The Ministry Child

Family Ties

Family Ties

Chapter 28!

31st October 1997 - The Italian Ministry

Music echoed down the hallway, the All Hallows' Eve party was in full swing. Clergy employees and ghouls attended the event. Games had been arranged, there was a long table filled with spooky treats and a bowl of green misty punch. Carved pumpkins lined one side of the hallway, candles had been arranged in the middle of cocktail tables. The drinks were flowing, the sound of laughter filled the air. Halloween parties were different at the Italian Ministry, they were more fun and sociable than the Los Angeles Ministry. There wasn't any rats stealing cheese and pineapple sticks from plates, no tables just laid out with cheap wine or spirits. No drunken employees and sinful encounters in empty offices. Just the ghouls playing Uno for money with Secondo, and employees having fun at the bobbing for apples barrel. It was more relaxed and homely. 

Albany stood silently next to her Father with a wine glass in her hand, her mind was wandering. She had been listening to his conversation with a group of higher ranking members of the Clergy, but their conversation was mostly business themed. She was bored, she would rather be sitting with the ghouls and watching Secondo losing his hard earned cash to them. She still hadn't spoken to him about what he  had nearly said at the family dinner last night, she hadn't had the chance since she had been in the company of her Father for most of the evening. Primo and Terzo were sitting in one of the empty offices along the hallway, they had been discussing something unknown for most of the party. Taking a sip of her wine Albany's attention was soon caught by her Father's voice, he touched her arm before he spoke with his child.

" Are you listening to me, Albany?" He asked.

" I'm sorry, did you say something?" She asked. 

" You weren't listening to me..." He sighed.

" I'm sorry, I was thinking about something else." She said.

" Would you like to discuss it?" He asked.

" No, I'm fine!" She replied with smile. " I'm going to get a coffee and something to eat, I think the wine is going to my head. I'll be back before midnight, if you would please excuse me."

" Okay, little one." He said.

Albany lovingly touched her Father's arm before she approached the buffet table, there was a canister of hot coffee and spooky biscuits laid out on a tray. She poured herself some coffee and helped herself to some biscuits shaped liked spiders, she then found herself a table far away from her Father. Taking a seat she stirred her spoon around her cup, she broke one of the biscuits in half and dripped it into her coffee. Her gaze wandered around the hallway, she watched some of the ghouls trying to bob for apples. She remembered playing that game with Phil when she was young, the ghouls rules were different than human rules. They preferred to try and drown each other in the barrels while they tried to get the apples with their fangs, but they were on their best behaviour tonight due to the visitors from the higher levels of the Ministry. Albany's thoughts were interrupted by the chair moving on the other side of the table. She soon noticed Secondo sitting across from her, he removed his sunglasses and slipped them into his jacket pocket. Resting her chin on her hand she watched him picking a plastic spider up from the table top, he then playful walked it across the table top towards her. He made low growing sounds before he nudged her elbow with the plastic spider, she rolled her eyes at him. He use to do this to her when she was a child at Halloween, he thought he was being funny when in fact he was scaring her with the silly little toy. She sighed deeply to herself before she flicked the plastic spider from between his fingers, she wasn't in the mood for his childish games.