A (late) Halloween ficlet
It was a full month before Halloween, but the stores had already started selling costumes, and Cody had his mind set. Over the summer he had become obsessed with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and he had to go as Jason, the Red Ranger.
He was in the store with his mother, and that’s when he saw it, the costume he was looking for. “Mom, I need it.”
“Need what?” she asked, not paying full attention to her son.
He ran over to the costume and held it up in front of her, “THIS!”
She sighed, “Are you sure you want to go as a, what’s it called?”
“A Power Ranger, Mom. And yes, I have to be the Red Ranger. He’s so cool.”
His mother rolled her eyes, but gave in anyway. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. He told all his friends in his 3rd grade class that he was going as a Power Ranger, with the mask and the Power Sword and everything.
When Halloween finally rolled around, he dressed in excitement, running down the stairs to meet his mother, who was waiting to take him out trick-or-treating. His dad stood there with a camera, snapping pictures.
“Save some candy for me, Dad,” Cody said before they walked out the door.
“Why? I’m sure you’ll get plenty,” he answered.
“Dad, it’s candy. You can never have enough candy.”
“Welllll,” he strung out, “I’ll see what I can do. But, you know our house is pretty popular…”
“Dad, pleeeeease?”
“Alright,” Dusty caved, patting his son on the head before tucking a candy bar away for him. “You have fun, now.”
“Thanks, Dad,” he said, waving to his father as he walked down their front steps. His mother walked with him as they headed next door. He knocked and watched as his classmate Parker came to the door dressed as a zombie. “Trick-or-treat,” Cody said when his dad came up behind him. Parker stepped outside and held his candy bag out to his father, as well.
“Here you go,” he said, tossing two fun size bars in each bag. “Have fun, Parker. Thanks for taking him out,” he said to Cody’s mom.
“It’s no problem; someone has to stay home and pass out the candy,” she answered. “Well, we better get going before these kids explode from their impatience.”
“Good luck,” he said.
“Thanks,” she replied. “Alright, guys, let’s go.” She started walking down the driveway, and the kids ran to catch up to her.
Not five houses into it, both of them started digging through their bags to grab some candy. “Oh, nice, Kit Kats,” Cody said, pulling one out.
“What do you think you’re doing, young man?” his mother said when he shoved the candy bar into his mouth.
“Eeeaaing candy,” he mumbled.
“That’s all you’re having tonight.”
“MOM! You can’t do that! Parker just ate all his candy, how come you’re not saying anything to him?”
“I’m not his mother; he can do what he wants.”
“Mom! That’s not fair!”
She just shrugged and continued walking while Cody stood there gaping at her.
“Hey, Cody, hey, Parker,” someone said behind him.
He turned around and said hi to a group of his friends as they came closer to him. One of the kid’s mothers was out with them, watching over the whole group. “Hi, guys. How have you done so far?” They held out their candy bags, not too full… Yet. “Hey, Mom, can they come with us?” Cody asked.
She sighed, and again found herself giving in to her son. “Fine.” Sure, she knew there was that whole thing about safety in numbers, but there were only two chaperones for a group of ten 8 year old boys. She supposed it was better than ten 15 year old boys, but it still wasn’t really what she wanted to be doing during her evening.
The group moved from house to house, filling up their bags, each child getting more and more hyper as they shoved more and more candy into their mouths.
Cody ran into a couple other Red Rangers, but, of course, none of their costumes were as cool as his. Every time someone told him they liked his costume, a huge smile broke out on his face and he would proudly announce that he was a Power Ranger.
They went down as many neighbourhoods as they could, but it soon grew late, and the kids had to get back home. The group split up as kids reached their houses, and it wasn’t long before Cody got back. He sat down on the kitchen floor and dumped his candy out, separating them into piles.
“What are you doin’?” Dusty asked, entering the room.
Cody looked up at him with a look on his face that read ‘duh.’ “I’m doing homework.”
“Eating your candy is homework now?”
“I’m not eating it, Dad, I’m counting.” He stood up and walked past his dad, over to his backpack. He pulled out a piece of paper with a chart on it and headed back towards his mound of chocolate. “I have to count it and then see what I got the most of. It’s for my math class.”
“Wish they had homework like that when I was a kid; I probably woulda liked school better.” He walked away, leaving Cody alone in the kitchen.
Cody looked around and added two tick marks to the Snickers category he made before he shoved one into his mouth in one go, chewing it as fast as he could before his mother came back. When she didn’t, he opened the second one and ate that one a little more slowly.
“What did I tell you earlier?”
He froze in place, candy hanging out of his mouth, and he turned to face her. “I don’t remember,” he said after he finished chewing.
She rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway, “Good luck getting to sleep tonight.”
He started back up on his candy tally, not responding to his mother’s comment. “Mom, I’m trying to do homework.”
“Well, pardon me, I don’t want to disturb the young scholar.” She left him alone once again as she went to brush her teeth. “And I don’t want to see you having any more of that when I get out of here.”
“Umm, ok,” he said as he unwrapped another piece and shoved it into his mouth.
“Just make sure you brush your teeth tonight, ok?”
He swallowed just before replying, “Yeah, Mom, I will!” And then he ate another piece.