“I can’t thank you enough!’ Barry said for the third time in less than two minutes.
“Yes, I believe you’ve already thanked me a few times,” Erne Walsh, head salesman and owner of Ernie’s Auto exclaimed.
“Yeah, I guess I did,” Barry felt a little embarrassed as Ernie handed him the keys.
“You see that Burnt Sierra Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme there?” Ernie pointed to an ’83 Oldsmobile.
Barry squinted in the waning sunlight until he saw the Oldsmobile. Ernie waited until he was sure that Barry knew exactly what car he would be using. Before Barry began his trek towards the car, Ernie tapped him on the shoulder.
“I just have to say that it may be an older car but it was owned by an old lady who only drove it to the store and home. It has like 50,000 miles and is in perfect condition.” Ernie proudly declared.
“You guys call me as soon as my car is finished,” Barry reminded Ernie.
“You know I will!” Ernie waved as Barry headed towards the car.
Barry was impressed the minute he got inside the car. After starting the car and heading out of the parking lot, he began to head towards home. As he raced down the highway, he couldn’t help but laugh at how ironic that this ancient loaner ran better than his own car.
Before he knew it, he was near home. As he pulled into his neighborhood, he happened to look on both sides of the street. Everywhere he looked, he was reminded that it was Halloween. A few minutes later before turning into his driveway, he suddenly remembered that he told his son, Cole, that he would participate in Trunk or Treat night at his elementary school.
The minute Barry removed the keys from the ignition, he heard Cole run up to the car. He turned and looked at his son before getting out of the car. He smiled as he noticed that Cole was wearing the Incredible Hulk costume that he had bought for him just a few days earlier. He opened the door and stepped out onto the driveway.
“Dad! Where’s your car?” Cole immediately asked.
“I had to take in for service, so they let me use this car!” Barry replied. He really didn’t want to explain to his son that he got into an accident that morning on the way to work while he was texting and drinking a hot coffee.
“We have to go to Trunk and Treat! You promised!” Cole exclaimed.
Barry’s son backpedaled a few steps in order to allow his father to get out of the car. He stood there and watched Barry open the door and exit the Oldsmobile. Cole looked over the car almost as if he was considering whether it would be suitable for the evening’s Trunk or Treat event.
“I know!” Barry exclaimed.
“You forgot!” Cole accused his father with a hurt look quickly emerging across his face.
“No I didn’t !” Barry protested as he headed up the front walkway towards the door.
On his way to his front door, he couldn’t help but notice that there were a few of the neighborhood kids ringing the doorbell. Before he could say a word to them, the door opened, revealing his wife, standing in the doorway holding a big bowl of assorted candy. The kids all cheered, including Cole as they were allowed to reach into the bowl and help themselves. Like a tornado through a trailer park, the trick or treaters grabbed what they could before turning and fleeing into the twilight. Cole made sure that he secured his share inside his candy bag, before turning to his father.
“We have to go !” Cole urged his father before he could make his way inside the house.
Barry greeted his wife while he told his son to go and get ready. Barry’s wife, Maddy was staring at the Oldsmobile in the driveway while holding the now half empty bowl of candy. After staring at Barry’s loaner for a few long moments, she turned and looked at her husband. Already knowing exactly what she was going to say, Barry decided to tell her before he got bombarded with an arsenal of questions.
“I had a little accident this morning and had to take the car in,” Barry tried to tell his wife as softly as possible due to the little pair of ears that seem to hear everything.
“I thought you said that you took it in for service!” Cole declared.
Barry and Maddy turned their heads simultaneously and looked at their son. Barry immediately knew how to handle this situation by promptly changing the subject. This was the most common strategy he used with his son when he didn’t want to talk about something.
“You ready to go , Hulk!” Barry flexed his muscles in a weak attempt to impersonate the famed Marvel Super hero.
“Give it up, dad,” Cole ordered his father as he shook his head.
“No good?” Barry asked, feigning a sense of disappointment.
“Just do me a favor, dad,” Cole said as he stared right at his father. Maddy slowly shut the front door and placed the bowl of candy on top of one of the speakers that were placed strategically around the house.
“Whats that, partner?” Barry asked.
“When we go to Trunk or Treat, don’t do what you just did in front of me. I don’t think I will ever hear the end of it,” Cole explained in a pleading tone.
“I think it would make you look cool in front of your friends!” Barry laughed.
“Mom! Tell Dad to stop!” Cole shouted.
“Dad stop!” Maddy ordered her laughing husband.
“Ok, I’ll do it for you and mom!” Barry reassured his nervous son.
“Most importantly , dad, I think you should do it for yourself!” Cole abruptly left and headed to his bedroom.
Barry shot his wife a half hearted smile which reeked of I am-not-sure-what-to – do- with-this-kid kind of vibe. She sensed her husband’s nervousness and could obviously tell that he had a bad day. Nonetheless, she shook her head and looked into her husband’s eyes.
“Honey, did you promise him that you would take him to Trunk or Treat tonight?” Maddy gingerly asked her husband.
“Yes, dear,” Barry slowly nodded.
Before either one of them could say another word, their son was standing behind him. Barry did a double take, temporarily confused as to how his son had snuck up on him like that. Cole stood there smiling with an overstuffed Target bag. Barry’s eyes immediately darted towards the huge bag his son was carrying.
“What’s in the bag? You’re supposed to come home with a full bag!” Barry laughed.
“Its all the stuff we need to bring to decorate the trunk. I figured one or both of you would forget so I went ahead and packed the decorations. Come on , Dad! We’re going to be late!” Cole summoned his father to immediately follow him.
He stopped by the candy bowl on his way out the door and helped himself. When he realized that definitely took too much, he tried to return some. Maddy shot her son a warning look which resulted in Cole returning all the candy back to the bowl.
Barry kissed his wife and reminded her again, in case she didn’t hear her son say it aloud, where they were going. Cole ripped off the wrapper of one of the candies and tossed it on the floor when his mother wasn’t looking.
Soon they were in the car and off to Cole’s elementary school. Cole asked his father a million questions about the car and the circumstances in which it required service. Barry was questioned in great detail concerning the reason why he told his mother a different reason than he told him. Barry tried to change the subject, but each time he did, he found himself being questioned about even more things that he didn’t want to discuss with his son.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Barry noticed the sign for his son’s elementary school ahead in the distance. The second after he recognized this, he was reminded several times of the upcoming turn into the school and the need to get a good space in the parking lot. Cole expressed his concerns regarding the fact that we didn’t get her early enough and the consequences of this could potentially have a negative effect on the whole night.
Barry followed his son’s instructions, too tired from the long day that he had to endure, the best he could. Luckily, by the grace of god, they managed to find what his son dub “ the best possible spot”, which gave him a tremendous source of relief.
After parking the car, Cole turned to his dad and casually produced another bag that Barry failed to notice he brought with him. Barry cleared his throat.
“So what do we do now?” Barry asked as he stared at his son with a dumbfounded look.
“We have to decorate our trunk,” Cole said as he looked at his father, then turned his head and looked at the back of the car.
“Ok, I guess I have to open the trunk,” Barry examined the keys to the Oldsmobile until he settled on which key he thought would open the trunk.
“Yes, dad,” Cole shook his head as he reached into the backseat and grabbed his bag of Halloween decorations.
“This is probably as stupid question,” Barry interrupted his son as he was about to head around to the back of the car.
“Another one? I’m used to them by now,” Cole impatiently replied.
“What do we do when we finish decorating the trunk?” Barry asked his son. The second the words left his mouth he already knew the answer to the question he had just asked. All of a sudden hordes of children dressed in various costumes were aimlessly marching in different directions with their bags of candy.
“I think you already know the answer to that one if you just look around,” Cole said over his shoulder as he exited the car.
“Yeah,” Barry glanced down at the keys in his hand, briefly forgetting which key opened the trunk.
After further inspection, he found the right one. As he was about to put the keys back into his pocket, he hesitated. Holding the key closer to his face for a closer look, his eyes grew as wide as beach balls.
“Is that what I think it is?” Barry held the keys even closer to his face.
A loud bang against the back of the car immediately snapped him out of his trance. Completely forgetting what he was just looking at, he found himself already out of the car and halfway to the trunk. His son’s impatience could erupt into a ubiquitous feeling of frustration and hopeless before anyone saw the transformation coming.
“I’m coming!” Barry cried, his keys jingling as he arrived at the trunk.
“You ready?” Barry asked his son with a big smile. Cole didn’t have the energy to fake another smile.
His father sensed this and immediately began to work on the trunk. After a few agonizing moments that teetered on full blown despair, it was finally open. The first thing that greeted both of them was an awful smell. Cole gagged and raced around to the front of the car and started vomiting.
Barry did his absolute best not to vomit as he leaned closer to look inside the trunk. There was a olive green blanket that was caked in all sorts of animal fur that featured several dried clumps of blood. Barry already knew what was going to happen next. One thing he found about himself is that sometimes he hated when he was right.
Sure enough, under the blanket, a pair of waterlogged eyes stared at Barry with a vacant glare that sent shivers down his spine. Just as he was about to cover his gruesome find, he heard his son standing behind him. He braced himself for the words that were about to escape his loquacious son’s mouth.
“Wow! You didn’t tell me you were bringing some decorations too! Wow! Take it out! It looks so realistic!” Cole held his nose as he leaned back into the trunk to take another look. His father just closed his eyes and ran his hands through his rapidly thinning hair.