Jack O' Lanterns, Moonlight, and Magic
by
Rebecca Anna Coleman

Chapter Five: A Sudden Change of Plans

There is an old saying that folks in Mississippi are fond of throwing around. The saying goes like this “In Mississippi if you don't like the weather. Stick around it would change in five minutes.” And well while the day had started out pleasant enough. By sunset things had well changed. A storm had brown up. And the rain was coming down in sheets, thick rain drops bounced off the ground. And the wind was blowing so strong I could see waves forming on the pond behind the house.

Speaking of the pond, water was just gushing through the overflow pipe. The sight of that alone caused my fingers to tremble and my blood to run cold. The old black and red weather radio my dad kept on the kitchen countertop sparkled to life and the local weather station was predicting record breaking rainfall.

And well I just stood there in the kitchen, looking out the window, pouting as I watched the rain come down at a slant. My dad had been bitching about the lack of rain, now he would be bitching about having too much rain as I watched the torrent wash away his garden and send what plants that had climbed through the harsh summer get washed down the hill. And well I was mad.. I had wanted to dance the night away.

You see, I'd been entertaining visions of spinning around the dance floor wearing swishy skirts, flirting shamelessly with all the boys. Of sitting on a wooden bench sandwiched between two, handsome country boys dressed in flannel shirts and jeans. All of them fawned over me, hand feeding me slices of greasy pizza and rubbing my leg with their rough hands and squeezing my shoulder.

“Fuck.” I said, taking a deep breath. “Looks like I'm staying inside tonight.”

And with that being said I turned around and peered around the kitchen. “I guess.. It's Adult Swim night tonight.” I said, sighing.

A few seconds later I found myself walking back into the guest bedroom. And once more I found myself digging through the closet. I was a bit disappointed that the flirty top and swishy skirt that paired with legging and boots would have to wait for another day I'd decided to go with instead a flannel night gown. A flannel nightgown, with my hair tied back in pigtails and twisted into braids.

After a few fruitless minutes of searching I finally found what I needed. An old fashioned flannel nightgown. At this point the rain had turned to sleet. And one quick out the guest bedroom window told me it was going one hell of a night. Ice pellets were bouncing off the ground. One minute it was raining and now it was sleeting.

Anyway, I slipped out of the outfit I was wearing and slipped into the old fashioned flannel nightgown. I then walked into the kitchen. It seemed frozen pizza was on the menu again tonight. Really I wished mom would invest in something beside frozen pizza. Well.. I mean I could have thawed something up. But that would have effort, and effort was something I was lacking right now.

And so once I'd slipped the nightgown over my head. I felt like somebody had flipped a mental switch. I loved the way the flannel felt. Now, the crowning piece of furniture in the croom was an old vanity. Sitting upon the surface of the vanity was a old fashioned comb. SlowlyI picked up the comb and started to brush my hair. It took me ten blissful minutes to complete the required one hundred and fifty strokes to transform my hair into silk.

Once I'd achieved that silky feeling. Once I was finished brushing out my hair I pulled open the drawer of the vanity and looked inside. And much to my amazement and joy I found a stunning collection of hair ribbons, clips, Victorian style hair combs, hair claws, and finally a metal hair roller.

With nimble fingersI styled two sections of my hair into pigtails and then I twisted those two sections into two perfectly braided sections of hair. Once that was done I walked into the kitchen, once I walked into the kitchen I went into the freezer and pulled out a frozen pizza. This was a more meal size pizza.

I preheated the oven and once it dinged I slid the pizza into the oven. According to the back of the box, it would take around fifteen to twenty two minutes for the thing to cook. And so while the pizza cooked I started to roam around the house, you know checking on things and making sure everything was secure.

Anyway, once the pizza was done, I slipped on an oven mit and opened the door. Once the oven door was open I used the oven mit to pull out the iron rack and then I slipped the pizza on a cutting board. I then sliced it into slices and peered at it.

Anyway the dinner was cooked, and so I decided to take two ibuprofen, which I washed down with a can of Great-Value Root Beer and then well I decided to eat. At this point the sleet had turned to snow and the snow was starting to stick. And as expected all eighteen of the feral cats were bedding down on the front porch. And the reason I was taking ibuprofen? Because I felt a fever coming on.

“I wonder if the Goddess had saved me tonight.” I muttered under my breath. “I wonder if this crazy weather was all part of her plans..” Now mom had raised me in the proud traditions of the Wiccan Faith. I mean it seemed our whole neighborhood was Wiccan.

Pizza finished, I tossed my empty plate into the dishwasher and smiled.

Once last check around the house, you know, making sure all the feral cats were bedded down, and snuggling together in their make-shift animal houses mom had made for them, windows locked, door locked, stove off. Teeth brushed and then it was time to settle down to watch hour after hour of brain rotting anime.

Starting off this anime marathon was Higurashi, that famous anime where one of the main characters goes a little off the rails and kills the others before killing themselves. Oh and they're forced to relive the events that lead them going off the rails. Because they're trapped in an endless loop of slaughter, fan-service, and insanity. After a dozen or so episodes of that we have Dragon Ball Z, an anime about boys, who like watching muscle bound apes beating the tar out of each other.

A few episodes of that brings us to Sailor Moon.. Girls in cute Sailor Style Uniforms beat the tar out of the monster of the week. After another dozen episodes of that we come to Gakkou No Kaiden. A Middle School girl must seal away the demon of the week using the magic book her mom left her.

And the list goes on till I feel my eyelids growing heavy and then, I find myself falling asleep.