Today folks will tell you to, and even compel you
To scoff at the notion magic and spells.
But still there is truth that’s hidden (there’s proof)
In fairy tale stories that everyone tells.
The world turned to science; the magic was silenced,
Not a spell or enchantment at all to be seen.
But for one night each year, magic still reappears.
And we call that one night Halloween.
The classroom was filled with chatter and a growing sense of anticipation from adults and children alike. A few days ago the mood had been one of disappointment as the forecast had called for some nasty storms, and the threat that trick-or-treating would be canceled. But a black cat by the name of R. Eric Ross had managed to get all the permits needed and organize indoor trick-or-treating at the local grade school. It was a bit odd. Everyone seemed to be at least vaguely familiar with Mr. Ross, but nobody knew him personally. That little mystery seemed of little consequence, for whoever he was, the cat had done a spectacular job. The entire neighborhood and then some seemed to have shown up. Aside from just trick-or-treating, it was proving to be a great social event. There was food, games, and several storytime sessions for kids of different ages. The storms had not yet arrived, but the approaching clouds flickered with lightning and rumbled ominously.
Riddy, the eight-year-old fox, was in a room that was being supervised with his parents, who were occupied with some of the younger cubs at the event. Riddy recognized his three-year-old neighbor Marky, a blond human boy, who was dressed in a lion kigurumi with a blue mane and tail tuft.
There were other activities for the older cubs. One of them, a ten-year-old rabbit named Ben, had brought his GameCub and a copy of Brawl Brothers. Riddy appreciated having something to do, but he was not particularly happy with the game situation. He had not played this game before and he barely knew what he was doing. The fox had yet to get a single K.O. To his right, his blue skunk friend Gussy was looking frustrated, in much the same situation. Meanwhile Kola the koala kid was in the lead, and had just scored another K.O. on Riddy.
“I guess the Force isn’t with you tonight,” Kola joked in a friendly tone.
“Heh, I guess not,” the fox replied, glancing down at his Jedi costume.
Kola himself was dressed as the Seventh Doctor while Gus was a pirate. Kola’s costume was quite the faithful recreation, even sporting an umbrella, though he had been unable to find one with the signature question mark handle. Ben was dressed as Kit Flash, the costume Riddy would have worn had the stores not been sold out. Ben was easily ahead of Riddy and Gus, but was still behind Kola.
As the timer ticked down, Riddy and Gus became more nervous. This was the final match, and defeat carried more than the shame of losing: They had all agreed that the loser would change into a costume of the winner’s choice; something that would probably be embarrassing. The approaching thunder matched the growing anxiety in the fox and skunk. Forty seconds left. Thirty seconds. Fifteen. Still no score. Riddy grabbed a bomb and tossed it at Ben, but Ben caught it in midair. Riddy tried to dodge toward Kola and Gus, hoping they would take the hit instead, but Ben’s timing and aim were perfect, scoring a triple K.O. seconds before the clock ran out. The final score was Ben: 9, Kola: 8, Gus: 0, Riddy: 0.
Ben let out a celebratory “Whoop!” just as the loudest rumble of thunder so far sounded. Kola pouted slightly at his narrow defeat.
“And now to the losers of our bet.” Ben turned to Riddy and Gus.
“Hey, uh, since Gus and I are tied, couldn’t we say neither of us lost?” Riddy ventured nervously.
“No,” Kola chimed in. “You’re tied for last place so I think that means you both lost.”
“Well,” said Gus, “there’s only one loser costume anyway.”
A mischievous grin crossed Ben’s face. “I never said I there would be only one. I only said I’d choose.”
The windows shuddered as wind and rain began to lash them. A flash of lightning lit up one side of Ben’s face.
“Now come on, let’s get going.” Ben turned toward the door and motioned for the three others to follow.
The group went down the hallway a short distance, stopping near the entrance to the backstage area of the dual purpose gym and auditorium.
“Now, you three go wait in there.” Ben pointed to the bathroom across the hall from the backstage, next to the nurse’s office.
“Wait aren’t we gonna be there when you pick them out?” Gus complained.
“I want it to be a surprise.” Ben grinned. A crash of thunder made this statement all the more ominous.
And with that, Riddy, Gus, went into the bathroom to wait.
Riddy nervously poked his fingers together. “M-maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe it’ll just be the outfits from the Ugly Duckling play.”
“Yeah,” said Gus, “or maybe something from when they did those nursery rhymes.”
Nobody spoke for a while; the only sounds were those of thunder, rain on the roof, and a dripping faucet. It felt like an hour had gone by, though in reality it was probably about five minutes. Finally the door opened and Ben strode in, carrying a bundle of clothes under each arm.
“Introducing your new Halloween costumes: Gus will be a pretty pretty princess.”
He hung up the first outfit on the hook: A frilly pink ballet dress, complete with a tutu and tiara.
“And Riddy will be a widdle tiny baby.” On another hook he hung a baby blue onesie, with the word BABY in colorful letters. A pacifier hung from a strap. Worse still, as he unfolded the onesie he revealed what appeared to be a folded-up diaper.
“What! No way I’m wearing a diaper!” Riddy shouted.
“You have to choose something else!” Gus agreed.
Kola blushed in vicarious embarrassment
“Ah ah ah!” Ben waggled a finger. “You agreed to this bet. Although…” he put a finger to his chin, mocking the act of thinking something over. “Gus did get K.O.’d one less time than Riddy did, so he should get some choice.”
Gus looked hopeful.
“Do you want the pink tights or the white bloomers?” Ben held up one in each hand.
The hope vanished from the skunk’s face. “Uhh,” Gus hesitated as he thought for a moment. The bloomers didn’t look quite as girly and they looked like the dress would at least cover them. “Those,” Gus said, pointing to the bloomers.
“Okay, your choice Princess Gussy, or should I call you Princess Jessy?” He handed Gus the bloomers and crossed his arms with a smirk.
Gus grumbled.
“Now, get into your new costumes. We don’t want to miss the starting ceremony.”
“Where’d you even get a diaper anyway?” Riddy asked
“Nurse’s office.”
The fox and skunk took their costumes trudged into separate stalls to change. Once in the stall, Riddy took off his Jedi outfit and hung it on the hook. The next order of business was the diaper. It crinkled as he unfolded it. It was plain white save for the blue tapes and landing strip and a yellow line running down the middle. He flipped it around a couple times, unsure how to put it on, but he eventually figured the tapes should go in the front. Riddy took off his underwear and did what he could to tape the diaper in place. It felt a bit like the DryJams he wore to bed, though bulkier. After that, the onesie was a simple affair, as Riddy only had to slip it over his shoulders and secure the snaps. His diaper was still visible through the gaps by his legs. He took a deep breath and emerged from the stall.
“Oh, you’re such a cute baby,” Ben said, leaning against the sink.
“Hold on,” Kola approached Riddy, visibly suppressing a laugh. “Your nappy’s all crooked; let me help you.” The koala undid the snaps on Riddy’s onsie and adjusted the tapes on his diaper for a snugger fit, then he redid the snaps. “That’s better, isn’t it?”
Riddy nodded, reluctant to say anything positive, but it did feel more comfortable. The diaper was a bit better hidden, but the gaps had not been eliminated. A moment later Gus emerged from his own stall, bedecked in his dress and tiara. The white bloomers were peaking out beneath his skirt.
Kola snickered. “Gus, it looks like you’re wearing a nappy, too!”
“Heey” Gus protested. He tried to push his dress down, but it did nothing to help.
Riddy agreed with Kola, but said nothing. At least it only looked like a diaper in Gus’s case. He certainly didn’t look like his normal eight-year-old self.
“Maybe you should have gone with the tights.” Ben approached from the sinks. “But, no takesies backsies now.” He walked over to the stalls and grabbed Gus and Riddy’s original costumes. “I’ll be keeping these in my locker until the end of the night. Oh, and one more thing.” He grabbed Riddy’s pacifier and stuck it in his mouth. “You gotta keep this in unless you have to talk to a grown up, or have to eat or drink something.”
Riddy whimpered and nodded.
“See you at the ceremony.” He exited the bathroom.
The remaining trio walked up to the door. They hesitated at the door. Neither Gus nor Riddy, of course, wanted to be seen like this. Kola empathized with them. “Well,” the koala said, “you might as well get this over with.”
He pushed the door open and Gus and Riddy followed. By this point people were filing into the auditorium. And it wasn’t long before other kids spotted them. And so the taunts and jeers came in.
“Aw, look at little baby Riddy,” said one wolf cub in a ninja costume. “Does he need a diaper change?”
“And Gussy’s a baby princess,” jeered a his red panda companion, who was a pirate.
“I think your diaper is cute,” a calico from the kindergarten class, dressed as a fairy, told Gus.
“It’s not a diaper!” Gus protested, only drawing laughter.
“C’mon, take it easy, they lost a bet,” Kola defended.
They continued to receive similar comments and eventually grew tired of defending themselves. Riddy wanted to shrink away into nothing. He’d never live this down.
The group made its way into the auditorium. Despite the noise of numerous conversations and excited children, the storm raging outside could still be heard. Bright flashes of lightning lit up the windows. As the trio tried tried to find a place that was out of view, they ran into the now-famous Mr. Ross. He was a tall black cat, dressed in black tattered robes and a pointy hat, looking all the world like a witch. His yellow eyes almost seemed to glow.
“Oh, those are some... interesting costumes. You’re Gus, right? I didn’t think I’d see you in a dress.”
“We lost a stupid bet.” Gus crossed his arms and pouted. “But you’re dressed like a girl too, right?”
“Oh, no no. I’m a warlock,” the cat chuckled. “That’s what a male witch is called.”
“Oh.” Gus was a bit disappointed.
“But don’t worry. I think everyone will slip into their roles quite well tonight.”
This comment was punctuated by a particularly loud crack of thunder. Without another word, the cat disappeared into the crowd. A minute or so later, he was walking onto the stage with the Principal Wood, a gray squirrel who was wearing normal clothes except for a clown wig. Principal Wood walked up to the microphone.
“May I have your attention please.”
The crowd in the gymnasium quieted down and turned to face the stage. The sound of thunder, rain, and wind became all the more noticeable.
“I just wanted to thank all of you for coming tonight, and especially to those who offered to hand out candy and are already waiting in the classrooms. It would most certainly have been a sad occasion to see or favorite Halloween tradition get canceled. But thanks to Mr. Ross, we were able to manage this indoor trick-or-treating, safe from the storm.”
He gestured to the window above.
“And now, before we begin our trick-or-treating, Mr. Ross would like to say a few words and, I’m told, has one more surprise for all of us.”
He stepped away and the black cat came up to the microphone, clearing his throat.
“Thank you. Principal Wood. I suppose some of you are wondering why I went to all this trouble. You see, Halloween is about more than just candy and costumes. It goes back to old traditions, believing that Halloween is the night when the walls of the world wear thin, and spirits and magic can drift into this otherwise mundane world. Even as old beliefs in magic faded over the centuries, our imaginations have helped keep that spark of magic alive. And it is because of this that I believe it is important to keep this tradition going. And this is where we come to the big surprise. There will be an extra challenge for the trick-or-treaters, on this Halloween night, when magic becomes real!”
Just as Mr. Ross’s speech reached its high point, a brilliant bolt of lightning arced just outside the window, followed almost immediately by a tremendous crash of thunder that shook the building. All off a sudden the lights went out. The room was lit only by the exit signs and flashes of lightning. A murmur of concern ran through the room, along with the whines of a few scared kids. Riddy looked around, worried the power outage would cause the trick-or-treating to be canceled.
“Not to worry people,” came Mr. Ross’s voice. “This is all part of the event.”
Another murmur ran through the crowd as the cat, illuminated by frequent lightning, now appeared to be floating about 10 feet above the stage.
“I am the great warlock Rerecros! Every Halloween witches and warlocks such as I need to cast spells to keep the embers of magic burning. And you are among the lucky recipients of this year’s gift.”
A glowing purple mist began to swirl around him, in a magically amplified voice he chanted:
By magic of the olden times
I weave a spell with mystic rhymes,
And target with my arcane might
The costumes that you wear tonight.
By the might of this fierce storm,
They shall become your new true forms.
You wish your old form to reclaim?
Then seek the candy with your name.
Consumed before the stroke of twelve
These sweets restore you to yourselves.
Tarry not: time takes its toll
You’ll slowly slip into your roll
Now, if you fail in your endeavor,
The spell still need not last forever.
But then, a year you’ll have to wait,
to seek another change of fate,
For magic of this sort is seen
Just once a year on Halloween.
Rerecros then cast his hands toward the audience and a wave a purple light washed over them. Riddy closed his eyes and shielded his face. He experienced a very odd sensation, as if every bit of him: every bone, every joint was being stretched inward. He became dizzy, as if he was falling. The sensation soon dissipated. When Riddy opened his eyes, the room was full of various creatures: vampires, fairies, zombies, robots, you name it. Many had simply swapped species, as such costumes were a fad going around at the time. A bit of a panic was starting. For Riddy, everything and everyone suddenly seemed bigger. He looked down at himself. He could see that his limbs, his fingers, his whole body had become stubbier. He shuffled around, finding he was now a little less steady on his feet. He had actually become a toddler. Though judging exactly how much he had shrunk was difficult as quite a few other people had changed size.
Gus, too, seemed to have been reduced in age, though not by quite as much. If Riddy had to guess, the skunk now looked to be about four years old and perhaps a bit girlier than before.
“Wait, what’s this? Oh no…” the skunk said has he moved his legs about. He took a few steps, seeming to waddle a bit.
Meanwhile Kola, unlike the other two, had remained the same size, still eight years old, but curly brown hair could be seen poking out from under his hat. His umbrella now bearing a question mark handle. “What’s this? Oh cool! I actually am The Doctor!”
He put his hands to his chest.
“I’ve even got two hearts!”
He then looked down at his two shrunken friends.
“Oh, oh no. I’m going to help you fix this.”
Meanwhile, Principal Wood, now fully turned into a clown, had gotten the microphone working again. A loud “honk” got the audience’s attention as he accidentally bumped his nose on the microphone.
“Now, calm down everyone. I’m sure this is all just an elaborate prank, which we’ll soon get to the bottom of. Mr. Ross if you would care to explain your self…”
The cat, still floating midair, let out a laugh that was punctuated by yet another close lightning strike. “Do you really think that this is somehow a prank?” He gestured to the audience, where a few had even started to test out their new wings. “This is true magic!”
“Then I demand you change us back!”
“Ugh,” the cat pinched the bridge of his nose. “You didn’t even listen to the spell, did you? Nobody appreciates art any more. Just find the candy with your name on it by midnight and you’ll change back. You’ll know it when you see it.”
“And if we don’t find it by then?”
Rerecros sighed. “Then the magic will be gone until next Halloween. And do remember: the longer it takes, the more you’ll slip into your role. Got it?”
Principal Wood nodded.
“Now,” the warlock turned to the audience. “Off you go with your trick-or-treating. Tarry not, but have fun!” Thunder shook the room.
There was a rush for the door. Kola had to hold Riddy and Gussy’s hands to avoid getting separated. They made it out of the gym. The main lights in the hallway were still out, but the Halloween decorations, which were somehow still lit, provided enough light to navigate. The group found a spot where it was less crowded, so they could talk without too much noise. Kola knelt in front of the now-little fox and skunk.
“All right chaps” he said “I think we need to be efficient about this, be sure we can to get our candies in time. We should be able to get to our candies in time. The halls sort of make an “8” so I think we should start a clockwise loop, do the middle hall on the second pass, double back, and do the final leg.”
Riddy only nodded. Part of him thought he really should take the pacifier out, but having it in his mouth felt oddly comforting in the stressful situation.
“That sounds good,” Gussy said. “I wanna get this done as fast as we can. The spell even got this costume wrong.”
He pulled his skirt back to show his bloomers had become a diaper.
“I guess that explains why you got younger,” Kola commented.
Suddenly where was a whooshing sound. Kit Flash suddenly appeared in a blur.
“Hi, guys,” came Ben’s voice.
The trio were surprised: he was just about unrecognizable: the rabbit had become a fox, and aged up to about 13 years old.
He looked at Gussy and Riddy with a bit of a giggle. “I guess some of us weren’t so lucky with our costumes.”
“Dis is youw fauwt!” Riddy shouted around his pacifier, pointing at Ben. “I would’a been a couw Jedi if you didn’ make me dwess wike a baby!”
“Well, it was just going to be a harmless joke. No way anyone knew this would happen.” Ben sighed. “Okay, I guess I have been a bit of a jerk tonight. Tell you what; I’m a superhero now so I guess It’s my job to help people. So I’ll just zip around and find your candy for you.”
Ben turned to leave and suddenly Rerecros was right in front of him. “Ah ah ah!” He waggled a finger. “You can travel in a group, but you have to find your own candy. Otherwise it won’t work. You gotta do the trick-or treating. Some of you will have an easier time than others,” he gestured to a ghost drifting effortlessly over the ground and then to a sumo wrestler trying to squeeze past a crowded part of the hall, “but that’s just the way it goes.”
“You gots my costume wrong!” Gussy protested “I wasn’t s’posed to get younger and wasn’t wearing a diaper. I’m not a baby!”
Rerecross chuckled and gave Gussy a boop on the nose. “Well, young lady it must have looked enough like a real diaper to count as one for the costume. I guess you just have to finish your trick-or-treating if you want to get back in your big girl panties.”
“Imma boy!”
“Oh? All the more reason not to dilly-dally.”
And with that, the cat disappeared into the crowd once again. Thunder rumbled once more.
“Well,” Kola stood up, “we’d best get going. I’ll try to find my candy too. As cool as it is to be my favorite Doctor, I still want to be me.”
“I think I might stay this way.” Ben was looking himself over. “I think it’ll be cool to be a superhero.”
“You might want to think about that.” Kola adjusted his jacket. “There might be other consequences. I doubt they’ll let you try out for sports like this.”
Ben seemed to deflate and let out a sigh. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well, no point in waiting around I guess.” He zipped off.
Kola, Riddy, and Gussy set off down the hallway. It was a spooky atmosphere. The decorations cast an eerie light all around, supplemented by flashes of lightning, and thunder continued to rumble over the din. Some kids were excited. Some were scared. The adults were trying to keep their composure. A little green witch, accompanied by a queen cried, “Mommy, I don’t wanna be ugly!”
When they arrived at the first classroom that was giving out candy, there was a line. It was going slower than on a normal Halloween: instead of receiving a few randomly-chosen pieces of candy, each person was looking through the bowl to see if their special candy was there. Though they still said the traditional “Trick or Treat.” One or two at a time, trick-or-treaters turned away in disappointment, though with a few pieces of candy as consolation. As the line shortened, an angel, whom Riddy recognized as Lisa from the kindergarten class (along with her mother, who had not worn a costume), approached the bowl. A piece of candy inside the bowl began to emit a subtle yellow glow. Lisa picked it up and read her name on it. She jumped up and down excitedly, unwrapped it and ate it. Within a seconds, her angel wings and halo returned to being plastic and she was once again an ordinary hedgehog girl. She and her mom hugged.
Not long after, the trio arrived at the bowl.
“Trick or Treat,” they said in unison, though Riddy’s came out as “Twick o’ Tweet.”
There were no glowing candies. Still, they looked through the bowl. Some did have names, including a few that Riddy recognized from school. But none of their own names were on any of the candy. A crash of thunder struck as they came to this realization. They each took a lollipop and set off for the next classroom. They continued on to the next classroom, once again to no avail. They watched as a snowman turned back into a bear cub, and a skeleton back into a ferret.
There was a whoosh and Ben suddenly zoomed up to them.
“Hey guys, look at what I found.” He held up a glowing piece of chocolate that read Ben Gardner. “Took a bit longer than I thought. It seems super speed doesn’t mean you’re allowed to cut in line.”
He popped the candy in his mouth. He grew shorter as his orange fur returned to its normal gray color. His long, fluffy tail retreated until it was a tuft, and his ears grew longer. The Kit Flash costume became cheap plastic again. He reached up and felt his ears and twisted around to look himself over.
“Wow, it does feel good to be me again. Thank you Kola, for talking a bit of sense into me.”
“Of course. No problem.”
“I think I’ll still try to score some candy. Um, regular candy that is.”
Over the course of some minutes, they went to a few more classrooms. Riddy noticed a pattern emerging. It seemed that people who had turned into impossible things, things out of science fiction or fantasy, were finding their candies more quickly. Those with more mundane transformations, such as merely swapping species, seemed much less likely to get changed back, at least in these early stages. Riddy felt himself pout at this. This might mean his transformation was less likely to be reversed in time. To make things worse, Riddy suddenly felt his diaper grow warmer and thicker. He knew from wearing his nighttime DryJams what this meant. It seemed he truly was a toddler. But there was no time for this to slow him down. He’d best press on. Still, sucked on his pacifier a bit to calm himself. Kola seemed to pick up on Riddy’s distress and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Riddy. I’m sure we’ll get to yours eventually. Maybe it’s just getting the weirder ones first.”
Riddy looked up at Kola. Something seemed different about his voice just then. Had he just rolled the R in his name?
“Fanks,” the fox kit replied.
Once again, this latest room was a bust for them. They moved on, scooting around a cluster of trick-or-treaters. Three versions of WonderWolf flew over the crowd. As they rounded the group, a leopard with the familiar blue pinstripe suit, brown coat, and spiky brown of the hair of the Tenth Doctor was coming in the opposite direction. He stood and faced Kola for a moment.
“Doctor.”
“Doctor,” Kola replied.
“Now there’s some nostalgia you don’t see everyday.” The leopard smiled and tapped Kola on the nose. “Nothing like that old 80s charm, without all the fancy digital effects.
“Everyone seems to pick Four out of Classic Who, but you. You go your own way. I like that.”
“Yes,” said Kola. “But as much fun as it would be to chat about out favorite Doctors, I think we some more pressing concerns.”
“Right,” said the leopard. “Undoing the curse. Allons-y!” And with that, he ran down the hallway.
“This is really getting weird,” Ben said.
Just as the leopard disappeared into the crowd, a familiar-looking brown-and-white qinling panda girl came up: Kola’s adoptive sister, Pepsi. Only now her head bore a mop of blonde hair. She wore the familiar gray overcoat, rainbow-striped T-shirt, and suspender-bound blue pants of the Thirteenth Doctor.
“Hello, fam! Oh, now I’m talking like her!”
“Pepsi! I see you haven’t been able to escape this curse either.”
“Nope! Though we could be worse off. My screwdriver even works, look!”
She pointed the sonic screwdriver at a nearby closet door. It could be heard unlocking, and Pepsi then pulled it open. Then she noticed Riddy and Gussy. “What happened to you? I thought you had cooler costumes.”
“We wost- I mean we lost a bet!” Gussy pouted.
“Well, no time to lose, then. Having two hearts feels weird anyway.”
“Yes,” said Kola. “We should try to fix this mess as soon as we can. I’m starting to get the urge to play the spoons.”
They got candy from a couple other classrooms to no avail. They were getting antsy as they arrived at a room near a hall intersection. As the group approached the end of the latest line, two candies in the bowl began to glow. The four remaining transformees became more excited as no one else took the glowing candies. Finally they reached the bowl, where they were greeted by a mink woman who had already changed back from being a robot, lightning gleaming off her silvery plastic costume. In the bowl, among the ordinary candies, were a glowing Koala mint labeled “Kola” and a glowing strawberry lollipop labeled “Pepsi.”
“Oh, brilliant,” Pepsi said excitedly.
“Excellent” said Kola.
Riddy and Gussy meanwhile sunk a bit. They were happy for their friends, sure but also disappointed that their ordeal wasn’t over. The Panda and Koala popped their candies in their mouths. The change was not spectacular as some of the others they’d witnessed: the hair on their heads retracted and was replaced by their normal headfur. Kola’s umbrella lost its question mark handle, and Pepsi’s screwdriver became a gray and yellow piece of plastic.
Kolas felt his chest. “Back to one heart. Ben was right. It was cool being the Doctor, but it does feel good to be me again.”
“Yeah, it really does!” Pepsi exclaimed.
“Good fow you.” Riddy patted Kola on the back, being a bit short to reach his shoulder.
Gussy, meanwhile, was distracted. His face was scrunched up and he was blushing as he pressed his hands into the front of his tutu, his tail wrapped around the front of his legs. He whimpered.
Kola notices his distress. “Aw, do you need the potty, Gussy?”
Gussy shook his head.
“Did you have an accident?”
Gussy nodded, his eyes crammed shut. Ben snickered a bit.
Kola put his hand on the skunk’s shoulder. “That’s okay Jessy. That’s what your nappies are for. You can get a change when we’re done.”
“I’m Gussy and I’m not s’posed to be in diapers!”
Kola looked shocked for a moment, noticing the slip-up. The spell was affecting people’s perceptions of each other.
“Quite right,” the Koala said. “Let’s see about getting this all sorted. We’re sure to get you back to normal.”
They moved on to the next line, though the embarrassment was still etched onto Gussy’s face. As they were waiting in line, they spotted a lion cub in the next line over, standing in just a t-shirt and diaper. From the golden brown fur on his body and the blue hair on his head and tip of his tail, it was definitely Marky, or wait, wasn’t it Mateo? He was still transformed from from his lion kigurumi. He was with his mom, who was dressed as a witch but had already changed back. There was a glowing candy in the bowl as they approached the front of the line. When they reached the bowl picked it out and showed it to his mom.
“What does it say, mommy?”
“It says ‘Marky!’ You can change back now!”
He balled up his hands and pulled them close to his chest. “But I wike bein’ a wion. Can I stay stay dis way?”
“I think you’ll be happier as your old self Mark- I mean Mateo.”
“But I wanna be a wion!”
“Okay, honey.” She stretched out a hand. “How about I hold onto it for now, in case you change your mind?”
“Otay, mommy.” He gave her the candy.
They turned toward Riddy’s group.
“Hi, Widdy! Hi Jessy!” Mateo waved. “I get to stay a wion. Rawr!”
Gussy just pouted at being called Jessy again.
“Dat’s couw,” Riddy said, though without much enthusiasm.
Wait, wasn’t he normally a lion? No, wait, that didn’t make sense. Riddy shook his head. He needed to get this fixed soon. Suddenly there was a big crash of thunder. Riddy gave a squeal of fright and threw his arms around Kola, whimpering and fighting back tears. Something was wrong. Thunder didn’t scare him like this, but right now he needed to hug someone bigger for comfort. Wait, bigger? Kolas was two months younger than him. No, that wasn’t right. Riddy was only two. But he shouldn’t be, right?
“That’s alright, Riddy.” Kola patted him on on the head. “It’s only thunder; it can’t hurt you.”
Although Riddy knew this, he still felt Kola’s words comforting. He sucked on the pacifier, which once again helped calm him. Mateo, too, had been startled by the thunder and clung to his mother. It made Riddy want to be with his own mother. He remembered she was at the school, but he wasn’t sure where at this point. Riddy looked to Jessy, who was also rattled by the thunder, and was nervously hugging her tail. After everyone had calmed down, they said their goodbyes to Mateo and his mom.
A minute later, they reached the end of their line, once again to no avail for Riddy or Jessy. By now, most of the other trick-or-treaters had been changed back. Very few witches, robots, or other such magical or science fiction things remained. Most of those remaining seemed to have been wearing more mundane costumes. But even many of them seemed to have changed back. But it was getting muddled in Riddy’s head what they originally were. He recognized a wolf from the first grade class, but it seemed odd that her parents were border collies, no, she was supposed to be a border collie too. The red panda pirate who had teased Riddy and Jessy, no, Gussy earlier was in front of them in the next line.
“Shiver me timbers. I don’t wanna be talkin’ like a pirate the rest o’ me life!”
“Couldn’t you just, try to talk normal, though?” Ben cocked his head.
“Aye, but 'tis harder than ye might think.”
“I see.”
Another loud rumble of thunder came. Riddy clung to Kola once again, and kept holding onto his hand afterward. They ended up forming a chain. Pepsi had Kola’s other hand, and Jessy had Riddy’s. As the approached the end of the line, they saw yet another glowing candy. This time it was for the panda pirate. Upon eating it, his fur became better groom and his pirate clothes took on a cheaper look.
“Finally! I never wanna talk like a pirate again!” He looked down at Riddy. “Aw, did you forget your costume?”
“Dis was my costume!”
“Oh, well best of luck to you, then.” He patted Riddy on the head and scampered off.
Riddy crossed his arms and pouted, wishing he had a good retort. But his attention was soon on something else as he felt himself wetting his diaper once more. It was growing quite thick and heavy now. He felt embarrassed for a moment then wondered why. Wasn’t this just normal? No, he thought. He was supposed to use the… potty? He was slipping. He needed to change back before he completely forgot this wasn’t how he should be.
They got in line for the next room. The energy of the evening seemed to be dying down. The crowd was thinning significantly. Most kids were tiredly trudging around rather than running excitedly. Riddy could see Kola, Pepsi, Jessy, and Ben’s eyelids drooping a bit, and he felt a yawn escape his mouth. Even the storm was calming. The rain was light now, and the rumbles of thunder were growing more distant. They approached the doorway, they saw two glowing candies in the bowl. One after another the others in front of them left without taking them. Finally they stepped up and saw two candies: a peanut butter cup that said “Riddy Klein” and a Snickers that said “Gus Yumako.”
“Oh there you are!”
The group turned to see Riddy’s mom, Liz, approaching them, pushing a stroller
“Kola, Pepsi, Ben. Your parents are waiting for you out front.”
The three looked at Jessy and Riddy.
“Well, looks like you’ve got your candy!” Kola gave a stretch and a yawn. “I’ll see you back to your regular selves tomorrow.”
“Good night Riddy. Good night Jessy.” Pepsi waved goodbye as she set off down the hall with Kola.
“Yeah, G’night.” Ben followed after them.
Liz bent down to look at Riddy and Jessy. “And by now, I expect it’s time for a diaper change for both of you.”
“But our candy!” Jessy objected.
“You can have your candy later.” She took the candies and put them in the kids’ pillowcases. “Now, let’s got get you changed.”
The fox and skunk looked down and blushed. Liz stowed the candy under the stroller and retrieved a diaper bag, which she slung over her shoulder. She led Riddy and Jessy into the nearby bathroom by their hands. There was no changing station, so she laid a changing mat down on the floor. After checking their diapers, Liz had Riddy lay down first, since he was soggier. Jessy respectfully looked away. She took a few steps toward the door, hoping to get her candy.
“Wait right there young lady,” Liz said. “It’ll be your turn soon.”
She removed Riddy’s soggy diaper, wiped him clean, and strapped a new one in place. She then stood him up and closed his onesie. It felt good to be in a fresh diaper once again.
“Now your turn, Jessy.” She had Riddy stand aside and laid Jessy down.
Riddy looked at the door, also tempted.
“Stay right there, Riddy. I’ll be finished with this in a minute.”
When she finished changing Jessy, Liz picked Riddy up and led Jessy out of the bathroom by the hand. She then strapped Riddy into the stroller and began walking with them down the hall. By now, it was nearly empty, with only a few stragglers looking for the candy they needed to change back. Riddy had no way of reaching his candy under the stroller from his position. Jessy tried a couple times, but Liz stopped her, eventually picking the skunk on her hip. About a minute later they reached the front door and the parking lot. By now it had stopped raining, though flashes of lightning could still be seen in the distance, thunder just barely audible. The kits were growing increasingly sleepy. Jessy’s mom, a skunk with dark blue fur, was standing next to his car, talking on his cell phone. He hung up as he saw Liz approaching.
“Hi Liz. Oh, this little lady looks like she’s about ready for bed.”
Liz handed Jessy off to him. Jessy yawned and clung to her mom’s neck, already half asleep.
“Does he need a change?” Annie asked.
“Oh, no. I already took care of it. And it’s past this little guy’s bedtime too. Anyway, I’ll see you later.”
“Later.”
Jessy’s mom strapped her into her carseat while Liz wheeled Riddy across the parking lot to her car. Liz waved to them as they drove off into the night. She then picked up Riddy and strapped him into his own carseat, then wheeled the stroller around to put it in the trunk.
“Oh, looks like I forgot to give Jessy her candy. I’ll have to drop it off tomorrow.”
Riddy grimaced, knowing by then it would be too late for Jessy, but Riddy still had a chance. Liz stowed the stroller away and put both bags of candy in the front passenger seat as she got in the car. Riddy reached toward the candy, but it was futile.
“Can I have my candy, mommy?”
“Oh, sweetie, it’s a bit late for candy.”
“But, mommy!”
“Tell you what.” She looked back at him from the driver’s seat. “Maybe you can have one when we get home.”
“Otay.” Riddy acquiesced. All he had to do was make it home and he could have it.
His mom put the car in drive and drove out of the parking lot. As they drove along, the gentle rocking of the car, the rhythmic passing of the orange street lamps, and the faint rumbles of thunder were quite soothing. Riddy’s eyes slowly closed, and he drifted off to sleep.
nappyon
