see. I have one for you, too.”
“Yay!” Gigi says, shoving another bite into her mouth before scrambling away from the table.
Christopher leans over his high chair, wanting down. “Okay, I give up,” Joan says. “Are you full?” He nods. “Are you really full or do you just want to go get your costume on with Gigi?”
“Gigi,” he says, looking for his sister.
Joan takes the bib from around his neck and lifts him from the high chair. “All right, let me hear your roar.” Christopher opens his mouth like a baby bird and roars, sounding like a duck again and making Joan and John laugh together. She takes him to his bedroom and he quickly uses his tiny hands to remove his pants, sitting on the floor to finish kicking them off. Once his costume is on, Joan says, “Come on, big boy, let’s go back to the kitchen.” Christopher toddles after her and she leaves him with John, who’s finishing his meal. Christopher reaches to get up on his lap in order to take a few more bites. Gigi bounds into the kitchen with her arms open wide, pieces of yellow cloth dangling down like bird feathers.
“Look at you!” John says.
“Let’s go!” Gigi says, reaching for a plastic pumpkin bucket on the counter to collect candy.
“Wait for me!” Joan yells from the hallway. Minutes later, energetic music can be heard from the hallway as Joan enters the kitchen, holding the cassette player on top of one shoulder. She’s wearing long, red satin shorts over white tights, a white T-shirt with the word CHAMP emblazoned across the front, boxing gloves, and a blue satin robe. She turns around so John can read what’s on the back of it.
“Wrecking Ball,” he says, pointing to the words for Gigi. And beneath those words he reads, “Champion 1972.”
“You’re a fighter!” Gigi squeals, thrilled with her mom’s costume.
Joan throws John a shirt. “And I have Daddy’s costume.”
John holds the red shirt up and reads the word written in black paint across the back: “Trainer.”
“This is the towel for over your shoulder,” Joan says, throwing him a small, white towel. “No good trainer would get close to a ring without a towel.”
John takes off his work shirt and pulls the other one over his head, tucks it into his pants, and throws the towel over his shoulder. “All right! Let me see what you’ve got. Show me some jabs.” Joan jabs at the air. “Head punch.” She punches higher at an imaginary boxer. “High kicks,” John barks.
Joan is about to do it but stops. “Kicking isn’t legal. I’m a fair fighter.”
“Not against your opponent,” he says, smiling. “We need to kick its butt.” He kisses her forehead, and Gigi grabs one of his hands.
“Come on! Let’s go!”
“What about the mess?” Joan asks, looking at the table.
“I’ll clean it later,” John says, opening the garage door. “We’ve got a fight to get to!”
October 2012
When Lauren finishes her shift at Clauson’s, she walks around the store, taking pictures of coworkers in their costumes. The store manager asked if she’d take several for the store’s website and social media pages. In the floral department she snaps a picture of herself and Janie, who decided to dress as Dorothy to Lauren’s Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. All Lauren needed was a hat, a stringy wig, and a big, ragged shirt and baggy pants to put over her pregnant belly to be the perfect scarecrow. At the front of the store, Ben is dressed as Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings and took the time to make pumpkin-shaped notes to put in the bags of customers who come through his line. Margie and Noel in the pharmacy are a princess and Luke Skywalker, and Greg and Tyson are an astronaut and Dracula in the meat department. She takes their picture together and is headed to the bakery when she sees Robert and Kate Layton dressed as a king and queen. “Robert! Or should I say, ‘Your Highness.’” She curtsies to Kate. “Your Majesty.”
Kate laughs. “It’s the annual staff party. We’re picking up the cake.”
“Let me snap a picture.” They pose for her, and she holds up her phone, capturing them. “Thanks again, Robert, for helping us find Bud. Travis and I are headed there as soon as I get out of this costume.”
“Happy to help! Let me know how it goes.”
Lauren looks at their picture as she walks to her car, hoping that she and Travis will still have