The Bad Boy's Little Pumpkin

Candy and an Upgrade

We were getting old, but we all wanted to snatch up candy one more year. We all went together, like a group of ten of us, and we'd always do a group costume. This year, the theme was candy. There was a kit kat, a skittle, a Hershey bar, a peanut butter cup, and a bunch more.

    Apple and Mom had craftiness in common, so they worked on our costumes. Apple was adamant that she had to be the one in the Sweedish Fish costume. They were her favorite. She cut out a bunch of fish shaped out of red foam and glued them to a yellow shirt.

    Me? Oh, I had a costume that was totally not embarassing, if you get my drift. I was going as a big fat blue M&M, with a tutu to match my sweatshirt. I didn't even want to go, but Apple bribed me with brownies.

I waddled for as long as I could. Some of the girls would run ahead, but there was a nice chunk that walked slow with me. We had to take a ton of breaks, but ultimately I had a good time. My favorite part was the tradition of watching Apple squeal at the top of her lungs every time someone dropped a pack of sweedish fish into her pillowcase.

I was literally dead tired when we got home, but like every year, we had to sit at the dining room table and trade candy. I just wanted to devour the chocolate, but Apple was insistent that I give her each and every one of my Sweedish Fish.

"I like them too, you know!" I said, my mouth stuffed with a Twix.

"I know, but they aren't your favorite. And, I made you brownies last night, didn't I?"

There was no sense in arguing. I handed my few packs of gummy fish over to her.

"Hey, who's ready for a Halloween surprise?" Kevin said, popping into the room. 

"That's not a thing, Kevin," Apple said.

"Yeah. And my feet are killing me," I said.

"Well, if you say so. I guess the finished basement will still be there tomorrow," Kevin said, walking out of the room.

We both instantly sprang to our feet, pushing and shoving to get to the stairwell first. I won that battle. I was bigger. Well, rounder. Kevin was waiting at the bottom of the stairwell with his camera rolling.

"Hey MTV, check out this crib I built!" he said, making sure he got a good shot of our first reaction.

The basement looked totally awesome. It was a fully-functioning apartment with a living room that had an open-concept small kitchen to go with it. Past that was a small hallway with two bedrooms and a bathroom.

I opened the first door. My bedroom was smaller than the one I had before, but it worked. It was enough room for my bed and dresser. It also had a small closet. They even took the liberty of moving Captain down here for me. But it wasn't my room that I cared about, it was the nursery next door that Mom designed.

I opened the door and couldn't believe my eyes. It was exactly what I'd imagined. The walls were a nice, calming soft white. Mom painted a mural of a leafy tree with owls in it. It was the perfect, forest-themed nursery complete with a crib, rocking chair, changing table, and lots of stuffed animals.

"This is exactly what I wanted!" I said.

"It's so cute!" Apple said. She took out her phone to get some good shots for Instagram.

I gave Kevin a hug.

"Thank you so much, Kev, everything is perfect. Sorry you had to lose your weight room," I said.

"I lost a weight room but gained a grandbaby. I think it's a pretty fair trade. Besides, there's a gym right down the street anyway," he said.

I looked around, still taking it all in. Everything was coming together. Nugget gave me a nice kick. That was all good, because so was this baby. Any day now.