“This is my favorite part,” I said and pulled on the razor-fingered glove. “This is so incredibly cool.”
Ida Belle took a step closer to inspect. “That’s a really good piece of work. What costume company did you find that at? Is that real metal?”
“I didn’t find it at a company,” I said. “Scooter made it for me. He does good work, right?”
Ida Belle shook her head as she ran a finger down one of the blades. “I knew the boy could fix about anything with an engine, but I didn’t know he could fabricate like this.”
“I know,” I said. “I was in the store a couple months ago, and Walter asked me about my Halloween costume. I told him that since you guys were eliminating the Nightmare on Elm Street display from the maze this year, I wanted to be Freddy Krueger, but I’d already ordered and returned three different razor-blade hands. They were so incredibly cheap-looking.”
“And yet the idiot playing Krueger last year still managed to cut off his own pinkie with a cheap one,” Ida Belle said.
I grinned. “He must be really talented. Anyway, Scooter overheard us and said he could make me something better than anything I could buy, so I told him to go for it.”
“Well, it looks great,” Ida Belle said. “You’re going to scare the heck out of the kids.”
“What’s the agenda, anyway?” I said. “We’re not working the maze at all, right?”
Gertie shook her head. “After last year, we figured we’d take a break from maze work.”
“After last year,” Ida Belle said, “we were asked to take a break from maze work.”
“It wasn’t our fault that someone cut off a dead guy’s head and propped him up in my scene,” I said. “In fact, we caught the person who did it.”
“Gertie also threw the head at Celia,” Ida Belle said.
“She threw it at me first,” Gertie said. “And it’s not like we killed the guy.”
“Guilt by association,” Ida Belle said. “Anyway, it’s good to take a break. At least we can show up and enjoy the festivities without being on the clock or trying to fix the two thousand things that inevitably go wrong at the last minute.”
“But you still organized everything, right?” I asked.
“Of course,” Ida Belle said. “Trust me, we’ve put in the hours. How many did you work setting up the maze?”
I shrugged. “Most of the day, but I considered it a good workout. Those hay bales are heavy. Itchy, but heavy.”
“Smart,” Gertie said. “You were burning off the calories you’re going to consume. I should have thought of that. Instead, I baked a thousand cookies for the food booths and tasted at least two from every batch.”
“Yeah, I’m really glad I can’t offer anything on the food end of things,” I said. “My self-control when it comes to good Southern cooking is seriously lacking.”
Gertie grinned. “And funnel cake.”
I groaned. My addiction to funnel cake was a well-known problem.
“Please tell me there’s not going to be a funnel cake booth,” I said. “There’s not enough hay bales in Sinful for me to work off what I would eat.”
“Your flat stomach is safe,” Ida Belle said. “At least for now.”
“Well, it’s good and dark outside, so let’s get this show on the road,” I said. “What’s on the agenda for tonight? I’m sorta confused about the scheduling since Halloween falls on a Friday this year.”
“It does work better when it falls on a Saturday,” Gertie agreed. “But the basic format is the same with just a little tweaking. The maze opens tonight instead of Saturday and will be open tomorrow night as well. Nothing on Sunday as we’d all go to hell. Then Monday resumes normal evening activities, minus the maze, and the big culmination is next Friday night on Halloween, when the maze will reopen as soon as it gets dark.”
Ida Belle nodded. “Mostly tonight is the maze and the food stands and people walking around in costume.”
“Where’s Walter?” I asked.
“He and Scooter are on maintenance duty,” Ida Belle said. “There’s a lot of extension cords over there. Tons of lights and generators, and there’s always a problem with something.”
“Is he wearing a costume?” I asked.
“Not in this lifetime,” Ida Belle said. “This is one of those rare occasions where I’m more whimsical than he is.”
“I wouldn’t call a pinfold dress ‘whimsical,’” Gertie said. “I’m surprised he didn’t file for divorce when he saw you in it.”