Tales Around the Jack O'Lantern Read Online Free PDF

brothers, Art and Tom,
were several years older than she and they were star athletes at the high
school.   If Janice could get them to come
to her party, she would have been in the same league as the high school popular
girls.
    “Yeah, well, they don’t go to parties much,” Mary hedged.
“They mostly practice and work out.”
    “But it’s Halloween night,” Janice
argued. “There wouldn’t be any work outs on Halloween.”
    She had a point, Mary thought.   However, she couldn’t come
up with a polite way to tell Janice that her brothers wouldn’t be seen dead at
a middle-school girl’s party. “Well, I’ll ask them and see if they want to
come,” she finally said.
    The girls around the table burst into excited chatter about
the twins, taking Mary’s polite response as sure thing.   Didn’t any of these girls have brothers?   Didn’t they know the last thing older
brothers wanted to do was anything that made their younger sister happy?   Sighing, she took another bite of her sandwich,
which now tasted a little like sawdust, and tried to keep a smile on her face.
    “Oh,” Janice announced as a polite afterthought. “Even if
they can’t, you know, come to my party.   If you want to, you can just come by yourself.”
    #    #    #
    Why is it , Mary
wondered nervously as she stared at her costume in the mirror on Friday
evening, that when you want time to fly
by it never does? But when you want it to just stand still, it flies by?
    She was dressed as witch; black stockings, black tulle skirt
that went to her knees, a black turtleneck and a witch’s hat.   Her brown hair had been caught back in a bun
and she actually had been allowed to wear make-up.   Not the kind that made you look like a clown,
but real make-up that accented your eyes and made your cheeks appear more distinct and rosy.   She felt older and a little braver than
normal, she felt sophisticated.   The
crowning accessory to her costume was the glittering, black domino mask.   It was just beautiful in its simplicity;
silver glitter and sparkling beads outlining the edges and the eye holes. It
covered enough of her face that she was disguised.
    “Mary, you need to hurry or you’ll be late to the party,”
her mother called up the stairs.
    She sighed. Her mother had been more excited than she was
when Mary had told her about the invitation.   She had gone shopping the next day to put together a costume that would
make her daughter feel comfortable in the midst of the other girls.
    “Coming,” Mary called back.   She slipped her jean jacket over her costume and jogged down the stairs.
    “Oh, no, it’s a lovely night. It’s Indian summer,” her
mother said, sliding the jacket from Mary’s shoulders. “You won’t be needing that.”
    “But Mom, I’m more comfortable wearing it,” Mary complained.
    “Hiding inside it, I’d say,” Margaret replied, with a
no-nonsense look on her face. “You go to the party and have fun. You’ll be the
belle of the ball.”
    “Fine. Thanks, Mom,” Mary sighed,
reaching up and giving her mother a kiss on the cheek. “I won’t be too late.”
    “Just have fun, that’s all that matters,” her mother
replied.
    The walk to Janice’s house was actually fun.   Young trick-or-treaters lined the sidewalks,
their bags heavy with their candy and their eager faces ready for more houses
and more doorbells to ring.   They dashed
from house to house as tired parents waited on the sidewalks, calling to their
children and reminding them to say thank you as the treats were dispersed.   Mary grinned, it wasn’t that long ago that
she was one of the children on the doorstops, bag held out eagerly, looking for
her favorite treats.   She really wished
she was still that age.
    She finally reached Janice’s house.   Janice’s dad was a doctor and their house was
huge.   It was the last house before the
forest preserve on Foster Avenue and took up several city lots.   The front lawn was