Unhealthy Coping Mechanism

Chapter 10

A row of bushes covered in fake cobwebs and skeletons made of cut-up milk jugs led Harriet and Sam to her dad's house. As usual, he'd gone all out with the decorations, although he'd mercifully listened to her plea to keep things spooky instead of scary for Sam's sake.

Sam itched at the scales he'd sloppily face-painted onto his cheeks. "Do you think Grandpa will like my costume?"

"I'm sure he will," Harriet said. He'd certainly prefer it to hers. She'd decided to forego a complicated costume this year, instead opting to wear a simple t-shirt with a mummified dog holding a bone and saying, "I found this humerus." At least the joke would be sure to get a chuckle out of him, although Sam was still a bit young to know much body humor besides fart jokes.

Sam rang the doorbell far too many times, nearly spilling candy from his bloated bucket each time. "Trick or treat!" he yelled as his grandpa opened the door.

"Well if it isn't my favorite little dinosaur." Elijah plunked a king-sized Snickers bar into Sam's bucket and ushered them inside. "Come on in. Your grandma and I are just about ready to start bobbing for eyeballs."

"He means apples," Harriet's mother called from the kitchen as if she could see the look of sheer horror on Sam's face. "And they would have been ready half an hour ago if someone hadn't insisted on dyeing the water red."

Harriet hid her discomfort with a soft chuckle. Her father looked and sounded even worse than she'd expected. His breath rattled beneath his shaggy brown sweater, and the face paint failed to make him look like a fierce werewolf, instead showing him as the tired old man he really was as the makeshift fur drooped along with his wrinkles.

"Are you sure this won't be too much for you?" Harriet whispered as Sam scrambled into the kitchen to offer his grandma a packet of Skittles.

"I'm fine, my little peony. Besides, it was a hoot to finally have a reason to decorate! Nia's been on my case about taking it easy, but even the local fun police can't resist spoiling Sam."

He led her through the house so she could admire how much work they'd put into preparing for the party. "I just about sprained my wrist carving that," he said as he gestured to a jack-o'-lantern depicting a zombified witch. Or was it just an exceptionally mean-looking old lady? Harriet didn't ask. "Those booklets are full of fancy pants designs these days. No more goofy faces! Now it's all graveyards and goblins."

"It still makes more sense than the Halloween trees I've seen. They might as well start calling it Orange Christmas."

Elijah chuckled, which turned into a cough. "We'd better go check on Sam. Mind the spiders," he said as Harriet tiptoed around a plastic creepy crawly peeking out from inside a pair of her dad's slippers. "Sam'll get a nice big bucket of candy when he finds all five."

Sam emerged from the bucket of red water in the kitchen with a crabapple in his mouth. "Got one!" he yelled around the fruity mouthful before spitting it out.

"Why don't you give it a shot?" Nia said as she threw out Sam's apple.

Harriet dunked her head into the water, shivering as the coldness seeped through her hair. Her mouth brushed against something firm hidden in the murky redness, yet no matter how she contorted herself the fruits slipped out of reach. When her teeth finally sank into her sweet target, she rose to the surface to a round of applause.

"You've still got it," her dad said.

"Barely." Harriet gratefully accepted a towel from her mom and dried herself off as best she could. Now that her turn at the game was over, the urge to bake gnawed at her like a kid crunching on a caramel apple.