to do!”
“Yeah, my mother has blisters from working the rosary beads over me. If I’m not in a terrible neighborhood, I’m on a waiting list to go to a war zone...”
“Let’s get these boxes inside and see if we can find someone to cover for you for a while. If I don’t corner you now, I might miss my opportunity! I’ll make it up to you—I’ll get the Boy Scouts rounding up nonperishables for your holiday rush!”
“You’d better,” she said. “I’m holding you to that promise!”
* * *
Lauren handed out Halloween candy for the first time in years. She had decorated her porch. She hung a ghost in the tree out front, carved a large pumpkin and sat a scarecrow in her porch chair. She dressed up like a witch, a friendly witch with a pointed hat, no warts, all of her teeth. She didn’t want to scare anyone, especially not the little ones, but she wanted to get into the spirit of things. She lit a few tall orange candles inside and made a big fuss over every costume from spaceman to princess. It was a good time to say hello to the neighbors as they brought the children around.
She tried to remember the last time she handed out candy or the last time her girls went trick-or-treating. Cassie was probably only ten. Brad had shamed her out of it. It’s for little children, he would say. And it’s a stupid, dangerous undertaking. It made him furious when people brought kids from other neighborhoods to theirs, but Lauren stubbornly bought piles of candy and handed it out generously. Brad was either at the hospital or kept to his home office, refusing to answer the door. By the time the girls were in junior high, he insisted they keep the front of the house darkened, front light off. They never had many children come to the door anyway, tucked away as they were in their wealthy gated neighborhood. Even before there was a guard at the gate, there had been a gate.
But on this night in her new neighborhood, she had a wonderful time, trading stories with young mothers, asking small children about their costumes, handing out fistfuls of candy. She visited with her neighbors and to her satisfaction, no one seemed to look at her strangely or ask her about the night of the police cars and paramedics. It was so social and entertaining, she hated to see it end. But the little ones were scuttled off home where their parents would check their candy and run them around a little bit to burn off the sugar.
After eight there were only a few older kids, but she left her light on. She was going to ride it out to the end. She wasn’t sure how she could have done things any differently, but it made her wonder what her life would have been like had she left Brad years ago. There would have been friends, spontaneous and happy times rather than only the perfectly orchestrated events. She would have had such a different life.
The doorbell rang and she plopped the witch hat on her head and opened the door. There stood Beau, grinning, holding onto a bottle of wine by its neck.
“I ran out of candy,” he said. “So I came over here. To see what everyone was talking about. I heard the sexiest witch in Alameda was here.”
“Clever,” she said, but she loved it. “Did you have a lot of kids?”
“Dozens. Darla was at our house and Drew looked thrilled when I said I was going out for a while. Should I open this?”
“Absolutely! There are only a few stragglers left.”
“I thought about the pub but I passed it and they’re having way too much fun. It’s loud.”
“It’s not loud in here. Nice and quiet.” She went to the kitchen for the corkscrew and a couple of glasses. “Did you have fun tonight?”
“Sure.” He opened the wine. “I’m not as into Halloween as some people but the boys always have been. I could hardly convince them it was time to stop when they were in high school. Drew answered the door as a pirate tonight. I remember when they went through a stage of the bloodier the better.” He handed her a glass. “You do make a spectacular witch. Cheers.”
She smiled fondly. “Cheers, my friend,” she said, clinking his glass. “Tell me about your week.”
“Nothing much of interest. A few new clients that I’m drawing up plans for