Tricks and Treats

by Judy Delton

  Lisa was writing and writing. But it looked as if she was copying something out of the library book. Molly did not want to copy. Mrs. Peters said they were to make up a story, not copy one. Kevin was writing fast too. But he was not copying. He waved to Molly. Molly went to his table.

  “This is such a scary story, I’m even scared writing it,” he whispered.

  “I can’t think of anything scary,” whispered Molly back. But Kevin was writing so fast, he didn’t even hear her.

  Molly took her paper and folded it up and started for home. On the way she stopped at her best friend’s house.

  “I can’t think of a scary story,” she told Mary Beth.

  “Mine is all finished,” said her friend. “My aunt helped me.”

  Molly did not want to cheat. But she didn’t want to be the only one without a scary story. She wasn’t worried about her costume. Or about giving out treats at the food bank. But to get her badge, she had to have a story to read or tell around the campfire.

  When Molly left Mary Beth’s, Tim was just coming from school. Why was she worrying about being the only one with no story? Tim could not write a story either, she bet. She asked him.

  “I’ve got my story ready,” he said.

  Molly’s spirits fell. Even Tim was ahead of her with this.

  “Do you want to hear it?”

  Before Molly could say yes or no, Tim said, “ ‘Once we had a burglar in the middle of the night, but really it was my uncle.’ ”

  Molly waited. And waited. “Well?” she said. “Tell me the scary story.”

  “I just did,” said Tim. “That’s it.”

  So Tim’s story was one line long. And it was not scary. But Molly did not want a oneline story. Or a copied story. Or an aunt’s story. She wanted a badge, but she did not want it enough to cut corners.

  “Rat’s knees!” she said.

  When she got home, she crumpled up the rainy night story and threw it into the waste-basket. She began again. Then she threw that one away. She wondered how people wrote whole books. With lots of pages. She decided she would never be a writer. Even though at school her teacher brought in authors who made writing sound easy and fun.

  Molly’s mother called her for dinner. After dinner, she reminded Molly to do her homework. After that it was bedtime.

  I’ll think about it tomorrow, she said to herself.

  But tomorrow was Pee Wee meeting day.

  The first thing their leader said was, “I hope you are all working hard on your costumes and scary stories! Next Saturday is the big day!”

  “Mine’s done, Mrs. Peters,” called Tim.

  “Mine too,” cried Rachel and Roger and Kevin and Lisa.

  A few of the other Pee Wees were not ready yet, but that did not make Molly feel any better. She liked to be fast. And she liked to be best. It did not bother Tracy and Sonny that time was passing and they might not get badges. They never thought of things until the last minute, and sometimes not even then. And in the end they usually got their badges anyway!

  It’s not fair, thought Molly to herself.

  “Today,” smiled Mrs. Peters, “we are going to plan what treats we’ll give out at the food bank. I’d like to get an idea of what you each can bring so we won’t run out of treats. I’ve talked to some of your mothers and fathers about this, and if you can tell me what your treat is and how many you can bring, I’ll write it down. Remember, this is for the children who may not have any treats at home. So if you can save your allowance and buy or bake something yourself, that would be even better.”

  Hands waved.

  “My dad called you, Mrs. Peters,” said Tracy. “He is making three pans of fudge, with nuts.”

  “Wonderful,” said their leader.

  “I’m going to buy real candy bars with my own money,” said Roger. “Ten of them.”

  “Good for you,” said Mrs. Peters, writing it down.

  “I’m bringing popcorn balls. Red ones,” said Patty.

  “Yuck,” said Roger.

  Rachel’s hand was waving. “Mrs. Peters,” she said, “my parents are donating a carton of sugarless chewing gum.”

  “Wow, a carton,” said Kenny. “That’s a lot of gum.”

  “But it’s sugarless,” said Roger. “Dentists don’t believe in real candy.”

  “That is very generous, Rachel,” said Mrs. Peters.

  Molly’s mother had said she would make brownies, plenty for everyone. At least Molly would not fail at this project. She would not come empty-handed.

  After everything was written down, Mrs. Peters said, “It looks like we will have plenty of treats!”

  Patty raised her hand. “Won’t it be embarrassing for the kids to take our stuff?” she asked.

  Mrs. Peters frowned. “We have to make them comfortable,” she said. “Perhaps one of their parents is out of work, or they have doctors’ bills. The food bank is for anyone who needs it. There is no reason for anyone to be embarrassed. Besides, the things we give out are like trick-or-treat candies.”

  “I’m glad I don’t have to worry about using the food bank,” said Lisa.

  “So am I,” said Roger.

  Molly didn’t say anything out loud. But she was glad she had a home and food too. And a mother who made brownies.

  The Pee Wees ate their cupcakes and sang their song and said their pledge. Then it was time to go home. Molly didn’t want to think about being poor. She ran all the way home, with an idea for her scary story. But when she went in the back door, she forgot all about it. Her mother and father were talking about something. Something that sounded like bad news. Her mother had tears in her eyes. They both looked sad.

  Mrs. Duff put her arm around Molly’s shoulder and said, “Daddy lost his job today, Molly.”

  When her mother said her name at the end of a sentence, it was serious. Forget about writing a scary story. Molly was in a scary story, right this minute!

  CHAPTER

  4

  The Scariest Story

  of All

  Molly’s ears were ringing with her mother’s words. “Daddy lost his job.” Her dad, who always smiled, was not smiling now. He did not kid Molly and tickle her under the chin and try to make her laugh.

  He looked up from his chair and said, “Don’t worry, honey. It’s not the end of the world. I’ll get another job.”

  But he didn’t look as if he believed it.

  Molly ran to her room and threw herself on her bed. Her family was poor! It was the thing she dreaded the most. The thing they had just talked about. And it had happened.

  How could she tell the Pee Wees? Would she be getting treats from her friends on Halloween, instead of handing them out? Would it be a backward Halloween?

  She pictured herself in line taking treats gratefully from Mary Beth and Roger and Sonny and the others. Some of the Pee Wees were feeling sorry for her. Some of them were laughing at her!

  Her mother and father would be there getting free food from the food bank.

  Molly felt tears spilling out of her eyes and running down her face. She did not smell any dinner cooking downstairs. Maybe they were poor already! Maybe her mother had no money for food, and they would starve! Molly remembered seeing pictures of starving children in other countries.

  Suddenly Molly felt sorry for her father. If she felt this bad, he must feel worse. She had to help somehow. Could she find her dad a new job? Could she get a job herself to help out? There were no jobs for seven-year-olds. She knew for a fact you had to be sixteen to work for money.

  “Molly,” called her mother from downstairs, “come and eat dinner!”

  So they had food after all! Molly ran downstairs and gave her dad a hug. Then she sat down at the table as on any other evening. Her dad opened a bag of take-out hamburgers and french fries. Usually they had take-out to celebrate something. But this was nothing to celebrate.

  “I couldn’t think of anything to make,” said Mrs. Duff. “So Dad got hamburgers.”


  The burgers seemed dry to Molly and stuck in her throat. She wasn’t hungry and wished she didn’t have to eat.

  “Are we going to starve?” The words burst out of Molly.

  “Of course not, honey,” said her dad, patting Molly on the head. “We might have to use the food bank if we’re in a pinch. And we’ll have to cut back on our spending. But it’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  How could her dad say that? Of course it was something for her to worry about! It was her own family!

  When her dad kissed her good night, he looked sad. And when her mother tucked her in bed, she forgot to turn Molly’s night-light on. Things had definitely changed in the Duff family.

  At school the next morning everyone acted the same. Molly’s friends acted as if Molly were the person she was yesterday. They did not know that she was poor and would not be handing out treats with the rest of them.

  At recess Mary Beth said, “Do you want me to help you write your scary story?”

  Molly had forgotten all about the story. She wanted to cry and tell Mary Beth that the story wasn’t important now. She wanted help with fixing her family, not with her story. But she didn’t say that. She said, “I can do it, but thanks anyway.”

  On the way home from school, the Pee Wees were talking about their costumes.

  “I can’t wait till Halloween,” said Sonny.

  “My dad’s got the fudge all made,” said Mary Beth.

  “I’m going to get the prize for the scariest story,” said Tracy.

  “We’re going trick-or-treating first, aren’t we, Molly?” said Mary Beth.

  All of a sudden Molly burst into tears. The other Pee Wees stopped talking and stared. They were surprised. Molly never cried!

  “What’s the matter with you?” asked Sonny. “Have you got a cramp? My cousin got a cramp once, and it was appendicitis.”

  Mary Beth put her arm around her friend. So did Rachel.

  “Are your feelings hurt?” asked Mary Beth.

  “My dad lost his job,” shouted Molly in relief. “We’re poor, and we have to get food at the food bank. And I won’t be able to hand out treats with you on Halloween.”

  None of the Pee Wees knew what to say, so they didn’t say anything.

  “He can get a new job,” said Mary Beth finally. “My aunt did when she lost her job. An even better one.”

  Molly just shook her head and kept crying. She couldn’t stop.

  “That’s awful,” said Sonny. “I feel sorry for you.”

  Molly knew Sonny meant to be kind. But she didn’t want pity. Especially from Sonny. She didn’t want to be different. She broke away from the others and ran all the way home and in her back door.

  “Why, Molly, what’s the matter with you?” asked her mother. “You look all hot and dirty!”

  Her mother pulled her over onto her lap.

  “We’re poor,” Molly blurted out. “I can’t give out treats on Halloween because we won’t have money.”

  Her mother listened to her, then said, “Things are bad, but not that bad. I’m sorry we worried you so much, but Dad just found out yesterday and we were shocked. I’m still working, you know, and we have some money saved, and Dad will find something else soon. Meanwhile, we have lots of food in the freezer, and it will be fun to have Dad around the house more. We’ll just pinch some pennies and get along the best we can. We are all together, and we have a nice warm house, and there’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  “Really?” said Molly, wiping her eyes.

  Her mother nodded. “You can give out treats with the others just as you planned. Life doesn’t change overnight. Lots of people who bring food to the food bank have to use it sometimes.”

  “Aren’t we poor?” asked Molly.

  Her mother laughed. “Not yet,” she said. “Sometimes being poor is in your mind and not your body, you know.”

  Just then the doorbell rang. Molly washed her face while her mother answered it.

  “It’s for you, Molly,” she called.

  Molly went to the door. It was Rachel. She handed Molly an apple pie. “My mom made it,” she said.

  Rachel stood and shuffled her feet. Rachel wasn’t usually nervous. “My mom says after my dad finished dental school, he couldn’t get a job, and our friends shared a lot of stuff with us. It took a long time before he got a good job.”

  “Really?” said Molly. “You were POOR?” She couldn’t picture Rachel poor. Rachel without dance lessons and lots of clothes.

  Rachel nodded. “Of course, I was real little. I don’t really remember it.”

  Molly felt warm toward Rachel. She asked her to come in.

  Rachel called her mother and asked if she could stay for supper. By the time she left, Molly felt much better. She didn’t feel as if she had a sign around her neck that said “I am poor.” And her friends liked her anyway!

  Before she went to bed, she called Mary Beth. “I wrote my scary story,” she said. “It’s about a girl who finds out her family is real poor and then her brother wins the lottery.”

  “What’s scary about that?” asked Mary Beth. “There are no ghosts or spirits in it.”

  Molly sighed. “You’ve never been poor,” she told her patiently. “It’s the scariest thing in the world! But I gave it a happy ending.”

  “Well, it sounds good,” said Mary Beth. “But I don’t think it’s scary enough to win the prize.”

  Whether she won or not, Molly felt better. And she was glad her story was finished.

  CHAPTER

  5

  Molly Looks for Work

  The Pee Wees counted the days left till Halloween. Then they counted the hours. And the minutes. Molly had her costume ready. She had her scary story ready. She would be able to hand out treats at the food bank with the others. There was only one more thing she wanted that she didn’t have. That was a job for her father. Her mother said it was nothing for Molly to worry about. Her dad said he would take care of it himself. But could he?

  A few days before Halloween, Molly and Mary Beth put up a card table on Mary Beth’s front porch. They got out scissors and paste and decorated trick-or-treat bags to carry their candy in. They cut pumpkins out of orange paper and pasted them on brown grocery bags. They cut out witches on broomsticks and flying ghosts and pasted those on too.

  “I think I should look for a job for my dad,” said Molly to her friend.

  “You can’t apply for a job for a grown-up!” said Mary Beth.

  “I know,” said Molly. “But I could look around and find a job and tell him about it.”

  “Where can you look?” asked Mary Beth. “What kind of work can he do?”

  “He can do anything,” said Molly. “My dad is real smart.”

  “That should be easy, then,” said Mary Beth. “We will just look for signs that say ‘Help wanted.’ ”

  “We can even look in the paper!” said Molly.

  Mary Beth ran to get the newspaper. She turned to the want ads.

  Help Wanted said the words at the top of a column. Molly ran her finger down the list.

  “ ‘Night nurses wanted,’ ” read Mary Beth. “Can your dad be a nurse?”

  “Of course,” said Molly.

  “Let’s call this number,” said Mary Beth. She dialed, and Molly talked. She told the person at the other end that Mr. Duff was interested in the job.

  “Is he qualified?” asked the voice. Molly did not know what qualified was, but she knew her dad could do it.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Have him pick up an application,” said the voice.

  “I’ll pick it up,” said Molly. She wrote down the address. It was not far from her house.

  “There!” said Molly, hanging up the phone. “It’s all taken care of.”

  Mary Beth frowned. “You can’t be sure,” she said. “Lots of people are looking for jobs. And maybe we better find some more, so that he has a choice. Maybe he won’t want to be a nurse.”

  W
hat a good idea Mary Beth had! Molly would never have thought of that! She did not think her father should be so fussy—after all, a job was a job—but Mary Beth might be right.

  “Look, the Burger Buddy needs a cook!” said Mary Beth. “Can your dad cook?”

  Molly frowned. She had to think. She remembered when her father put an apron on and cut the Thanksgiving turkey. And sometimes he made breakfast for the Duffs. And when they had hamburgers on the grill, her father always cooked them.

  “Yes!” said Molly.

  Mary Beth dialed the number. “We have someone who will take your job as a cook,” she said in a very businesslike tone. Then she said yes and no and maybe to some questions.

  “We can pick up the blank,” said Mary Beth. “You dad will have lots of jobs.”

  The girls called a few more phone numbers. One was for a veterinarian.

  “My dad loves dogs!” said Molly.

  Another was for a law firm. “Your dad always obeys all the laws, doesn’t he?” asked Mary Beth.

  Molly nodded. Mr. Duff always stopped at red lights. And he never crossed the street in the middle of the block—he always went to the corner.

  “I think he should take the law job,” said Mary Beth.

  “But he likes dogs,” said Molly. “And he’s a good cook.”

  “We’ll let him decide,” said Mary Beth.

  “Won’t he be surprised when he finds out he has a job?” said Molly.

  “I don’t think we should tell him,” said Mary Beth. “I think it should be a surprise.”

  It would be a good Halloween surprise. Mary Beth was right again! Molly wondered why she had ever been so worried about being poor. There were all kinds of jobs for her father!

  When the girls finished their trick-or-treat bags, they collected the application blanks. They walked the long way through downtown so they could look at the Halloween decorations in the store windows.

  “Look,” said Mary Beth, stopping at the corner. She pointed to a bulletin board in the bank window. HELP WANTED it said.