Halloween
by shalimar
“What are you going to wear to the Halloween party, Stephie?” Shelly asked one of her thirteen-year-old twins.
“I don’t think I’m going to the party,” the teen replied. “I don’t ever win the best costume.”
“You are going,” Shelly replied. “You will have a good time even if you don’t win.”
“But, ma!”
“We parents set up these parties on Halloween to prevent ‘The Wilding’ that children your age get into on Halloween. There is not going to be an argument and you will be in costume.”
“Do I have to?”
Shelly gave her daughter THAT look.
“OK, but what will I be?”
“You have pestered me for that motorbike so why not dress as a Hell’s Angel?”
“Humm. A biker.”
The tomboy thought for a moment about that possibility, but rejected it because something wasn’t right with the idea.
“How about being Bonnie Parker?” her mother asked, thinking about her daughter’s phony criminal thoughts. “We can get you a toy Tommy gun and make a dress from the 1930’s.
“Still not right,” Stephi answered.
“Marie Antoinette? I can fix it that you’re holding your bloody head.”
“Nope”
“Lizzie Borden?”
“Who?”
”Lizzie Borden gave her mother forty whacks. When she was done she gave her father forty-one. She was an ax murderer about 1880.”
“Ewew.”
“Look on the bright side, you can say, ‘Here’s Johnny!’”
“I don’t think so, ma.”
“Then what?”
“What are Maggie and Baruchah going as?”
“They asked me if we can go through the neighborhood as witches,” Shelly replied. “We will be ‘good witches’ in pink.”
“Not me. I’m just a tomboy, ma.”
“Victor/Victoria?”
“Too easy.”
“We’ll think of something.”
The two ladies sat and thought. Nothing came out of either’s head for a long time. Then suddenly Shelly put her hands on Stephie’s shoulders and looked intently at her daughter. She then picked up Stephie’s chin and moved it from sided to side.
“Humm,” Shelly thought out loud. “It may just work.”
“Why don’t I think I’m going to like this?” asked Stephie.
“How about something completely out of character?” Shelly asked. “How about being a beauty contest winner?”
“I can’t. I’m ugly.”
“You are pretty, and getting prettier every day.” Shelly replied.
“I am?” Stephie smiled.
“You are very pretty,” her mother said. “With the right dress and hairstyle and makeup you would look beautiful.”
“I don’t know,” came the young woman’s reply.
“I’ll even let you wear my diamond drop earrings you like.”
“How do you know about that?”
“Ally, Elsa, Issy and you were at my dresser when I passed my bedroom a few weeks ago and I overheard you talking about them. I smiled when I heard that.”
“So much for being a tomboy.”
“I’m letting you be the person you will become. Right now you need to be a tomboy. I understand that, even if I don’t like it. And when you discover who you really are I know you’ll prefer jeans to dressy dresses. But I think you will like the woman you will become.”
“Thank you, mom.”
Stephi gave her mother a great hug. Her mom isn’t as bad as she thought although the girl was still in the “MOTHER, PHHHHHHLLLLLEASE!” stage.
“I was afraid I will be just like you,” Stephie confessed.
“In some respects you will be. In other ways you will be different. I know that some day you will say, ‘I’m just like my mom! Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!’ I know because I’ve said that about me.”
“Oh! Oh!”
“If we’re lucky you will pick up all the good things about me and none of the bad.”
“I hope so,” Stephie replied. “So I can get my ears pierced?”
“Only one hole in each ear.”
“But, mom…”
“No ‘but, moms!’ ”
“Aw.”
“And borrow one of my three inch heels so you can practice walking in them before the party. But let me know which ones so I know where to go if I need them.”
With that the two women started to make dinner for the family. In the coming days the two went shopping for a beautiful gown when Stephie also had her ears pierced.
However, a few days later Stephie changed her mind, “Mom I’d rather be an ice skater.”
.
“We can handle that,” Shelly replied. “But you will have to use that gown we bought for something else.”
Stephie frowned. She wasn’t too happy with the prospect of going to a formal affair.
“Yes, mother,” came the thirteen-year-old’s reply.
Shelly gave a silent sigh. She knew those words said that Stephie was placating her mother for the time being. It is part of the game that eventually will lead to Stephie’s independence, something that Shelly knew would eventually come.
“We’ll look for the items tomorrow at the mall,” Shelly said. “I have an idea what would look good on you. Let me know what you want.”
The next day they went shopping for the outfit. Getting the skates was the easy part. Stephie described the outfit she wanted. Shelly agreed. It would be a baby blue leotard with small flashing beads, and a matching pair of tights. Shelly bought some baby blue lace to make a blouse. They also bought some matching beads. They were able to get a navy blue jacket at a sporting goods store. Finally, Shelly bought some thread for the embroidering that would have to be done on the Jacket.
Meanwhile, Shelly started making the outfits for Maggie, Baruchah, little Michelle and herself. In between making the witches’ outfits, Shelly and Stephie made the blouse and embroidered the jacket. The jacket would have a picture of an ice skater in the middle of Stephie’s name. The skater was designed to be in the middle of a spin. Like Stephie, the skater had auburn hair down to her shoulder blades. Sizing everything for Shelly and her family was a chore that gave the young woman pleasure. The fact that her sister, Jenna, was able to help while making the matching ballerina dresses Cathy, and Jenna would wear made the time fly faster.
Finally it was October 30th, time for the final fittings and checking the costumes. Shelly put Baruchah and Maggie into their witch’s outfit and checked the look.
“Stay still, Baruchah,” her mother said. “Or I’m going to stick a pin in you.”
“Don’t do dat!”
“Then stand still.”
“I am,” Baruchah replied as she danced on the stool.
Shelly sighed. Getting a little one into a bath is easier than have her stand still. At least this little one was giving her mother only a little problem.
Cathleen giggled.
“And you are more of an iggly, piggly, wiggly worm than her,” Jenna told her three-year-old daughter as she tried to fix her baby’s ballerina costume.
Just then, Stephanie came down the stairs wearing her costume.
“Yous looks like booteeeful ice princess,” Michelle said to her sister.
“Thank you,” Stephie said as she curtsied. “And so are you, baby witch. Mom? How do I look?”
Shelly stopped what she was doing and looked at her daughter.
“Turn around slowly,” Shelly said.
As Stephie turned, Shelly looked at her daughter with a critical eye. Fortunately, nothing was out of place with her daughter’s outfit.
“Go upstairs and get ready for the beauty parlor,” Shelly said. “Daddy will drive us there.”
“We going too?” asked Michelle.
“We are, princess,” Shelly replied to her two-year-old. “We’re all getting our hair done.”
Norman helped Shelly put the children into their car seats in the minivan. As she put Michelle into her baby seat she remembered the day she got the child. Before her transition Michelle was a thirty-three-year-old male to female transsexual with severe multiple sclerosis on welfare.
“Are you sure you want to be two?” Shelly asked the wheelchaired TS.
“I want you as my mommy, and I really want to know what it is like growing up properly. Much younger, and I might not remember I was once physically a boy.”
“I have to warn you that my mom also had multiple sclerosis, so you may get it too.”
“I’ll take that chance. If I think I have it again I can have me checked and stop the damage before it gets bad. Now there are medicines that can maintain me at that minor damage to my body. Someday there may be a cure.”
The next day everyone was ready. Norman and Rick got the older girls to their respective parties while Jenna and Shelly took their little munchkins trick-or-treating. They were joined by Shelly’s daughter, Rachael taking her Sara trick-or-treating. Going from house to house was fun for the little ones as they giggled and talked to friends. Sometimes the children held their mothers’ hands; sometimes they held each other’s. At times the women stopped and talked to their neighbors.
Then the group ran into Kennedy Harper and her mother.
“See?” Baruchah said. “I tolded ya dat we’s witches.”
“Wow,” Kennedy said to her classmate. “Yous look like real witches!”
Kennedy was dressed as a princess.
“Of course wes is real witches,” Maggie said with pride.
Shelly looked at Kennedy’s mother, Colleen, with that knowing look that mothers have that said they understood kids. Colleen gave back that same knowing smile.
“And I’s a princess,” Kennedy said to Maggie.
“Mommy calls Sara, ‘Princess’ because that is what her name means. Sometimes she calls me that too, because she said to her I am her little princess too,” Baruchah commented.
“I’s a real princess,” Kennedy replied. “And yous no witches.”
“Tonight they are, sweetie,” Colleen explained.
Shelly saw that despite what Colleen said Kennedy was getting angry so she started to drag Maggie and Baruchah away from their classmate before there was a major problem. Shelly then said goodbye to Colleen.
As they walked away, Shelly pulled an apple out of her pocketbook and tossed it onto the ground near the Harpers. Before it hit the sidewalk it burst into a ball of flame. The fire rose slowly as it grew bigger. When it was about ten yards above the ground and three feet across it burst. Little white flowers fell to the ground. Neither the witch parents nor their children waited to see the looks on the Harpers’ faces.
When they arrived home, Jenna, Rachael and Shelly took the goodies from the children to inspect the contents. They even checked the food with magic to make sure it was safe for the children to eat. They were thankful that nothing was contaminated. They had a sworn duty to bring to justice at the Witches’ Court, anyone trying to hurt the neighboring kids by tampering with the food. They then gave the little ones some of the candy as a reward for their adventure as little witches and a ballerina.
Later that evening when Stephanie came home she was smiling.
“I won second prize, mama, and I met this boy,” she said as she hugged Shelly. “We danced together and talked most of the party. He says I’m pretty and we’re going to a movie Saturday night. His name is Sean and lives a few blocks away.”
