by BobA. Troutt
*****
Leftover from the Holidays
Double-Yolked
Swiftly, the cool, brisk autumn wind blew through the naked trees and rustled the fallen leaves of fall, stirring them about on the ground. In the small community of Running Meadow, the wind whistled as the fallen leaves stirred about the ground. On Dry Rock Road, the October sky had already faded into night.
“Ooh-wee, it’s getting colder!” said Billy Joe Katzenmiller as he wrapped his scarf around his neck. “I hope we won’t be late for Audrey’s party.”
“We got plenty of time,” replied Scotty.
“Yeah, Billy Joe, it’s just up the road,” said Amanda.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said. “I’ve never been to a Halloween party before so I’m kind of anxious.”
“You haven’t,” replied Scotty. “They’re a lot of fun.”
“I’ve been to three,” said Amanda. “They were all a blast.”
“I can’t wait,” said Billy Joe. “Hey, look at the sky; it looks awfully spooky.”
“Why, of course it does,” she said. “It’s October and it’s Halloween. What do you expect?”
“Come on,” yelled Scotty, “there’s Audrey’s house. Last one there is a rotten egg.”
Quickly, the children took off across the field and raced to Audrey’s house.
“Come on, slow poke,” cried Scotty.
“I’m coming,” yelled Billy Joe. “Please don’t go off and leave me.”
“This is so cool,” said Billy Joe to Audrey. “These decorations are awesome.”
“Hi, guys,” yelled Audrey, “you’re just in time.”
“Hey, girl,” replied Scotty.
“Thanks for inviting us,” Billy Joe and Amanda said as they greeted Audrey.
“The house looks great,” said Amanda.
“Yeah,” agreed Billy Joe.
“Come on,” said Audrey. “Each of you has to draw a number out of the fishbowl. It’s my big trick-or-treat surprise. I need you to draw out a number and write it on this sticker. Then put the sticker on your shirt and put the number back into the fishbowl. Later on, I’ll draw to see who has the lucky or, should I say, unlucky number for the trick-or-treat surprise.”
“Cool,” they replied.
“This is going to be great,” said Billy Joe.
“Okay,” yelled Audrey. “The party is in the backyard. Everyone, if you will, follow me.”
They all followed Audrey to the backyard. They were amazed at how she had everything set up.
“Wow, this is neat!” they shouted.
The backyard was decorated beautifully. It was one of the best jobs they had ever seen. Audrey had music playing, pumpkins to carve for the pumpkin contest, apples to bob and even rotten eggs to toss.
“Yuck,” Billy Joe said when he smelled one of the rotten eggs. “This is some party,” he said.
Billy Joe went over and got him a scarecrow drink, with a double straw, from the refreshment tables. It was made out of orange kool-aid and had frozen eyeballs for ice in it with a lime twist. He sipped on his drink while he watched the other children dancing to The Scarecrow Boogie and The Cry of the Night Owl.
The party rocked on; everyone was having a ball. Over in the corner, Audrey and a couple of her girlfriends were about to draw the number for the trick-or-treat winner. As she looked about the crowd, she reached her hand into the bowl and quickly pulled out a number. When she pulled the number out of the fishbowl, the girls giggled and anxiously waited to see who the lucky or unlucky winner was.
“Number thirteen,” whispered Audrey to her girlfriends.
“Who is it?” cried one of the girls. “Who is number thirteen?”
Carefully, the girls scanned the crowd.
“Look over there by the refreshment tables,” laughed Audrey.
Sure enough, there stood number thirteen. It was Billy Joe Katzenmiller.
“We can’t do Billy Joe that way,” said one of the girls. “He’s a really nice guy.”
Billy Joe stood there eating a ghostly fudge bar with chocolate swirls. He had no idea what surprise awaited him. Quickly and discreetly, the girls spread the news of who the lucky winner was and told everyone exactly what to do. The party rolled on and the word spread to everyone except Billy Joe. Audrey went over and asked Billy Joe if he was having fun while the other girls continued to spread the word.
“I sure am,” he replied. “This is the first Halloween Party I have ever been to and it’s the greatest. You sure do know how to throw a party.”
“Why, thank you, Billy Joe. That was so sweet of you to say that.” As she walked off she mumbled under her breath, “I hope he still thinks the same way when the night is over.”
As Billy moved about the party, he noticed everyone was so nice. They were smiling at him from ear to ear and some even patted him on the back. What a friendly group of people, he thought. The night rolled on and the party was in full swing. As midnight grew near, they went on a hayride and played hide-n-go-seek. It was a Class A party with good music, good food, good friends and a lot of good laughs.
“Hey, man,” Scotty said to Billy Joe. “This is it. This has to be the best party of the year.”
“You bet,” replied Billy Joe. “I agree.”
“Have you checked the food out?” asked Scotty. “There are deviled eggs, werewolf cookies with chocolate chip paw prints, witches broomstick candy and I love these melted haunted house marshmallow balls. You got to try them.”
“Oh, no, I have had enough,” said Billy Joe. “Hey, Scotty, has the crowd thinned out to you? I don’t see Bernice and Jeffery.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” replied Scotty. “Who knows? They probably went home early.”
Billy Joe looked around at the party guests and sure enough it looked like several people had left.
“Oh well, they probably had to be back home at a certain time,” he sighed.
As the night went on, Billy Joe became more and more concerned. He never saw anyone leave. It was like they had disappeared, vanished into thin air. I wonder what is going on, he thought. He looked at the crowd again and noticed Bridget and Mandy were gone. He looked everywhere for them, but they were nowhere to be found. He even went into the house and looked for them. However, they were not there. I need to ask Audrey if she is aware of what’s going on, he thought. He looked around for her; she had also disappeared. Why, she was right here ten minutes ago. There’s something going on here and it’s really fishy, he said to himself as he glanced about the room.
“Oh no,” he cried. “Scotty is gone and so are Amanda, Philip and Mary Jo.”
One by one the guests had slowly disappeared. Ralph, David, Randall and Billy Joe were the only ones still at the party. As Billy Joe tried to explain to them that he thought something was going on, they acted like they didn’t care. He started hearing strange noises coming from the bushes. That’s when he really became afraid. He knew something strange was going on. But, he couldn’t figure out what.
“Who’s there?” he asked.
Nervously, he waited to see if anything would happen. But, nothing happened. He paused for a second and listened; it was eerily quiet. He called out again, but no one answered. When he turned around to ask Ralph, David and Randall what to do, they were gone.
“Ralph, David and Randall!” he screamed. “Where are you?”
They didn’t answer. He was all alone in the backyard. I’m alone, he thought. What am I going to do? Everyone has abandoned me. As his eyes began to tear up, he slowly looked across the big backyard. He had no idea what he was going to do.
“What’s that?” he cried. “Who’s there?”
It was only the wind rustling through the leaves. The brightness of the full moon glared down on Billy Joe that night. Just as he was about to give up, the missing children suddenly appeared from out of the darkness. Splat! Splat! Splat!
They bombarded with rotten eggs. The children loaded Billy Joe down with the eggs. What an unexpected surprise.
“Billy Joe, you had the lucky number thirteen. Trick-or-treat,” yelled Audrey.
The gang laughed while they continued throwing the rotten eggs at him. Billy Joe did the best he could to dodge as many of the eggs as he could. Unfortunately, it was already too late. He was covered from head to toe with rotten eggs.
“Billy Joe, you have been doubled-yolked,” cried out the gang.
“Yuck!” he grumbled before he burst out laughing.