When Halloween Came Early
A Story That Isn't a Ghost Story
When Rishi walked in the door at his father-in-law’s house, he was surprised to see his father-in-law give him a quizzical look.
“What are you doing here?” the old man asked.
“I brought Jamie and Sara,” said Rishi. “Didn’t you get my texts this morning? Lauren and I are going out of town for the weekend and Iris said we could leave the kids with you. She said that she was out running errands, but that you would be home. So, I came to drop them off.”
“Oh,” said his father-in-law. “Where are Jamie and Sara?”
“They’re out playing in your yard. They brought their Halloween costumes – Halloween starts in September as far as they’re concerned. Anyway, did you see my texts? You seem surprised to see us.”
“I ditched that bloody thing,” said his father-in-law. “More trouble than it’s worth.”
“You got rid of your phone, Terry?” asked Rishi.
“Yes. Did it first thing after that business on Wednesday. That gave me a spook. I’m not about to let that happen again.”
Rishi cocked his head. “You mean… the national emergency alert?” he asked.
“Yes,” muttered his father-in-law, getting up from the chair where he’d been reading. “If they have access to my phone, who knows what they have access to,” he said.
“I see,” said Rishi, not wishing to start an argument. He needed to be in the car and pulling out of the driveway in the next five minutes if he wanted to pick up Lauren in time to make the train station by ten.
“It’s an invasion of property is what it is,” his father-in-law said. “Tell me, when has such an alert ever warned this country about a nuclear war or some such thing?”
“You’ve got me there.”
“My buddy Kyle said it was supposed to send out a pulse that turned anyone who’s got the vaccine into a zombie. I told him he was full of it. I got two doses – not that I’m getting any more – and I ain’t been turned into a zombie.”
“What did he say to that?” asked Rishi.
“He said he knew a guy who got turned into a zombie. He’d had six shots. I called bull. Asked him where that guy was now. Kyle just said he’d gotten over it. As if you could get over being turned into a zombie.”
Rishi decided the best course was to nod along and move towards the door. “I’ll go and call the children,” he said. He opened the door and leaned out. “Jamie, Sara, come inside and say hi to your grandpa Terry,” he called.
“It’s a perfectly fine day out,” said Terry. “Let ‘em play. They don’t need to be inside. They should be out there having a good time. Lord knows they spend enough time inside a school building every week. Why, when I was their age, we were out of the door at six in the morning on a Saturday and we didn’t come back ‘til dark. And not even then, sometimes. I’ll go out to them.”
By fits and starts, Rishi managed to say goodbye and drive away. Terry, after being hugged by both his grandchildren, found himself being asked for candy. He said that Halloween wasn’t until the end of the month and that when he was a boy a holiday was one day and not a whole month.
“So, no candy?” asked Sara, who was only four.
“Maybe if you’re good.”
He decided to bring his book and his second cup of coffee out on the porch so that he could keep an eye on the kids while they played. In this manner, he lost himself for a few hours and forgot to eat lunch, a fact of which he was reminded only when Sara and Jamie came up to him and asked if they could have something to eat. He took them inside and sat them down at the counter. He wondered when his wife would be back from her errands, but decided that since she was away the kids were getting bacon sandwiches for lunch. He set about making himself a bacon sandwich, too.
“Grandpa Terry, tell us a story.”
“Yeah, a ghost story!”
“A ghost story?” he asked. There came a chorus of yeses.
“Well,” he said. “Let me think.”
As he plated their sandwiches and passed the plates across the counter, he began.
“When I was your age,” he said. “I didn’t believe in ghosts…