Chapter 16 - Halloween Night
By six o'clock on Halloween, Grandma's street was packed.
Not dangerously.
Just alive.
Parents pushed strollers. Kids wore capes, wings, masks, cardboard robot arms, princess dresses, and one very serious hot dog costume.
Kevin the skeleton wore his bow tie.
The repaired scarecrows stood beside the walkway.
Grandpa's pumpkin glowed under a small porch light.
Grandma wore the same witch hat she'd worn when I was nine.
It leaned badly to the left.
"Still fits," she said.
"That's not what fits means."
"Close enough."
At 7:15, a little boy stopped in front of Grandpa's pumpkin.
"Why is it cracked?"
Grandma crouched slowly.
"Because something can be broken and still get another Halloween."
He considered that.
"Cool."
Then he took two candy bars.
"One," Grandma said.
He put one back.
At 8:03, Melissa arrived with Pickles.
She stayed near the sidewalk.
Grandma saw her and lifted one hand.
Not a hug.
Not forgiveness.
An invitation to stand there without being chased away.
Melissa came closer.
"I brought this."
It was a small orange light strand.
Grandma stared at it.
"That's either brave or incredibly awkward."
Melissa gave a shaky laugh.
"Both."
They plugged it in around the porch rail.
At 8:20, Brent came outside.
The street seemed to notice all at once.
Conversation thinned.
He stood in his driveway alone.
For several seconds, nobody knew what he would do.
Then he walked toward Grandma's yard.
I stepped down from the porch.
Grandma put out her arm.
"No."
Brent stopped at the sidewalk.
In his hands was a cardboard box.
He set it on the ground.
"These were in my garage."
Inside were two of Grandma's missing decorations.
A ceramic black cat.
And Grandpa's old porch sign.
Grandma stared at them.
Brent swallowed.
"I should've returned them before."
No apology.
Not yet.
Then a little girl in fairy wings walked up to him and held out her candy bucket.
"Are you giving candy?"
Brent looked completely lost.
Grandma reached into her bowl and handed him a fistful.
"Start with this."
And everybody waited to see what he would do.
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