's, but it was noticeable.
"At last, the Louds are here!" Mrs. Santiago said, going up to Lynn Sr.; if he was holding an infant and Leni's hand, she would have shook his.
"You did it again! That spider float never fails to spook me," Lynn Sr. said.
"Um...Daddy...I thought...you were not scared..." Leni said, staring up at him to clear her fogged train of thought.
Mrs. Santiago chuckled.
"Oh Lynn, your girl cracks me up."
Lynn Sr. followed to until he looked back down at Leni and tried explaining to her that he was giving a compliment. Unfortunately, Leni didn't smile; she merely stood there, emotionally neutral.
"Hi Lori," Bobby said walking up to her.
"Oh...hi Bobby," she said with uncertainty.
The two of them stood there in silence, trying to think of something to say to each other.
"How about that homework Mrs. Turner gave us?" Bobby said, throwing up a grin, "It was hard..."
"Uh yeah," Lori said, although without the smile. At that moment, she could understand how Leni could walk around with a blank face most of the time.
Before the scene could get more awkward, the others had picked out their candy. Lori darted away, remotely hearing Bobby tell her goodbye. Not much was said of it, though as the Louds made the walk back home.
By the time they returned, trick-or-treating had ended and the streets had mostly cleared out. As they headed inside, the kids went into the kitchen and placed their bags on the kitchen table. Rita told them that they could get unchanged as she and Lynn Sr. examined the mountain of candy for anything suspicious. Because there was so much, the sorting lasted an excruciating twenty minutes—more than enough time to throw off the costumes and chuck them in the closet. The girls remained in their respective rooms aside from Lynn, who was downstairs with the parents. It was a boring twenty minutes, as the girls sat on their beds, silent. What was there to talk about after having one of the most exciting nights of the year and waiting for the real reward to be enjoyed? They all knew what was in store, and enough energy was spent on thinking about the tastes that were to come.
Eventually, the parents called down the girls; as they expected, no wrappers were ripped. The four older girls paced downstairs to the kitchen, where they were greeted by their respective bags.
As they all stood there in the kitchen, Luna went up to Leni.
"Here," she said, holding up her bag, "take one."
Leni wasn't sure how to go about this. She raised her hand and left it in the air, unsure of where to direct it. Luna was patient, though, and gave her big sister all the time she needed to make a choice. After looking for a while, Leni settled for one of the few Mershey bars Luna had acquired. But Luna merely smiled and hugged her sibling.
"Thank you, Leni. You're the best!"
And for the second time that day, Leni smiled back and embraced her sister.