Another Year in the Life
by
Owlcroft
A/N: For InitialLuv, Chazz's godmother
January
Christmas was over, New Year's hadn't been a big deal to the kids anyway, and school was starting again in just two days.
"Papa, can't we do something special today?" asked Beatie plaintively.
Her younger brother Chazz nodded in agreement.
"Sure," said Beetlejuice amenably. "What do you want to do?" Then he had second thoughts and added, "What do you mean by 'special'?"
"Well," Beatie plaited her fingers together and looked at him from under her lashes. "You promised one day to tell us ghost stories."
Chazz lit up at that and beamed at his father.
His father looked at Chazz and then at Beatie. "You are so much like your mother," he said dotingly. Then he grabbed Chazz and swung him up high and said, "You are so much more like me!" and laughed.
Chazz laughed with him and said, "Higher, Papa! Higher!"
ooooo
"Lyds," Beetlejuice whispered while helping her with dinner. "I don't know any ghost stories! I can't just say, 'A ghost woke up one morning and went to the gross-ery store and then came home and had lunch.' That's not what they want." He gave her an imploring look. "But I promised and I can't let them down."
"Easy," she told him, handing him a casserole of mushrooms and fried onions. "Get a book of ghost stories. There must be collections of the best ghost stories, right?"
He kissed her gratefully, being careful with the hot casserole dish. "You are a genius."
And he did find some.
ooooo
So that night was Ghost Story Night. The lights were turned low, the kids and Lydia huddled, wrapped in a duvet, on the floor in front of Beetlejuice and he began. After just a few stories, it was a success, with giggles and oohs of mock fright.
He told them "The Hitchhiker" and then "The Thirteenth Floor". Next was "The Clown Statue" and "Ghost Doll" and "The Golden Hand". Only Lydia knew he was reading the stories in the air behind them. He read them Poe's "The Black Cat" next, but noticed that Chazz was looking a trifle uneasy at that point; after all he was only six. Beatie was fine; she was a mature eleven.
Beetlejuice cocked his head at Lydia to see if she'd noticed that her son was uncomfortable. She looked down at Chazz and put her arm around his shoulders, then nodded at her husband. So he ended with the famous story, "The Ghost of the Bloody Finger". When he finished it growling, "I am the Ghost of the Bloody Finger!" and then in his usual voice, "Do you have a Band-aid?" everyone laughed and the tension oozed out of the room.
It was bedtime anyway by then, and Beetlejuice picked up his son and asked him, "Did you have a good time tonight, chick?"
Chazz clutched at his neck in a fierce hug. "Yeah. Can we have another Ghost Story Night sometime, Papa?"