Ghost Granny (10 page)

“But you, at least I think it was you, maybe
it was someone else, but someone introduced him as your son.”

“I’ve come to think of him that way. His
mother never came looking for him and we tried finding her, but no
luck. This was about nine months ago. Once we got into the village,
people were so nice and my truck was pretty well wrecked from
sliding into the side of rocks by the exit ramp. We stayed at the
hotel for a couple of nights, made sure Max was fed and had warm
clothes. After that, we met Luna and she offered me a job of
caretaker for her property and things just fell into place. I do
think of Max as my son, but he really isn’t related to us. Isabel
was offered a job at the school working with the kids doing crafts
and art, and then when Luna found out she could bake and use her
artistic side with chocolates, she was asked to do the candy for
the Chocolate shop as well.”

“What does Max say about who he is and where
he is from?” Catherine wondered out loud.

“Never said much. He seems well adjusted in
every way and physically he is fine, but Isabel and I can’t help
but wonder too why he shows no interest in finding out where he
belongs.” Sebastian said.

“Maybe he belongs here, with you.”

“May be, truth is, I wanted to stick around
to make sure he was O.K. and to wait with him for his mother to
come back looking for him. He has never mentioned a father or any
brothers or sisters. He does not play well with others, so I was
glad to see him and Cody getting along together as well as they
do.”

“I am glad too. Cody, being an only child,
has been alone too much in his life.”

“Catherine, I don’t want to pry.” Sebastian
started to say.

“I know, truth is, Cody’s father, my husband
David, was killed in Iran. Cody was very young at the time and
really has no memories of his dad, none that he has talked about at
least.”

“I’m sorry. Isabel and I have been pretty
much alone in our lives as well. We had an abusive father and our
mother died several years ago. We have always stuck together. Our
father died and we were actually looking for a new place to settle
in when the snow storm caught us. Now, I can’t imagine wanting to
live anywhere else.” Sebastian said, handing Catherine a cup of hot
chocolate that he got at a booth near the barn.

Catherine was thinking that there was
something she wanted to ask Sebastian about something he said
earlier, but she could not remember quite what it was now. Cody and
Max ran up to them and Cody was telling them that the pig he picked
to win was named Pepper and the one Max picked was Salt. There were
a couple of other pigs in the race named Sugar and Spice. They all
stood at the fence cheering the piglets on. It was a lot of fun
watching them squeal and run around the pen. Afterwards, Sebastian
led the little group to the big smoke grills.

“Time to get busy cooking.”

“There are so many people here.” Catherine
said. “Can I help you, or do you know where Isabel is and if she is
working on something I could help her out with?”

“No, haven’t seen her since we got here. She
might be in the barn. The doors don’t open there until it gets
dark. Strict orders from Luna.”

“That is what I wanted to ask you,
Sebastian. You said that you were hired to be care keeper for
Luna’s property. I thought that her sister Thelma owned the houses
and land over the hill.”

“Far as I know, Luna hired me.” Sebastian
said, filling the inside of the grill with hamburgers and hot
dogs.

“Luna hired me for the Chocolate Shop and to
house sit Twinkle as well.”

“House sit Twinkle?”

“I know, it sounded kinda strange to me as
well. I mean, you, Isabel or even Max are certainly capable of
feeding the cat and seeing to its care, so why me and Cody?”

“I don’t really know, I just assumed you
were looking for a house to rent and that was it. I remember
teasing you about Twinkle being the reason you two were there, but
I honestly was just fooling around. I am glad you two are there.”
Sebastian winked at her just as a couple of teenagers walked up
with their arms full of buns and plastic plates.

Cody and Max had run off again somewhere, so
she walked towards the Rec Center building. Along the way people
stopped her to chat. She stopped to say hello to Lynn from the
department store and others who either knew her from Thelma’s
Chocolate Shop or from Cody winning the pumpkin mile. That seemed
like a life time ago to Catherine.

“Hi Tinkle Bell!” Isabel said walking up to
Catherine. Isabel was dressed like a bumble bee in yellow and
black. “Hi, you look so cute!” Catherine told her. “You are no
slouch yourself with those curls.” Isabel answered back. “Did you
just get here?”

“Oh no, Cody and I have been here for hours.
Cody has been running around with Max having a ball. He even won a
ribbon at the big maze. I was actually looking for you. Is there
anything I can help you with?”

“Glutton for punishment? You were a life
saver last night.” Isabel told her. Just then Cindy and Jill walked
up to them. Jill was dressed like a big puppy dog and Cindy looked
gorgeous, as always. .

“Cleopatra?” Catherine said. “You look
amazing.” “Who is Cleopatra?” Cindy asked, looking a bit confused.
Catherine was also confused, but she did not want to point out that
appeared to be the costume Cindy had on. She quickly changed the
subject.

“Have you tasted any of the cookies that
Isabel and I made last night? Some of the booths have them with hot
chocolate. Max and Cody decorated them.”

“You and Isabel made those delicious cookies
really fancy.” Jill said. “Yes, but you should have seen Catherine
last night, she looked like she had dumped a bag of flour over her
head.” Cindy laughed. “I don’t know about you girls, but I am off
to find me a hamburger.” “I’ll join you.” Jill offered. “See you
two later.”

Catherine was about to ask Isabel if Cindy
had been at the house last night and how she could have seen her
with flour all over her, when a big gust of wind blew their
way.

“With these costumes having wings, we might
just take flight if it gets any windier.” Isabel said, just as Luna
walked up to them. “There you two girls are. Are you enjoying the
festivities so far?”

Catherine and Isabel assured her that they
were having fun. “I will see the both of you in the Rec Center
then, not until dark though. Thank you both so much for all of your
hard work. What wonderful additions you have made to our
community.” Luna said. Catherine was about to say something when
Luna either sneezed, or pretended to, and blue glitter rained down
among them.

When the glitter settled to the ground,
Catherine had forgotten what she and Isabel had been speaking about
just a moment before. “Are you getting hungry, Isabel? I think I
could use a hot dog about now.” “Sounds good” Isabel agreed and the
two young women walked off in the direction of the grill.

The day was winding down and along with it,
the sun. It was almost time for the Recreation Center to open its
doors. Catherine and Isabel had been sitting at a picnic table
talking about the day when a gust of wind blinded them for a
moment. When they opened their eyes there was a zombie falling
towards them. The two ladies jumped up just in time to avoid being
crushed by the very large zombie who fell at their feet.

“Are you O.K.?” Isabel asked the zombie.
“Yes, how clumsy of me, I am so sorry!” The zombie said. “I don’t
know how I lost my balance. Sorry if I scared you.”

“We are fine, did you trip on something?”
Catherine asked the zombie. “Not sure. Oh, I am Nick.” The zombie
offered them his rather big furry hand to shake and then laughed.
“So much for first impressions.”

Catherine and Isabel introduced themselves
and started to chat about the day to their new zombie friend. Nick
had a nice voice and although it was hard to see what he actually
looked like under all that zombie make-up, you could tell that he
had nice features too.

Sebastian walked up with Max and Cody. “You
guys ready to go inside now? Oh, I see you’ve met my sister, Nick.”
Sebastian said to the zombie. “Oh, which one is your sister?” Nick
asked. “I am.” Isabel told him. “How do you know my brother?”

“Nick has been a big help with the heavy
lifting for the party and has helped me out on a few other
projects. I’m surprised you two haven’t met before.” Sebastian
said.

“Can we go in now?” Cody asked. Isabel
looked up at the zombie. “Would you like to join us, Nick? That is,
if you’re not here with someone already.” “I would love to.” Nick
answered as Sebastian and Catherine smiled at each other.

They walked to the front of the building
where a big line had already formed. The doors to the building were
still locked. A man’s voice over the loud speaker told the crowd to
be prepared to be amazed. Just then all of the surrounding lights
went dark. All the areas like the barn and dunk tank and other
attractions that had been brightly lit up until now, went dark.
They heard the wolves howling, which Catherine recognized as being
from the bell near the top of the hill. Cody pressed closer to his
mother and she smiled down at him, putting her arm around his
shoulder.

Lights came back on, but they were lights in
front of the building where all the people were standing. They were
bright orange and when they blinked off for a few seconds and then
came back on, they noticed that the double doors had indeed opened.
There was a large structure there that looked like a deranged
clown. Everyone had to step into the clown’s mouth to get inside
the building. You had to enter one at a time and the back of the
clown’s mouth was covered with a black sheet so when someone
stepped in, the people behind them could not see where they
went.

Catherine was glad when Cody grabbed for her
hand and they walked into the mouth of the clown together. You
heard screaming every time someone entered, but when you actually
walked through it, you knew it was just screaming on speakers, not
actually the people who walked in ahead of you that were
screaming.

A couple of teenage boys in the angel of
death costumes led each person who walked through the mouth of the
clown to a specific table they were to sit at. When all of the
people were inside and seated, the lights went out and everyone was
in total darkness. Despite herself, Catherine let out a little
yelp.

It took just a minute or two for her eyes to
adjust to the darkness and when she could begin to make out forms
again she saw blue lights shooting out with blue smoke from several
angles. The effect reminded her of a rock concert, although she had
never actually been to one. The blue light beams crisscrossed and
the smoke became thicker until finally all you saw before you was
blue smoke. It did not burn the eyes, nor make you sneeze, but it
was thick. Then, the lights went out again.

When they came back on, the lights on the
stage centered on a spot in the middle of the stage. A hole opened
and slowly a figure started to rise from the floor. There stood
Luna. Everyone clapped. Luna thanked everyone for being there and
made special mention of the ones who worked so hard to make the day
a success. She pointed out the table where Sebastian’s giant
pumpkin had been placed and had Sebastian stand up to loud
clapping.

She told the crowd that this was a night of
magic.

The lights flickered and then rested on a
table to the left of the stage where the almost life sized
chocolate Luna stood. Luna praised Isabel and everyone clapped when
Isabel stood and waved. To everyone’s amazement the chocolate Luna
lifted from the table and swirled around in a cloud of blue smoke,
then when the smoke was gone, the chocolate Luna was also gone.

“Do not worry, each of you will receive a
piece of chocolate Luna when you arrive back home tonight. Enjoy
your evening. Happy Halloween!

She then called up all the little boys and
girls from age one to age eight.

The little ones walked around in a circle on
the stage to show their costumes and Luna had a microphone and
asked each child what they were dressed as and if they had any
special Halloween wish. One of the little girls said that she had
lost her teddy bear and missed him. As if by magic, a teddy bear
appeared and Luna handed it to the little girl.

“Wow, Luna is good.” Catherine whispered to
Sebastian. “I wonder how she got that tiny little girl to say
that.”

Next up were the nine to thirteen year olds.
Max was slow to stand. Cody had to almost push him to get him onto
the stage. The wolves howled again and the blue smoke seemed to be
everywhere. Catherine lost sight of Cody for just a moment and felt
her heart lurch. If she was sitting there afraid, she knew Cody
must be very afraid.

When Luna asked Max if he had any special
wish, he looked at her and walked off of the stage. Sebastian
immediately jumped up and led him back to their table. Offering
comfort to the boy, but not asking him why he left the stage.

After the teenagers were called up and left
the stage, Luna called for the adults. Loud sounds of screeching
cats filled the air. Catherine felt silly, but walked up on the
stage at Cody’s insistence and with Sebastian, Isabel and Nick.
There were several other people there, some that Catherine
recognized, but most were strangers to her.

“What do you wish for?” Luna asked them as a
group. All of the adults stood there looking slightly embarrassed,
not knowing if they were supposed to actually answer her or
not.

Behind them Count Dracula flew up. The
children in the audience started to laugh and some pointed, but
Luna had instructed the adults not to turn around. Then Thelma
floated in behind them and did a little dance, which made the
children laugh even harder. Catherine wanted to turn around when
she saw how hard Cody and Max were laughing, but didn’t want to
spoil the fun.