By

Pally

It's Halloween afternoon and Joanne is battling the effects of a nasty flu bug she has gotten. She’s sitting at the sewing machine trying to sew Jenny’s Halloween costume, a bright yellow butterfly with big wings. Her stomach is rolling and she’s trying to keep her lunch down, but after 20 minutes of eating some chicken noodle soup, she runs to the bathroom and empties her stomach. She walks slowly to the bedroom and lies down on the bed and falls to sleep. A couple of hours later Jenny is home from school. She walks in the door and yells for her mom. Not hearing a reply, the little girl looks all over for her mommy. She looks all over the 1st floor of the house. Finally, she decides to go up the stairs and calls for her again.

"Mommy! Mommy I’m home. Mommy?" Jenny walks down the hall and to her parent’s room. She sees Joanne asleep on the bed. Quietly, she walked into the room and over to the bed. Looking at her mother with a frown, she sits on the bed. "Mommy, are you okay?" She then gently shakes Joanne.

Joanne slowly opens her eyes. She gives her girl a smile. "Jenny, you're home."

Jenny's still got a frown on her face. "Uh huh. What’s the matter Mommy?"

Joanne put her hand on her daughter's face. "Mommy isn’t feeling real good right now."

"I’m sorry Mommy." Jenny kisses her Mother on the cheek.

Joanne smiles softly. "I know you are."

"Should I call daddy?" Jenny asked.

"Daddy’s not at the station. He and the scoutmasters took Chris and the cub scouts to Disneyland for Halloween Street. They all got their merit badges so this is their treat." Joanne laid back on the pillow.

Jenny reached out again. She snatched her hand back. "Mommy your cheek is hot!"

Joanne reaches for the blankets and pulls them up to her neck. "I have a fever and chills, Sweety."

Jenny smiled. "I know, I’ll call Uncle Johnny. He’ll make you feel better." She hops off the bed and runs down the hallway.

Joanne yells at her but not loud enough to be heard. "Jenn, no don’t bother Johnny. I’ll be ok." Joanne leans back against the pillow and falls asleep.

Jenny goes down the stairs to the leaving room and reaches for the phone. She sees the address book and opens the front page. She sees Johnny in bold black letters and his number. She presses the numbers a minute later she hears Johnny on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" Johnny answers the phone.

"Hi Uncle Johnny."

Johnny is surprised to hear Jenny on the other end. "Hey punkin how are you?"

Jenny sighs. "I’m ok but mommy isn’t."

Johnny gets worried. "What’s the matter with her?"

Jenny shrugs. "I don’t know. She’s really hot and cold. Uncle Johnny how can you be hot and cold at the same time?"

Johnny gives a small laugh. "When you have the flu."

Jenny got confused. "What’s flu? She’s not flying any where."

Johnny chuckles at her misunderstanding. "No that’s not what I meant. It’s a virus."

Jenny starts to panic. "Oh no! Like what you had a while ago and it made you really sick?"

Johnny heard the fear and panic in the little girl's voice. "Jenny, it’s not as bad as I was. It’s ok, really."

Jenny wasn't too convinced. "But the virus made you really, really, really, really sick."

Johnny sighed. "It’s not that kind of virus. Look can I talk to your Mom?"

"I think she’s sleeping. I’m scared Uncle Johnny." Jenny sounded on the verge of tears.

"Ok Jenny it’ll be ok. I’ll be over there just as soon as I can." Johnny said to the upset child.

Jenny breathes a sigh of relief. "Ok Uncle Johnny, but be careful don’t let the goblins get you.

This throws Johnny until he remembers its Halloween. "I’ll be careful, Punkin. See you in a little bit."

"Ok, Uncle Johnny. Bye." Jenny says.

"Bye sweetheart." They hang up and Johnny grabs his jacket and keys before heading out the door.

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As Johnny is driving over to Roy’s he sees children all dressed up going door to door. He smiles as he remembers when he went trick or treating when he was a young boy and what fun it was. He drives around a corner and can see that Roy’s street is dressed to the 9s for decorations. There’s pumpkins sitting on the front stairs of many homes with witches and black cats in the windows. Some even have crepe paper strung in the trees. Johnny sees Roy and Joanne’s place and it’s decorated as well. He pulls into the driveway and puts the Rover in park. He gets out and walks up to the door. He knocks. A couple minutes later Jenny opens the door with a big smile on her face.

Jenny hugs the man tight. "Uncle Johnny I’m so glad to see you"

Johnny hugs her back. "I’m glad to see you too, Sweetheart. Where’s your mom?"

Jenny takes Johnny's hand. "She’s up in her bedroom sleeping."

Johnny gives the small hand a gentle squeeze. "Ok, lets go up and see how she’s feeling." He let's Jenny lead him up the stairs by the hand. Once inside the bedroom, Johnny looks at Jenny. "Hey punkin can you do me a favor and get a nice cold wash cloth?"

Jenny smiles. "Ok. I’ll be right back." She turns and walks down the hall to the bathroom.

Johnny sits down on the bed. And listens to the water turn on. He looks at his best friend’s wife.

Joanne opened her eyes. "Johnny wha---"

Johnny puts his fingers on his lips to quite her. "Shhhh Jo. Don’t talk." He places his hand on her forehead. "You have a high fever."

Joanne shivers. "First I'm cold, then I feel hot."

Johnny gave a small laugh. "You have a case of the flu. It’s been going around."

Joanne sighed. "Wonderful. Just what I didn’t need right now."

Johnny chuckled. "I know it’s no fun being sick." Jenny came in carrying a wet wash cloth. She hands it to Johnny. He smiles at her. "Thanks Sweetie." He then places the wash cloth on Joanne’s forehead.

Joanne coughed. "Umm that feels so good. I’m sorry Johnny. I tried to stop her from calling you."

Johnny smiled. "I bet it does. I’m glad she called. Not like I was at work or anything."

Joanne sniffed. "You need your rest, though."

Johnny smiled. "That’s all I’ve been doing for 3 weeks. Have you had anything to eat?

Joanne nods. I had some soup a while ago, but I threw it all up. You don’t have to make me anything."

"Yes I do. Get some rest and I’ll wake you up in a little bit. Then we'll see if you can keep some more soup down. Just relax." He watches as Joanne closes her eyes.

Joanne speaks softly. "I’m really sorry I ruined your day."

Johnny stood. "Hey it wasn’t like I was working or had a hot date. Now just lay back and get some rest. I’ll be right back with some soup. He smiles at her. She smiles back. She thinks how lucky they are to have a friend like Johnny to help out in a time need as she gives into the sleep she so desperately needs.

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A short time later Johnny brings some soup to Joanne. He helps her sit up and she manages to eat a couple bites. Then she lays back down.

Johnny frowned. "How you feeling?"

Joanne opened her eyes. "Okay. I just hope I can keep it down."

Johnny gave his friend a smile. "Let's hope."

Jenny brought her butterfly costume in to the bedroom. It was missing the wings but completely sewn together. "Mommy my costume isn’t done." She looked sad.

Joanne sighed. "I’m sorry, Jenny. I never finished it." (They both start to see tears running down her cheeks)

Jenny hangs her head as tears start to fall. "Now I won’t get to go tricker treating."

Joanne reached for her daughter. "Don’t cry Jenn. Maybe I can pin it." Joanne suddenly lays back and closes her eyes. "Whoa ohhhhh."

"Jo what’s the matter?" Johnny goes over to the bed.

Joanne takes a slow deep breath before speaking. "Oh things are spinning like a top. My stomach is starting to roll."

Johnny felt his stomach roll in sympathy. "Do feel like you're going to throw up?"

Joanne took another deep breath. "No. Ohh, I think I’ll just take a little catnap. Maybe I’ll feel better."

Johnny helped pull up the covers and make Jo comfortable. "Good idea. Just lean back and take a nap. Things will be ok. Don’t you worry."

Joanne smiled. "I never worry when you’re around."

Johnny grins. It’s not long before Jo is asleep. Johnny looks at Jenn who's still crying. He stands up and reaches for her costume.

"Let’s see what we can do to fix this." Johnny looks the costume over frowning.

Jenny looks up at Johnny. A smile starts to form through the tears. Ohh thank you, Uncle Johnny."

Johnny patted the little girl on the head. "Don’t thank me yet. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to fix it."

Jenny smiled again. "At least you'll try."

Johnny chuckled. "That’s right, I’ll try." He picks her up in his arm and carries her down stairs. Looking at the clock he notices it's almost 5.00 PM. He hopes he can fix her costume, if not he’s not sure what he’ll do. After 45 minutes Johnny gives up. Jenny starts to cry again. "Hey Jenny, it’s okay. I just have to think of something else for you to go as."

Jenny sniffs and wipes her nose on the tissue Johnny hands her. "But what can I go as?"

"Give me a second to think." Johnny’s mind races as he tries to come up with something fast. Snapping his fingers he almost shouts. "I got it! Do you know if your Mom has any old sheets?"

Jenny scrunches up her face as she thinks. "Umm mmm." She nods her head.

Johnny smiles. "Can you go get me one? And I’ll look for some scissors."

Jenny stops in her trek to the linen closet. "Why do you need scissors?"

Johnny looks around the room. "To cut some eyes and a nose and a mouth."

Jenny frowns. "What am I going to be?"

"Why a ghost!" Johnny grins.

Jenny's face brightens. "A ghost! Neat! I’ll be right back." She runs back up the stairs. She comes back down with a long white sheet.

Having found the scissors, Johnny covers Jenn with the sheet and draws small circles around her eyes and nose. Then he removes it and starts cutting the holes. Once finished, he places the sheet back over Jenny's head. "Okay, that looks good. Now we just need to make it a little shorter. We don't want you to trip. He again starts cutting the sheet, this time on the bottom. He takes enough off that she can walk with out tripping. "There you go."

"I wanna see." She runs up the stairs. Johnny follows behind and watches her looking the mirror. "Thanks Uncle Johnny. I look scary!"

Johnny smiles. "You sure do. You aren’t scared are you?"

Jenny shakes her head. Oh no, I’m not scared. I like this better than the butterfly. I’m going to show Mommy. She walks down the hall to her parent's bedroom.

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Jenny walks into the bedroom. Joanne opens her eyes and all she can see is a white blurry shape.

Jenny starts to chatter, "Mommy, Mommy look what uncle Johnny made me."

Joanne nods her head slightly, she still isn't focusing very well. "Mmmm that looks nice. You look so cute."

Johnny is standing inside the doorway. He can tell Joanne is so out of it she doesn’t even know what Jenny is. He stays there listing to Jenny talk.

Jenny shook her mother's shoulder. "Do I look scary Mommy?"

"You sure do honey." Joanne's eyes are still closed.

Jenny frowns, "How can you tell, your eyes aren’t open?"

Johnny walked in. "Jenny she already saw you. She had her eyes open a couple of seconds ago.

Jenny looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"

"I’m sure. How about I take a picture of you and she can see it when she’s feeling better." Johnny said.

"Okay. I know where the camera is." She hurries out the door.

Johnny checks on Joanne and can feel she’s still running a fever. But she seems to be resting comfortably.

Jenny comes running back in with the camera. "Here it is." She hands the Polaroid camera to him.

Johnny takes the camera. "Thanks Jenn. Okay, stand right here and I’ll take a couple pictures."

Jenny smiles as Johnny snaps the picture. He sets it on the table. "Okay are you ready to go trick or treating?"

"Yeah, but I can’t find my candy bag. Jenny looks down at the floor.

"Don’t worry Jenny we’ll find something. He flashes the famous Gage grin.

Two and half-hours later Johnny and Jenn are back from their trick or treating adventure. Jenny is a sleep on the couch tucked in with a blanket Johnny covered her with. He’s watching Night Gallery re-runs when Roy and Chris come through the front door. Roy’s startled to see him there.

"Johnny what are you doing here?" Roy asks.

Johnny yawns, " Hey Roy, Chris. Jo has the flu. Jenny called me and said she wasn’t feeling good. So I came over."

Chris had walked over to the table and saw it covered with candy. "Boy where did all this candy come from?"

Johnny laughed. "I took Jenny trick or treating for a couple hours. After I made her a ghost costume."

Roy gave Johnny a look. "Wait a second. Back up. Why did you have to make Jenny a Halloween costume? What was wrong with her butterfly?"

Johnny shrugged. "Jo couldn’t finish it so I had to improvise and make something."

Chris was impressed. "What did you make Uncle Johnny?"

"A ghost." Johnny said.

"A ghost?" Roy asked.

"Yeah I used an old bed sheet. I cut eyes a nose and a mouth. And the rest is shall we say is history." Johnny said with a grin.

"Oh. Okay, well that explains what she went as. Now explain where all this candy come from?" Roy pointed to the candy.

Chris nodded in agreement. "Yeah when Dad takes us we never have this much. He picks through Jenny's candy and finds a sucker.

Roy's still a little skeptical. "Well where in the neighbor did you go?"

Johnny looked oh, so innocent when he said, "Oh we didn’t just go here in the neighborhood. We went up on Stanley Avenue and up on 13th Street."

Roy's brow furrowed. That little vein in his forehead started popping out. "What! You went all over the place! I never take the kids where I don’t know anyone."

Johnny put his hands up trying to placate his friend. "Relax Roy. We only went to places that were brightly lit. I held her hand the whole time."

"How many bags of candy did you end up getting?" Chris said around the sucker that was now in his mouth.

Johnny shrugged. "Just the one."

"Johnny there’s more candy on the table than one bag could possibly hold."

"Well we used a big garbage bag. See?" Johnny walks over to the table and holds up the big black plastic bag.

Chris was really impressed now. "Wow! That’s a big bag. Dad-----"

Roy knew what was coming. "No you can’t use a bag like that next year. Ahh you better get your teeth brushed and get ready for bed."

"Can’t I stay up just a little while longer?" He's checking out the candy on the table.

"No you may not. Tomorrow's a school day." Roy walked over to his son.

Chris sighs, "Okay, okay I’m going. 'Night Uncle Johnny." He walks over and hugs Johnny.

Johnny hugs the boy back. "'Night sport see later."

"See ya." He walks up the stairs twirling the sucker between his fingers as he sucks on the sweet treat.

Johnny heads for the door. "Well I better get going too. I’ll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you." Roy stops, "Hey Johnny?"

Johnny stops at the door. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for what you did today." Roy says softly.

"No problem. Glad I could help." He opens the door then stops to look back at Roy. "I took a couple of pictures of Jenn in her costume. They're on the table."

Roy smiles. "Okay. I’ll look at them. Good night."

" Good night, Roy." He walks out the door.

Roy looks at the table full of candy and shakes his head. He knows he’ll have to hide most of it so the kids don’t ruin their teeth. With all the candy that’s on the table, they may just have some all the way up to Christmas. Roy walks over and pick up Jenny and carries her to bed.

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10 years later: Joanne and Jenny are looking through some old photo albums. Joanne turns the page and sees a little white ghost smiling. She looks long and hard. Jenn, do you remember who this is?

Jenny looks at the picture and smiles. "Mom that’s me. Remember?"

"Jenn you were never a ghost." Then she sees a picture of Jenn standing in back of the table with a table full of candy. "Boy, you and Chris sure got a lot of candy."

Jenn shakes her head, " Mom I was a ghost and that’s all my candy"

"You never got that much candy while trick or treating around the neighborhood with us." Joanne insisted

Jenn starts smiling. "I did that year. Uncle Johnny took me because you were sick with the flu."

"Johnny took you?" Joanne was completely confused and surprised.

"Yeah. See?" She flips a page and Joanne sees a picture of her and Johnny holding the camera with one hand trying to take a picture of them together. "See?"

"Jenn you have got to tell me about this forgotten Halloween." Joanne laughs.

Jenny takes a deep breath, then begins. "Well you were working on my butterfly costume and…………."

The End

This story was based on one of my favorite Halloweens ever.

Thanks to my muse yet again:)

A Big THANKS!!!! To Johnny B you saved my butt yet againJ