Dressing Up

 

Shadows crawl. Down walls and windows. Over ceiling and floor. Across shutters, replacing all color in the room. Enveloping all in complete darkness. Every living being stops waiting for the lights to come back on. For their colorful world to return.

Several seconds pass as fog rolls in along the floor. A wolf howls in the distance. A much louder howl quickly follows. “Furnatche no!” is heard right before the baby dragon runs through the room, jumping on to the couch. He holds his position and peers over the back, sniffing the air for evidence of another animal’s presence. Furnatche howls a second time and waits quietly for a response.

Writer Lady slowly navigates the darkened room stopping next to the baby dragon.“Furnatche, the couch is a no no. Get down.” She instructs. There’s a rustling noise, the thumping of Furnatche’s tail against the floor is the only indication that he has cooperated.

“Thank you Furnatche. Good listening.”

“Well?” House asks.

“Well what?” Tinkletoes barks into the darkness.

“This is my living room décor for Halloween. How do you like it?”

“It’s the end of September. Isn’t it a little bit early for Halloween?”

“No.” House counters.

“Are leaves even falling yet?” Writer Lady asks.

“Halloween décor is so much more enjoyable when there’s a good nip in the air.” Aunt Purdy says.

“Decorating too early is tedious and in poor taste.” Paige announces.

“Who asked you?” House counters.

“When you asked everyone what they thought in a collective manner, young Miss Paige would have been included.”

Paige’s voice can be heard traveling up to the seven foot dragon. “Thank you Diomedes.”

Diomedes begins glowing a sedate sky blue as he looks down at the young girl. “You’re welcome Miss.”

“That’s better.” Carp says.

“Keep glowing man.” Ray adds.

“I can’t see anything.” Mural Man comments.

“Of course you can’t. Your eyes are covered.”

“The walls are covered. I’m a mural, I live on the wall, my eyes are covered. Great.”

“I can’t see much of anything either.” Tinkletoes agrees.

“Isn’t it great? The electricity bill will take a nice dip this month. In December, I can dress up properly like a house is meant to.”

Writer Lady stands next to Diomedes, looks at Tinkletoes and shakes her head.

“Writer Lady says no. You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“As much as I love you House. As much as we all love you. When you dress up, you tend to go overboard.” Writer Lady says.

“You all like the changes I made to my interior.”

“We do. It was a long process. It felt like it took months.”

“Beauty takes time.” House counters.

“We got lost...all the time.”

“Change is challenging but humans adjust.”

“I found myself locked between walls more than once.” Tinkletoes points out.

“No one really missed you.”

“That isn’t very nice House.” Writer Lady continues. “It wasn’t just Tinkletoes. We all spent time locked in some closet or room at least once.”

A variety of ‘yeses’ echo throughout the room.

“I don’t hear Ray complaining.”

“Ray was locked in the pantry with the cheese puffs.”

“The cheese puff room. That was a good room. Where did that go?” Ray asks.

“It actually became your room Ray.” House reminds him.

“Cool. Can I go there now?”

“Family meeting Doll. You can’t go now.” Carp says.

“Bummer.”

“No December dress up. The power grid in this town could not support you.” Writer Lady says.

“I’ll use a bit of magic and support it.”

“What happens after Christmas when the entire town is used to better amps and then it goes back to the way things were?”

“It really is too dark in here. Let’s try something else.” Mural Man suggests.

“O-Kay.” House sighs. The fog illuminates bringing more light into the room.

All of the furniture has been replaced with monuments.

“This is a cemetery.” Paige announces.

“Cemeteries are cool.” Ray offers.

The other males nod in agreement.

“Yes. They can be appropriately creepy for Halloween although I can’t help but wonder where the television and the gaming system went.” Writer Lady points out.

Tinkletoes shifts uncomfortably.

“Where is anyone going to sit?” Writer Lady asks.

“We’ll pull up a tombstone?” Peter suggests. The boy sits down on the nearest one. He stands up.

“Too hard?” Paige asks her twin brother.

“And cold. Slightly damp?”

“I know that you like authenticity but if you want to win this one House you're going to have to get a bit more creative.” Carp says.

Lights come up and the living room is back to its usual state.

“The gaming equipment wouldn’t look out of place if the living room was the set of a haunted sci-fi movie.” Peter suggests.

“Like a spaceship?”

“Alien.” Tinkletoes announces.

Carp shakes his head. “People snack in here. Too bloody.”

“How about a haunted spaceship?” Dylan asks.

“Ghosts are scary but not always gory.” Carp nods his agreement.

A smile crosses Writer Lady’s face. “Why don’t we split up into groups and decorate the rooms together?”

Tinkletoes rolls his eyes and mutters.

“A family project would be nice.” Aunt Purdy says.

“I am always up for putting my two cents in.” Carp agrees.

“Brilliant as always Madam.” Diomedes says.

Most everyone agrees. Ray doesn’t answer.

“We can break up into groups and brainstorm in Ray’s room with the cheese puffs.”

“Cool.”