Stuck In Bed On Halloween

  May D. C. ComicsTM, MarvelTM  and DisneyTM all take the use of any and all of their characters in the spirit with it was intended, to entertain and comfort sick children.  Not for monetary gain.

  For all of the girls and boys who are stuck in bed on Halloween.

Once upon an autumn dreary, lay a young boy weak and weary.  He had woke that morning not feeling well at all.  He must go to the doctor proclaimed one and all.  The doctor said that seven year old Billy was not well at all.  He must get back to bed immediately.  There was no time to stall.

Billy was not a happy boy.  Not at all.  For his utmost, favorite time of the year was the fall.  He looked at his parents, grandparents, siblings and said.  “You don’t understand.  I can’t stay in bed.  It’s Halloween.  All of my amazing friends are coming here.  We all trick or treat together.  It’s my favorite time of the year.”

“Billy you’re sick,” came all of the responses he heard.

Billy decided that “sick” was the most awful kind of word.  “You don’t understand.  Wonder Woman is coming.  So are Thor and Iron Man.  The Flash is already running.  What about Batman, Superman, and Spidey?   I am the one who makes sure that my favorite pirate knows where that little monkey is hiding.  What about the gargoyles, the jack-o-lanterns, and Frankenstein.  What about Count Dracula?  He loves telling his scary nursery rhymes.  Who will they play with? Who will count their treats? Who will guide them this Halloween down of all of the best streets?”

“We don’t  know.”  Said everyone to whom Billy had spoken.  “All we know is that it won’t be you.”

Billy tried to forget about Halloween.  It was lonely and sad being sick.  It was hard watching the decorations go up throughout the neighborhood.

Billy’s family tried to make things easier.  They wanted him to feel better.  Nothing helped.  Not even video game tournaments with Grandpa helped Grandpa couldn’t play video games.  At All.

  Billy decided that he would try harder to be happy.  He would be good because when he cried it made Mom sad.  It was embarrassing when she got sappy. Girls.

Halloween came and Billy was brave.  He smiled and laughed.  He cheered his family and friends’ costumes and antics.  He encouraged everyone to have fun.  To go outside and play.  At exactly eight p.m. , he was alone in his room with his favorite movie and a soda.  A bowl of Halloween candy sat on the nightstand next to the bed.  He thought that he was alone when a text message popped up on his mother’s forgotten phone.

The message read Who’s ready for Halloween?  This guy. S.

The tap-tap-tap on Billy’s window confirmed his suspicion.  Billy waved Superman into the house.  He was standing in Billy's bedroom doorway in a matter of seconds.

  “Hey Billy.  Why aren’t you ready for trick-or-treating?”  He asked.

 “Can’t go.  I’m sick.”

“Oh.”  Superman said and looked around the room.  “May I sit down?”

 “Yeah.”

Superman found the dining chair that Grandpa forgot to put back into the kitchen when he left and sat down.

“Candy?”  Billy asked holding out the bowl of candy for Superman.

“Thanks.” 

“You can go if you want.  It’s no fun here.” 

“No.  I can’t go without you.  You protect me.”

Billy looked at Superman.

“Don’t you remember the year that we went to the Halloween carnival?  All those children were wearing those glowing green things?  I was so scared.”

“They were just glow necklaces.”

“They looked just like kryptonite.”  Superman said.  “What if there are more of them?”

“They’re still just glow necklaces.” 

“You’re the one who knows that.” 

Billy looked at Superman and shook his head. A shadow appeared in the doorway. Billy watched as the shadow grew larger and took shape.  The pointed ears made a noise and continued to darken the doorway.

“I should have known that you would be here.” Batman said in his deep, gravelly voice.

“Billy is my best friend.”  Superman said.

“He’s my best friend.”  Batman said.

“He was mine first.”

“Why don’t you two boys go outside to settle this?”  Wonder Woman’s voice can be heard coming from behind Batman.  “I feel like visiting.”

The two superheroes grunted at each other and let Wonder Woman enter the room.  “Goodnight gentlemen.”

The visit with Wonder Woman was nice.  Billy kept noticing movement outside of his bedroom window.  “There is a lot going on tonight," she said.

“Show me.”

Wonder Woman picked the boy up and took him to the window.  Sure enough, everyone was lined up outside of the house for a visit.  Gargoyles, werewolves, Frankenstein, and ghouls.  Iron Man and Thor stood next to Count Dracula and Darth Vader.  A group of Stormtroopers were gathered around Yoda. Pirates and ghosts wove their way through the line and cut to the front.  Wonder Woman sighed. She tucked Billy back into his bed, opened the window, and called, “No cutting Jack.”

“Bugger,” was heard coming from the direction of the front porch light.

She closed the window, turned to Billy and said,  “I hope that you took a good nap this afternoon because you are going to have one busy night.”  She kissed him on the forehead, gave the boy a quick smile, and was gone.

Billy was not alone.  Wonder Woman was right.  He had a busy night.  Between playing Thumb Wars with Darth Vader and listening to Count Dracula’s rhymes, he got his tongue wrapped around his fangs four times, Billy was exhausted. So many visitors.  What a night!  Billy’s parents checked on him at midnight.  They asked him if he had a nice Halloween, he nodded, his eyes dropped heavily as he responded.  He whispered something to his father as he hugged him.  His father grinned, guided Billy’s mom out of the room, and closed the door behind him.

His parents stopped on the other side of the closed door.

“What did he say?”  Billy’s mother asked.

“He can’t wait until next year when he can go trick-or-treating again.  Everyone visiting was great but Halloween from bed is exhausting.”