Jack O' Lanterns, Moonlight, and Magic
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman
Chapter Three: The Next Move

Had I'd known I'd opened Pandora's Box at Spirit Halloween, I'd hasten to close it. But at the time I had no idea that I'd opened it. To me the costume was just a costume, but as so often the case with me, it was the first hint of things to come. After concluding my business there I turned toward home and around early afternoon I found myself turning into the driveway. The first thing I noticed was mom's car was gone and so was dad's truck.

Now, I'm sure my mom and dad would have been fine with me buying a Halloween costume that was meant for a girl. My dad was an easy going fellow and nothing really bothered him. Well the lack of rain was bothering him and the fact the fish weren't biting really bothered him, but that's a different story. And mom, well after her nephew turned out to be her niece she had to take a good hard look at herself. She was also a nurse, so she pretty much accepted all kinds and types of people.

Anyway both were gone. And so I walked my bike around the house and locked it up tightly in the shed. And then removing my newly bought costume from the wire basket I entered into the house through the backdoor. The house was dark as expected and warm. Slowly I closed the door behind me and locked it. Once it was locked I started to walk toward the kitchen. There on the wooden table I found a note.

The note read as followed;

Willow,

I'll be working a double tonight at the hospital. We are short staffed and we could use the extra money. There is frozen pizza in the freezer and left over meatloaf in the fridge. Dad was told to go to Memphis on business. No idea when he'll be back. You will find a list of chores he wants you to do on your desk. Also on your computer desk you will find an envelope with your normal weekly allowance. Also Aunt Pandora dropped off another envelope for you. She told me it's your wages for the last two weeks of helping her and cousin Cerridwen around the house and in the herb garden. Both of the envelopes contain cash money. So you don't need to worry about going to the bank. As always you can call me on my phone if you need anything. Daddy forgot his phone again.

Be good, and remember Aunt Pandora and Uncle Rowan are only a piece up the road if you need them. Love you.

Mom.

PS.

Don't forget to feed the feral cats. You will find the kitty feed in the hot water closet in the box marked with 'Kitty feed'. Remember one cup per cat. And remember Sparta is expecting kittens soon. She is the orange cream colored cat with yellow eyes. The one with the pink collar. So give her three cups of food. I should be home tomorrow morning around five or six. If you have breakfast ready I'll add an extra seven dollars to your next allowance packet. - Mom.

I blinked, you see for generations there has been a colony of feral cat's that have made the Hollow their home. The Whitethorn Clan, that to say my large extended family had taken them in and each member fed them and tried their best to provide some form of shelter. The cat's kept down mice that often feasted on the gardens many of us kept.

Anyway, first thing first. The first thing I did was put the costume safety into my room. Well I gently hung it up in my closet. The second thing I did was go into the hot water closet and there I found a cardboard box that had “Kitty Feed” written across the front in black marker.

Inside the box, I found a large bag of cat food. Shrugging my shoulders I used an earthenware pitcher I found inside the bag. Once the pitcher was filled with brown, and yellow pellets I walked outside and filled up several plastic feed bowls with the brown and yellow looking pellets. A moment later, a massive collection of cats in all colors came out from the tree line. Shrugging my shoulders again I stepped back inside.

As I slid the screen door shut, I heard a loud chorus of meows, and hisses and other cat-like noises. Including fighting. Dad said cats were good for only three things; fucking, fighting, and hunting. Mom said they kept ghosts away, dad said they attracted ghosts. Neither could agree on their usefulness but both agreed that they needed to be fed, sheltered and taken care of.

Of course we had a local animal shelter in town, and of course the right thing to do would be to put all the feral cats in the local animal shelter or get them fixed. But here the thing is, the colony was massive, nobody knew how many cats had settled in the many hidden glens, hollows, creek bottoms and hillsides of the Hollow. Those cats had been here since the Whitethorn Clan had first settled the Hollow and would remain here as long as the Whitethorn Clan remained firmly rooted here. Anyway, enough talk about cats.

Anyway once the cats were fed, I decided I needed to get something to eat. Pizza seemed like the most logical choice here, so shrugging my shoulders I went into the freezer and pulled out a small, square box of pizza. It seemed Totino's Pizza was on the lunch menu. For those who do not know, Totino's is an American brand of frozen pizza. The pizzas normally come in a square shape, the cheese is not really cheese and the meat is not really meat. But they are cheap and mom can buy them in bulk from Sam's Club so that is a plus. It normally takes three to get me full, but today I settled on two.

As I pulled open the pizzas from their plastic wrapper, I started to think. What was I going to do with myself tonight? I mean what could I do? I normally spent my Saturday Night's at home. Normally I would get a short cat-nap in the afternoon so I could stay up all hours of the night watching anime on Adult Swim.

But that seemed so anti-social. Instead I decided I should go out tonight.. there was this old skating rink. The skating rink was located on a two lane concrete road. The road was broken to hell and back, shattered and broken like the many dreams of the people who lived on the road. The road ran through the woods, both sides of the woods were thick with the trees growing so close together that wind could not blow between the trunks. Even the rays of the morning sun could not shine between them.

The road also ran past abandoned farms, and overgrown cow ponds, those were ponds that had been dug by the hill-cattleman they were once used to water their herds of hill cattle. Sometimes they were even used for fishing; most had once been stocked with bass, perch, and maybe even catfish. Adding a bit of color to the whole scene were a few old, run down gas stations that had clearly seen better days.
Most of these gas stations were old wooden or brick buildings.

“That's something boy Willow would do.” I said taking a deep breath as I dialed the toaster oven to three hundred and fifty degrees. “Boy Willow would stay home, and stay up all night watching anime. Girl Willow would go out and explore the world.” I said reaching into the toaster oven I quickly pulled out the metal tray that was inside the oven and without giving it much though I tossed the two pizzas into the tray and pushed it back into the oven.

“Why am I thinking about what Girl Willow would do anyway?!” I muttered as I eased my bottom down into a wooden chair. I heaved a deep sigh and fixed my eyes on the ceiling above me. “Plus it's not like I have anything she could wear! Save that costume.”

As I watched the fake cheese on top of the pizza start to melt and brown, the gears inside my head started to turn. I hear them turning. And that was a bit frightening. Soon the smell of overly salted pepperoni cubes starting to brown filled the air along with the smell of fake, plastic cheese starting to brown and that smell made my mouth start to water.

“I guess, I guess I could 'borrow' some clothes from mom.” I mutter aloud. That's right, I would borrow something from mom's closet. Mom and I were about the same height, we weighed about the same. And sometimes she was even mistaken for my big sister. And I was sure mom would have something in her closet I could 'borrow' for a night on the town.

“I guess I could also 'borrow' some of mom's make-up and perfume too..” At that moment the oven dinged and I knew the pizza was done. And so allowing my mind to roam, I pulled on an oven mitts and pulled out the tray. Two, square pizzas greeted me. The plastic cheese had melted and in some spots had turned brown. And the small cubes of pepperoni had also browned. The crust though still seemed white as lard.

“Maybe I should borrow her razor and stuff too.” I mused aloud as I scooped the two pizzas up and placed them atop one another. Then with my pepperoni pizza sandwich in hand, I started toward the table. I eased my plate down and went once more toward the fridge, This time to fetch a ice cold root beer. After all, root beer goes hand and hand with pizza.

“I think I'll do that.” I said, smiling a little. “What mom won't know won't hurt her.” I then bowed my head and in a sing-song type of voice I said.

“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below, Praise him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.” I paused and then lifted my eyes toward the sky. I walked in two faiths: the old pagan faith of my father and the Anglican faith of my mother. My mother had been a Croft before she had married my father. And the Crofts to one were Anglican. And yet my mother had not only kept her Anglican Faith but had blended it with my father's old pagan faith.

And so my prayer before the meal said, my food blessed I started to eat my heart attack on a plate!And so another chapter came to an end.