Firefly

Forty-One

October 31, 2002
Halloween

It's finally Halloween! Tonight would be filled with scary movies, pizza, and popcorn with Sarah after going trick or treating. "Are you sure you can't go to the party tonight?" My friend Vicky asked. I rolled my eyes at her. "I promised I would take Sarah trick or treating and then watch scary movies." She hummed and gave me a look. "What?" I asked. She shook her head, "nothing," she said, smirking.

"Just not nothing, so just say it," I said. Her smirk grew wider. "You just want to see her dad," she said. I scoffed and pulled the driver's side door to my car open. "I do not. I see him, like every day, he is my neighbor, you know." We got into the car, and she rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't blame, okay? The man is fucking hot. I mean, I want him to be my daddy too," she said, giving me a suggestive look. "Oh my God, Vick! You are such a whore!" I laughed, pushing her a little.

After dropping Vicky off I headed home. "Nonna!" I called out. I walked into the kitchen to see her grabbing her purse off the table and was all dressed up in black with a witches hat on. "Going somewhere?" I asked. She looked at me with a smile. "Yes, me and the girls are going to have a little book club Halloween party at Pearl's house tonight. You know, have a few drinks and talk about our latest book. What are your plans tonight?"

"I'm taking Sarah trick or treating then we're going to order pizza, make popcorn, and watch scary movies the rest of the night," I told her. "No going out with your friends? There aren't any parties where underage drinking will be taking place?" I looked at her with a little shock but laughed. "No, there are, but I don't want to go to any parties. I'd rather stay in with Sarah." She hummed and gave me a look.  "Oh, my god, this has nothing to do with Mr. Miller! I babysit for him and he's, like, way too old!"

There was a honk outside and she sighed. "That's Ruth. Just be safe tonight," she said and kissed my forehead before walking out the front door. I looked at the clock to see it was two-fifteen. I ran upstairs and grabbed my Halloween costume, then got in the car to go pick up Sarah from school. I waited outside with the top down and the radio on.When she walked out and saw me she ran up to the car and got in. "Hey, kid! How was school?" I asked.

"It's school, you know how it is. I'm more excited about tonight!" She said excitedly. "What do you want to do? Get pizza on our way home and eat before we go out or do you want to eat after trick or treating?" I asked, pulling out onto the road. "Let's get pizza first then you can help me with my costume. Who knows, maybe dad and Uncle Tommy will be home before we go out and we can drag them along." She laughed.

"Knowing Tommy he probably has a date or something tonight or plans on going to the bar to pick one up." She nodded her head in agreement. "Can we make cookies?" She asked, looking at me with puppy eyes. "You don't have to look at me with those puppy dog eyes. We can make cookies, but we'll need to go to the store first." She cheered and turned the radio up. I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and we got out of the car and walked into the store.

"Okay, what do you want to do? Get the stuff to make fresh cookies or get those Pillsbury cookie dough roll things?" I asked, grabbing a cart. "Can we make homemade cookies?" She asked. I nodded my head, "of course, we can make homemade cookies. Maybe grab some snakes while we're here." Sarah walked ahead, going straight to the snack aisle first.

She threw chips, pretzels, popcorn, and bags of candy into the cart. "You're going trick or treating, which you will be getting candy," I said. "Yeah, but these are better than what I'll get trick or treating. The Adler's hand out apples, and the Smiths hand out floss! Who hands out floss?" I chuckled at her rant. "Dentist's hand out floss and apples are healthy for you." She made a face that made me laugh harder. "Okay, okay, candy is way better."

After we got all the stuff we needed, I paid for everything, then we headed for the pizza shop and ordered two large pizzas before heading back home. We carried the bags and pizza inside and started on making the cookies. Sarah wanted to get them started before we sat down and ate. And just as we were getting ready to sit at the table Joel walked in the front door. I looked at the clock to see it was five.

"Smells good in here!" He called, walking into the kitchen. "We have cookies in the oven!" Sarah said, grabbing another plate. "And we got pizza for dinner." She set the plate on the table and sat down. "You're home early," I said, sitting across from Sarah. "Yeah, we finished the job early, shockingly enough. Tommy decided he wanted to go out to the bar, so I dropped him off at home."

I gave Sarah a look and she rolled her eyes. "Well, after the cookies are done and we eat, we're going to get ready to go trick or treating. Did you want to join us?" I asked. He sat down at the table between me and Sarah. "I think I'm a little old for that but you two have fun. Don't be out too late." 

After dinner Joel said he would make sure the cookies were taken out of the oven in time so me and Sarah could get ready. After we got our costumes on I took her around the neighbor, making sure to hit every house before we headed back. Now we were sitting on the couch eating popcorn and a bunch of other snacks while watching scary movies that Sarah swore up and down she wouldn't find scary.

Every time Jason popped on the screen though she would hide her face in Joel's shoulder. After the third movie she was out like a light and Joel carried her upstairs. "Clara still out with her book club friends?" He asked, coming down the stairs and into the kitchen where I was putting everything away. "Yeah, knowing those four they probably got drunk and passed out," I laughed. Nonna was not your normal grandmother.

"Well, you're more than welcome to stay in the guest room if you don't want to stay at home alone." I smiled at him, "Thank you, Mr. Miller. I'll be fine, though. I have to get up early for work tomorrow." After I helped finish cleaning things up, I went back to my house and went to bed. 

Present Time

"You okay? Firefly!" I snapped back into reality and looked over at Joel. "What?" I asked. "Where'd ya go?" He asked. I shook my head and gave him a weak smile. "Halloween 2002. Seeing Ellie laughing and being a kid…I just wish that…" I didn't need to say anything because I knew that Joel understood. I didn't need to say out loud that I wish Sarah would have been able to grow up. She was Ellie's age when the outbreak happened. "Yeah, me too. We should get going though. Come on."