The Jack-o-Lantern Box
Page 31
During Reading, Mrs. Halvorson finally passed out small, thin paperbacks with the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” story in it, although everybody called it “The Headless Horseman.” Jessy knew it was famous, and she’d seen cartoons about the Headless Horseman, but she still thought it was kind of boring. It was too old-fashioned for her.
After school, they made carameled apples. Jessy’s mom had bought something new, a plastic package that came with flat sheets of caramel, and a bundle of sticks. She complained every year about making them in the saucepan, because no matter how much they stirred, the caramel still stuck to the metal pan. It took forever to scrub off, and even though it smelled so delicious, and tasted good, the caramel remains got really gross, mixed in with the froth of dish soap in the murky water.
This was supposed to be easier, and Jessy had nagged her mom to buy it, when they saw it in the store. They spread out a thin sheet, and stuck the bottom of an apple right in the center of it. Then Jessy wedged a stick in the apple, pushing it in as far as she could, feeling the soft flesh give way. They pulled up the corners of the sheet, like they were making a running-away bundle, and tried to shape it around the apple. It didn’t really want to stick, and it looked funny, like a badly-wrapped Christmas gift.
“The caramel’s better when it’s all hot and melty,” Jessy said.
“Yeah,” Karma said, looking at it dubiously. “It isn’t really the same.” But they made a few more and ate them anyway.
“You know, when Mrs. Halverson was passing out our papers today, I realized something,” Karma said.
“What?”
“Chris’s name is spelled D-O-E-H-L, not D-O-L-E.”
“I always thought it was D-O-L-E.”
“Me too, but it’s not. You know what that means.”
“What?”
“When we did the Ouija board, it thought his name was spelled the way we thought it was spelled. Not the way it really is spelled.”
Jessy pondered over that for a minute.
“So you think that means we were really moving the thing, without trying to?”
“The planchette,” Karma corrected.
“Right, the planchette. I guess that makes sense.” She thought it over for a minute. “But how do you know the spirit knows how it’s spelled?”
“Well, it’s a spirit. It’s coming from the other side. We ask the Ouija board questions because it’s supposed to know things.”
“That doesn’t mean it can spell.”
When Jessy went downstairs to watch TV that night, she could hear her mom and Twyla fighting again in the kitchen.
“I know you’ve been out drinking with those friends of yours,” her mom was saying.
“I have not,” Twyla said, vehement, the “not” crying out of the sentence.
“I’m just telling you now, if you get arrested, we don’t have the money for a lawyer. If you get in trouble, you’re on your own.”
“Good,” Twyla said. “I don’t want any help from you.”
Jessy didn’t know if they knew she could hear them, or if they cared. It was hard to tell. It was probably best to ignore them, anyway, so she went over and switched the TV set on. It hummed a little as it warmed up, and the picture faded in.
“And just because your father spoils you, doesn’t mean he’s going to say anything different.”
Jessy turned the dial to where her show was coming on, and settled back on the couch. She knew her mom and Twyla could hear the TV from the kitchen, and they weren’t lowering their voices, so she couldn’t be accused of eavesdropping. But she could still hear every word they said.
“I don’t know why you have it in for me,” Twyla said. “I’m not doing anything wrong.”
“I think it might be better if you stayed home on Halloween,” her mom said. “Or you can go to the party at the church. Or take Jessy trick or treating. But you’re going to be home early, and you’re not seeing your friends.”
“Mom!”
Hearing her name perked Jessy right up. You couldn’t go back from trick or treating by yourself to having someone watching you. People would think she was scared, which was ridiculous, or that her parents still treated her like a baby. Of course, sometimes they did, but no good could come of anyone knowing that.
“You’re being ridiculous,” Twyla went on. “Halloween is no different from any other night of the year.”
“I’m not stupid. I know what you kids get up to. It’s always better to avoid trouble than try to get out of it later.”
“I’m going to watch TV,” Twyla said, dismissive.
“Fine,” their mom said, sounding completely unconcerned. “But I’m serious. You’re not roaming the streets on Halloween night with a bunch of troublemakers. I want to know what you’re doing and where you’re going, and who you're hanging out with.”
Twyla stomped into the living room, looking flushed and angry, and threw herself down into the Big Chair, fuming. Jessy thought for a good minute, and then stared ahead at the TV when she spoke, as casually as she could. “You could take us trick or treating. Me and Karma wouldn’t mind.”
Twyla glared at her.
“It might be fun. You know, like the last time you took us.” She tried to make that sound meaningful, hoping Twyla would remember. That was the last year Jessy had gone out with a chaperone. Twyla took them to a half-dozen houses, including the dead Dracula man’s, and then she went off with her friends, leaving the girls by themselves. They had roamed all over town alone. It was perfect.
“Well,” Twyla said. “It would be a nightmare, but better than going to church.” She scowled. “Or hanging around here with Mom and Dad.”
Jessy felt pleased with herself, because she knew she was offering a useful alibi. She felt like she had the upper hand, at least for a little while.
Trick or treating with Twyla was actually one of Jessy's earliest memories. They went out early, so it wasn’t quite dark, but only slightly dusky, the sky vaguely dim behind the dead bare branches of the trees. Jessy couldn’t remember ever going outside at night before, and everything felt different, smelled different. They probably only went to the end of the block, but it had felt so strange to walk up to strange doors and ring the bells.
“Hey,” Jessy asked. “Do you remember one time, when I was really little? I remember going into the stores to trick or treat. Did they used to do that?”
“There was one year, after we first moved here,” Twyla said. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“We went to the dime store. I remember they gave us full-size candy bars, but they had polar bears on them. I don’t know what kind of candy that is. They were chocolate, though. Maybe a little bit like a Three Musketeers.”
“The dime store, the drug store, and I think the grocery store gave out candy,” Twyla said. “You didn’t dream it.”
“I wonder why they don't do that anymore.”
“That was kind of fun,” Twyla admitted. “It was like, we went to the store, but they treated us differently. They were actually friendly. But it’s always more fun to trick or treat all over town.”
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