give it to him.” I reach into my purse for the ring of keys the building supervisor had lent me for the party set-up.
Kelsey waves her hand. “It’s okay. He put it in the history classroom instead.”
“Does he need Dean to help set up the rest of the games?”
“No, it’s all done. Now he’s getting food, of course.” She glances toward the buffet table just as Dean and his brother start making their way toward us.
Archer looks both impressive and strikingly realistic in a sailor’s costume complete with a hat and an anchor tattooed on his muscular forearm. When he sits beside Kelsey, the Popeye-Olive Oyl effect is one for the books.
“Uncle Archer!” Nicholas races off the dance floor, then steps back and eyes Archer’s costume critically. “Who are you supposed to be?”
Archer slants Dean a narrow, disapproving look. “Your kid doesn’t know who Popeye is? What’s that about?”
“Hey, Nicholas, which medieval knight became the King of England in 1189?” Dean asks.
“Richard the Lionheart.”
Dean looks at Archer smugly.
“Yeah, that’ll really impress the chicks when he’s a teenager,” Archer mutters.
“Look who I ended up with,” Dean says, tilting his head toward me. “Being smart can score you the greatest prize of all time.”
“Knowing how to ride a Harley can score you a lot of…” Archer stops and glances at Nicholas, “…uh, ice-cream cones.”
“I totally want to learn to ride a Harley,” Nicholas announces before darting back into the fray.
Archer stuffs a forkful of macaroni and cheese into his mouth, then realizes Kelsey is eyeing him with her laser-like glare.
“What?” he asks around the mouthful.
“Score you a lot of what?” Kelsey asks crisply.
Archer takes an inordinately long time chewing and swallowing before he shoots her a wicked grin.
“A lot of love from hot Professor Kelsey March,” he says.
She rolls her eyes, but a pink flush of pleasure rises to her cheeks. Since seeing Kelsey get embarrassed while wearing an Olive Oyl costume is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, I decide to add a little mischievous fuel to the fire.
“So,” I say conversationally, “why is it you two decided to dress as a married couple?”
“We’re not a married couple,” Kelsey says.
“I know you’re not in real life—everyone knows that by now—but Popeye and Olive Oyl were married.”
“No, they weren’t.”
“Sure they were,” Archer says.
“No.” Dean shakes his head. “Kelsey’s right.”
“Olive Oyl was torn between Popeye and Bluto,” Kelsey explains. “That’s why Bluto was always coming on to her. It was a classic love triangle.”
“What about the baby Swee’Pea?” I ask. “Wasn’t that Popeye and Olive Oyl’s baby?”
“Swee’Pea was an orphan left on Popeye’s doorstep,” Dean says. “But they weren’t married, and they didn’t have a kid.”
This is news to me.
“I don’t get it,” I say. “Why didn’t they get married?”
“Well, Olive Oyl was a fickle lass,” Archer replies.
“She was not,” Kelsey says. “She was just keeping her options open.”
Archer snorts. “Maybe she needed to make a decision already.”
“Maybe Popeye needed to be less of a buffoon.”
“Maybe Olive Oyl needed to be happy with what she had.”
“Maybe Popeye needed to realize how good he had it.”
“Oh, he did,” Archer says, looking right into Kelsey’s eyes. “Why do you think he ate all that spinach? He did it for her.”
He gives her a wink. A smile tugs at her mouth.
“So,” I interrupt brightly, before they lunge at each other and start kissing passionately, “who wants more punch?”
“Mom, we’re hungry,” Nicholas announces, as he and Bella come traipsing off the dance floor again.
“Come sit down.” I gesture to the two empty chairs. “I already got you both some food.”
“Uncle Archer, next year I want to go as a sailor too.” Nicholas climbs on a chair to examine his plate of pizza and fruit salad.
“Great,” Archer says. “You can be Pipeye.”
“Who’s that?”
“One of Popeye’s nephews. His other nephews were Peepeye, Pupeye and Poopeye.”
“Poopeye!” Nicholas dissolves into a fit of laughter.
“Poop peep poop peep,” Bella chants.
I push my chair back, indicating to Dean that this current situation is his to deal with.
“I need to go coordinate the staff for the game booths,” I explain before heading toward the doors.
Mirror Lake trick-or-treating starts at six, so we’d planned the Spooktacular Ball early enough for everyone to be able to enjoy the food, dancing, and games before taking their kids trick-or-treating. Later, there is a bonfire at Wizard’s Park and haunted train rides on the Mirror Lake Railway, which Archer and his crew finished restoring two years ago.
The volunteers and I get the game booths going, and the corridors of the high school