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October is halfway over and that means one thing: Halloween! Shops are decorating, neighbors are covering their homes in fake spiderwebs, and pumpkin patches are showing up everywhere! Some neighbors seem to be avoiding the holiday and those have become targets for a few pranks. So what are you doing to get ready for Halloween Night?
“Mummy, they have eyeballs! Can we get eyeballs?”
Kirra towed on her mother’s arm as they passed yet another pristine display of Halloween candy, so new and neat that it looked glued together. The gumball eyes seemed to stare right at her.
“They’re following me, Mummy! They want me to buy them!”
“Not now, Kirra,” said her mother. “Maybe next week.”
Next week was much too far. There was so much candy, and the idea of waiting all the way to Halloween for it was almost more than the ten-year-old could bear. Their shopping trip took them past rows of colourful lollies and chocolates, spiderweb string decorations and little black cats. Kirra added a cute skull-shaped trick-or-treat pail to the shopping trolley. Her mother set it back on the shelf. Kirra pouted, sticking her lower lip out until she could see it herself, crossing her eyes to focus.
Her mother ignored her and continued to pick out vegetables for dinner. So mean. Kirra didn’t want boring broccoli. She wanted candy corn and vampire fang gummies and- oh!
Detaching herself from her mother’s hand, Kirra skipped across the aisle to another impressive display, this one a veritable mountain of big orange pumpkins. She circled the whole pile, surveying, and then with careful hands, began to manoeuvre the nicest one down to her level. The others slid a bit, but nothing hit the floor.
The pumpkin was heavier than she expected, and bigger than her own head. Arms weighed low, she trotted back to her mother’s trolley.
“It’s healthy!” she proclaimed in the face of her mother’s disapproval. Her mother sighed, and helped her lift it in.
Later, when dinner was finished, her Daddy helped her carve it. All the pumpkin gunk was scooped out into a big bowl, seeds and gross bits. Kirra put her hand in it, just to check. It was cold and all gooey. Yuck, but properly spooky yuck.
“Can you make it Spiderman?” she asked, as her dad started to cut out orange shapes.
“Uh.” Her dad frowned at the pumpkin, wrinkling his nose. “Let’s go with something simple this year, huh?”
Kirra nodded agreement, not terribly disappointed. He’d never made pumpkins for her when they lived in Australia. He probably needed practice to make a Spiderman. He began cutting triangle teeth, and Kirra picked up the cut-out pieces, laying them in a mosaic on the table beside them.
“So what do you want to dress up as this year?” her father asked.
Kirra shrugged, frowning down at her pumpkin shell shapes. That was the super-duper important question, but she really had no idea. Most of the other girls in her class already knew what their costumes were, but there were so many options, how could she decide?
She’d been Queen Elsa last year, and that had been awesome. But she was ten years old now. She was a little old to be a Disney princess again. She could be a Pokemon – but which one? Or a pony. Or Spiderman. Spiderwoman! But she was already a superhero. Was it going to break her Secret Identity if she dressed up as some other superhero?
Then, she could dress as something scary - really really like pee your pants scary! Snakes. Big angry doggies. Spiders! But that would be gross.
She could be Rey, like everybody else.
Or… her eyes lit upon a large plant pot, sitting empty on the porch waiting for spring. She jumped up and ran over to it, expression thoughtful, and then hopped right in, turning to her father.
“I am Groot!”
And she did a little Groot Dance, waving her arms.
Her dad gave her a thumbs-up. She took that to mean he’d help her make a proper Groot costume. Last Halloween was great, but this Halloween was going to be amazing!
(638 words)
