Mae pulled the front door open just to see Allie standing there. Allie was dressed as a Ninja, and Mae was dressed as a Witch. The two girls stared at one another momentarily, before Mae stepped aside and let Allie enter the house.
"Weren't you a witch last year?" Allie asked. "I'm a witch every year," Mae said, "I find it easier to just pick one costume and stick with it. Saves on stress." "That...makes sense, actually," Allie replied, as Mae's mother, Juliet, walked into the area holding a camera in one hand and a bowl of candy in another. She smiled and waved at Allie, who happily greeted her back. Juliet set the bowl on the kitchen table and then turned to face the girls. "So," she said, "Where's Trisha and Chaz?" "They'll be here soon hopefully," Allie said, "I really wanna get going." "Do you know what their costumes are?" Mae asked, and Allie shook her head. "Nope," she said, "Trisha is probably something safe that her mother allowed, and Chaz is probably something ridiculous, as always." Just as Allie said this, another knock came to the door. Mae went back and pulled it open, and there stood Chaz, dressed as a hockey player. Mae once more stepped aside and let Chaz enter, just as a car pulled up alongside the curb and Mae saw Trisha and her mother get out and head up the walk towards the door. Juliet came to the door to greet Alice, as Trisha - dressed as a Ballerina - made her way inside the house. "They'll be fine, yeah?" Alice asked, chewing her lip nervously. "They'll be perfectly fine, they're just going down the street and around the block. Especially in a group, they'll be okay. Are you going to be fine?" Juliet asked, making Alice smirk. "That's a big question," she replied, sighing as she folded her arms, "I just...I worry about her, you know. The world is a sick place and they're young girls, they could easily...I don't know. I just worry. I know I shouldn't, I know I drive myself crazy worrying, but I worry nonetheless." "You're a mom, it's normal to worry," Juliet said, "The girls will be back here no later than 9pm, and you can come pick Trisha up then, okay? Or, Alice, if you want...you could just stick around the house and help me hand out candy. Lord knows I could use the company considering my husband is working tonight." "He's working on Halloween?" "Shooting a party," Juliet said, "A birthday party, specifically." Alice hesitated, then nodded and smiled. "Oh what the heck, sure, I'll hang out here," she said, "Better than going home and worrying." As the girls gathered their bags for candy and headed to the front door, Juliet knelt in front of Mae, grabbing her gently by the shoulder and turning her to face her. She then signaled for the other girls to look at her as well, which they did. Juliet cleared her throat and spoke. "Okay girls, here's the deal. Be back here by 9pm, more or less, and be careful. Aside from the houses you knock at, don't talk to anyone, and look out for one another, okay? Halloween can be...weird, sometimes, so just try and stick together as a group, alright?" "Okay," the girls all said in unison before turning and heading out across the lawn and onto the sidewalk. Juliet and Alice stood at the doorway, watching as the girls headed down the street and disappeared past the bushes. Juliet sighed. She was nervous too, though she'd never admit it, but she had enough confidence in her daughter and her friends to stay safe. After all, it was only Halloween. *** "What do you mean we're not going trick or treating?" Chaz asked, and Allie smirked. "April told me about her older sisters Halloween party. We're gonna do that instead," Allie said, with Mae nodding in agreement. Trisha shook her head. "No, no way, I told my mom I'd be trick or treating and that's what I intend to do," she said. "We're gonna go together, and we can trick or treat on the way there and back. It's only another block away," Mae said, "Think about it you guys, older kids, with probably better candy, and we can just go because we know April. I mean, we're not really friends with her, but we could just show up anyway." "I don't even like April, she's mean and snobby," Trisha replied. "Well this is what we're doing. We planned this out a week ago," Allie said. "Then why didn't you tell us then?" Chaz asked. "Because if we had, you might not have come over tonight," Allie said, "That's why it was a surprise." Trisha and Chaz exchanged a nervous glance, but they knew Allie and Mae wouldn't take them somewhere dangerous. They had faith in their friends. After a brief moment, Chaz finally relented and agreed to go, but as they started to walk off, Mae noticed Trisha was not following them. She turned back and walked to her, lowering her voice. "It'll be okay, it'll be fun," Mae said, "I won't leave your side the entire time, okay?" Trisha smiled weakly at this attempt at comfort, and then exhaled, nodding. Taking her by the hand, Trisha walked with Mae back to the other girls, and all together they began heading the opposite direction, towards a block they rarely went on. They were heading to April Palmer's house for her older sisters Halloween party, and it was a night they wouldn't soon forget. *** "Everything is so sexualized now," Alice said, sitting at the kitchen table and unwrapping then eating half of an Almond Joy; after she finished chewing, she spoke again, saying, "And I know I go to church and all that but I don't think any mother would argue with me that this holiday has been turned into something completely grotesque for young women." "No, I certainly won't argue with you," Juliet said, standing at the kitchen counter, pouring them both glasses of wine; she continued, "I remember when I was 14, I wanted to be a genie for Halloween, and my mom said that the costume was too revealing. But the thing was, I didn't argue with her because I wanted to look attractive, I argued with her because it was Halloween and I wanted to be a genie. The sexualization of it never even remotely crossed my mind." "When we went to get Trisha's costume, I saw a girl maybe a year or two older than her who was begging her mother - who eventually relented to the pressure, might I add - to let her be a cat. Not just like a cute cat or anything, but a skintight leotard, leaving nothing to the imagination, form fitting. Clearly something a young girl should not be wearing." "It's the culture, Alice, all we can do is fight it but we'll never win, even if we're right," Juliet said, bringing the glasses of wine to the table and sitting down, handing one to Alice as she lifted her own to her lips and added, "So you do what you can, you try and teach them right from wrong and you just have faith in them. You got faith in God, put some of that faith in your daughter." Alice smiled a little. Juliet was one of the only parents at the school who would talk to her, and she appreciated it. At times, she even felt bad for thinking Mae was a bad influence on Trisha, because clearly she came from a good home with a good mom. How bad an influence could she be, really? *** April Palmer's family lived in almost the same neighborhood as Mae's, though April's was slightly more upperclass, despite being just a few blocks away. The lawns were perfectly kept, the shrubs were always trimmed, and the houses were far more decadent. As the girls walked down the sidewalk, passing by nice cars and little rich kids in their expensive costumes, they couldn't help but feel somewhat out of place, especially Allie, who lived in a trailer park. "What house is Aprils?" Chaz asked. "It's the third to last on the right side of the street," Mae said, "Last year when we had to sell magazine subscriptions I wound up selling something to her older sister, so that's why I even know." As they got to the house, it was apparent that the party was bigger than any of them had anticipated. April lived in a two story house, with a two car garage, a pool in the backyard and a trellis with ivy growing up the side of the house. Your stereotypical rich house, for better or worse, and it was a sight to behold. Some of the kids were out on the front patio, playing music and eating candy. April's sister was in 7th grade, so these were fairly older kids than the girls were normally around, and that made them all admittedly somewhat uncomfortable, but they decided to continue up the walkway and up the stairs. As they reached the front door, each girl pushed their way past some kids coming out, until all of then except Allie was indoors. Allie only stopped because she heard someone call to her, and she spun around to face a 7th grade boy sitting on the porch rail, waving at her to come over. She cautiously approached, not telling the girls she wasn't with them, and walked up to him. "What are you doing here?" he asked, "You don't look like a 7th grader." "I'm not," she said, "I'm in 4th grade." "You know Laura's little sister, right?" "Kind of," Allie said, "Um, we're in the same class, but we're not exactly friends." "So, what, you guys are crashing this party? That's pretty cool for grade school kids," the boy said, "I'm Trevor." "Allie," Allie said. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad night after all. She'd already made a new friend. Inside, Mae, Trisha and Chaz wound up near the kitchen, where the kids were sitting around with a Ouija Board at the table, the lights dimmed. There were sets of paper cups on the counter next to countless bottles of varying sodas, and Mae got them all a cup of soda before they went to the table and watched as some girls attempted to communicate unsuccessfully with a spirit. "My mom says that the dead shouldn't be disturbed," Trisha said. "Your mom also says if you watch an R rated movie you'll go to hell, so," Chaz said, making Mae chuckle. "I don't like to question her, but I am starting to think that what she considers sins and what God considers sins don't exactly line up," Trisha said, making all three of them laugh more as they each sipped their soda from the cups. Trisha finished her soda and decided to go get herself some more. As she stood at the counter and poured some of the soda into her cup, she heard someone sidle up beside her and glanced to her right to see a boy standing beside her, grabbing a handful of candy from the bowl and shoving them into his sweatshirt pocket. "Hi," she said meekly. "Hello," he said. "You know, that much candy will probably make you sick later," Trisha said, before furrowing her brow and adding, "...you don't look like a 7th grader." "I'm not," he laughed, "I'm in 9th grade. I'm April and Laura's cousin from across town. I just decided to come here cause none of my friends were available tonight, so. You also don't look like you're in 7th grade." "I'm not," she replied, also laughing, "I'm in 4th grade. I kinda sorta know April." "Cool, cool," the boy said, leaning against the counter and unwrapping a candy, biting into it as he pushed his hair from his eyes and added, "does your mom know you're at a party like this?" "Nope," Trisha said, leaning against the counter too, sipping her soda; after finishing she added, "she'd probably lose her mind if she knew." "I like your costume. Ballerina? That's nice. Very classy," the boy said. Trisha blushed. She had to admit, she was coming around to this idea. *** "Happy Halloween!" Alice and Juliet shouted as they waved at the mom walking her little kids away from the house, smiling back at them. Alice sighed and shook her head as Juliet poured some more wine into their glasses. They had moved out onto the front porch to better hand out candy and take in the cute costumes from the neighborhood children. "I swear," Alice said as she picked up her glass, "It was so much easier when they were younger, and they're not even old yet. God. I can't even imagine what it'll be like when they're actual teenagers." "At least they have one another. I didn't have like as close a friend group growing up as they are with eachother," Juliet said, "That already makes things safer for them. But I agree, I miss when Mae was in, like, 1st grade." "At least your husband works from home most of the time," Alice said. "Pffft, like he's much help even when he's here," Juliet said, "He's always focused on work even when he's still here. It's exhausting feeling like a single parent when you're not." "I hear that," Alice said. Another group of kids, who all looked like they were in kindergarten, approached the porch and shouted trick or treat as they held their bags open. Alice and Juliet couldn't contain their joy at the cuteness, and dug into the candy bowl to give the kids handfuls of sweets. *** "You want one?" Trevor asked, holding open his cigarette box, but Allie shook her head. "No thanks," she said. "S'cool," Trevor said, shutting it and pushing it back into his shirt pocket, saying, "I stole 'em from my dad." "Aren't you a bit young to be smoking?" Allie asked, making him laugh. "I mean, probably," he said, "but who cares. Half the kids here are doing things they shouldn't be. Why do you think this party is even going on? Cause Laura's parents don't care what she and her friends do. That's why there's always something happening here, even if it seems low key." "Low key?" "You know, like, chill." "Oh." "There's always some kind of make out session happening somewhere or some weird pool party thing," Trevor said, "but I don't like Laura all that much, to be honest. I think she's stuck up and snobby. Her parents are so rich they never have to think about the people who are in worse situations. Like, I live in a trailer park across town-" "Me too!" "-right, so you know what it's like, to, like, know richer families who take everything for granted while people like us struggle to just have what we have. Sometimes I don't know if I'm gonna get dinner that night, meanwhile these kids are eating pork roast and fancy potatoes every single evening. They never give kids like us a second thought." "...I...I guess, but I have a friend who's kind of wealthy and she's not stuck up," Allie said, making Trevor shrug as he took a drag off his cigarette and then exhaled the smoke away from Allie. "I mean, it doesn't affect everyone," he said, "so consider yourself and your friend lucky. This is why, when I get older, I'm gonna go into politics and make sure that everyone gets represented. Help make sure nobody is poor anymore, and that everyone has equal options and chances." "That sounds cool," Allie said, "My dad works so hard and it's almost never enough." "And that's the problem," Trevor said, "it doesn't matter what someone does or how much they do, everyone deserves an equal share." Allie nodded. She hadn't expected a lesson in theoretical economics and classism when she agreed to come here, but it was something that would greatly affect her viewpoint of the world from there on out. Sadly, Trisha would have a similar, albeit less positive, experience that night. Trisha followed the high school boy, Evan, out to the pool area and immediately appreciated how it dulled the pounding rock music from inside. She could hear herself think again, and she was happy with that. Trisha sat down on a chaise lounge by the pool and kicked her ballet shoes off, stretching her feet. Evan sat down on the lounge beside her and popped another bite sized chocolate into his mouth, eating it as Trisha leaned back and exhaled. Maybe she'd been nervous for no reason, maybe everything wasn't as bad as her mom made it sound. Suddenly, and seemingly without any provocation, she felt Evan put his hand on her leg and push his face against her neck, making Trisha leap up, screaming. At first, she wasn't even sure what exactly had just happened, and she had to take a moment to regain her composure. "What...why did you-" "I don't know, you look cute," Evan said, shrugging. "I'm in 4th grade! Gross!" Trisha shouted, the sliding glass door to the house opening up and two girls coming out, one of which Trisha automatically recognized as Laura, April's older sister, because she'd met her before at the school. "What's going on? We heard someone scream," Laura asked. "This guy tried to kiss me!" Trisha said loudly, pointing at Evan. "Evan, again?!" Laura asked, sounding irate now, adding, "This is why we didn't invite you! You keep doing this and it's so not cool! Get out of our house or I'm calling your mom and telling her!" Evan groaned, stood up and briskly exited through the back gate. Trisha sat back down on the chaise lounge, feeling nervous as Laura and her friend sat beside her. Laura rubbed Trisha's back as her friend offered Trisha a piece of candy, which she took. "I am, like, so sorry," Laura said, "He's done this a number of times, and it's getting worrisome. You're okay, right? He didn't actually do anything did he?" "He put his face against my neck," Trisha mumbled. "Gross, dude," Laura's friend said under her breath. "You have to be careful," Laura said, "Guys can be weird and creepy. I'm so sorry, again. Do you want us to take you home or-" "No, it's...it's okay, thank you," Trisha said, slipping her ballet shoes back on and, somewhat dazed, stood up and thanked them again before heading indoors to find Mae and Chaz, who were now involved in the Ouija Board. After Trisha tapped Mae on the shoulder and Mae turned to see her almost in tears, she slapped Chaz on the arm and the three of them headed out of the house to the front lawn. As they passed by, they motioned for Allie to join them. Allie looked at Trevor and shrugged. "Guess I gotta go," she said, "Thanks for talking to me." "You bet, and hey, fight the man, alright," Trevor said, holding his fist out and Allie fist bumped it, laughing before running after her friends. As they got to the sidewalk, Allie stopped and caught her breath. "What's going on?" she asked. "Can we just go trick or treating now?" Trisha asked quietly, and none of the girls wanted to ask what was wrong, so they all just agreed unanimously to go trick or treating. It was only 7pm, they still had plenty of time to get candy, and make Trisha feel better. As the girls headed down the walk, Mae felt awful. All she'd wanted to do was try something different for Halloween, but all this experience had taught her was that change, change of any kind, was never good. *** "My dentist is gonna be SO MAD at me," Alice said, making Juliet laugh. Both women were somewhat wine drunk now, a surprising thing for Alice to partake in but it was a holiday of sorts, and sitting on the front porch, eating the remaining candy from the bowl. "God," Juliet said, "this is like the only acceptable night to eat nothing but chocolate, and I'm gonna feel so sick tomorrow but it's so worth it. Pairing it with wine was also probably a huge mistake, but a woman's gotta live a little now and then." Alice sighed and leaned against Juliet, shutting her eyes momentarily. Her voice lowered when she finally spoke again. "...thank you for making me see not everything has to be terrifying," she said. "Everyone needs a reminder now and then," Juliet replied. Just then, the girls came up the lawn, Trisha trailing in the back. Allie and Chaz were in the front, comparing their candy haul, as Mae slowed down her pace to keep back with Trisha and try and talk to her. "Are you okay?" Mae asked, and Trisha shrugged. "I just wanna go home," she said quietly. Alice stood up and hugged Trisha, then thanked Juliet and the girls again before leading Trisha to the car. They only lived a few blocks away, so it was safe to say they'd make it home just fine. Juliet picked up the candy bowl, the near empty bottle of wine and led Chaz inside. Allie approached Mae, who was watching as Trisha drove away, and she felt a great deal of sadness in her heart. For once since they'd been friends, something terrible had happened - something that had been partially her fault since she was the one who suggested they go to this party - and Trisha wouldn't talk to her about it. For some reason, Mae got the feeling their friendship was somewhat damaged now. "Do you wanna go in and trade candy and watch movies?" Allie asked. "...okay," Mae replied quietly. "Happy Halloween," Allie said, putting her arm around her friends shoulders, making her perk up a bit. "Happy Halloween," she said back, smiling weakly now. "Guys, guys! Get in here! I got a whole Crunch bar!" Chaz shouted from the door. Halloween was always the girls favorite holiday, but this one was one they wouldn't remember with much fondness, especially Mae and Trisha. Sometimes you got treats. And sometimes you got tricks.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
ABOUT
FANNYPACK follows 4 girls - Chaz, Allie, Trisha and Mae - in the 90s as they deal with adolescence and friendship. Archives
December 2022
Categories |