The Problem with Dreams

Chapter 40 - Halloween

Watching their daughter with her first grade class in their Halloween parade was one of the true joys of parenthood, Greg decided. It was something he'd missed with Julie and Alan, and he was grateful for the opportunity to do these sorts of things right this time, bringing home the thought that this is what his life with Susan was all about: the chance to do things right this one last time. They all went home together following the parade, giving them another two hours for dinner and to unpack another box or two before the Trick-or-Treat hour.

Greg brought dinner to Zack in his room and took the time to set up the phone from the farmhouse in their new house, leaving one of the portable handsets with Zack, while Susan cleaned up the kitchen. They'd already decided that Zackary would have to stay home rather than going out with his friends due to his continuing fever, but he accepted the situation relatively well and agreed to call Susan or Greg on their cell phone if he needed anything while they were gone.

Two hours after arriving home, the three of them were on their way to the farmhouse one last time, with Jessie in her costume, and Greg armed with a flashlight, prepared to go out with her. Richard and Marion were already at the house waiting for them when the Abernathy's arrived.

"Are you ready?" Richard asked eagerly as he and Marion got the twins out of the car, dressed in hooded blanket sleepers that looked like animals.

"Hello Richard," Greg said with a grin.

"Hello," Richard said sheepishly. "Sorry, but I can't tell you how long I've looked forward to doing this."

Greg arched his brow. "You are still planning on taking the twins Trick-or-Treating with us?"

"Of course," Richard said.

"They are only four and a half months old!" Greg protested.

"It's mostly for Richard, obviously," Marion assured him. "But it's warm out and Richard wants to take them, so I said he could. Where is Zackary?" she asked looking around.

"He's sick, so he's home this evening" Susan told her.

"Oh no! He's missing Trick-or-Treat?" Marion asked sympathetically.

"Unfortunately," Susan said. "We were hoping he'd feel better this evening, but he's still running a fever so I insisted he stay in bed for tonight."

"So what's he doing? Watching TV?" Richard asked as they all stood in front of the house talking.

"No. It's not hooked up yet. I think he's sleeping ... or maybe reading," Susan offered as they walked to the house and opened the front door.

"So he's home in bed, by himself? Are you comfortable with that?" Marion asked in concern as they all went in.

"Not really ... but one of us needs to be here to answer the door and one of us needs to go with Jessie ... so we left him with a phone so he can call us if he needs us," Susan explained. "Besides Greg doesn't want me to get too close to him, and I'd have to be to take care of him."

"Well it probably is good that you're not exposing yourself to him more than you need to, but on the other hand, if he's sick, he'd probably rather not be there by himself ... even if all he's doing is sleeping," Marion wavered.

"I know," Susan said in a guilty sounding tone.

"Susan, would you like me to stay here and answer the door this evening so you can go home?" she offered.

Susan exchanged a glance with Greg.

"Don't you want to go with Richard and the twins?" Susan asked.

"No. I think this is a Dad's thing to go out on Halloween with the kids," Marion explained.

"Would you like to, Susan?" Greg asked thinking about how anxious she'd been.