With that in mind, and in an effort to provide our Halloween guests with more fun, the lurking lunatics at Screaming Scarecrow Studios put together the following simple game. Our Body Part Toss Game, or BPTG, was relatively cheap and simple to build and it should last a good number of years. In fact we have enjoyed a few years of fun from it already!

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SOMETHING TO TOSS BODY PARTS AT:

Start out with a 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood. Plywood is usually a bit more money than OSB board but it will paint better and last longer in the outdoor elements. We chose cheap, quarter inch thick, spruce plywood (rough not finished). Anything thicker will just add more cost to the game’s bottom line not to mention more weight when you’re moving it around.

Quarter inch plywood is kind of flimsy so next we screwed a 2” x 2” wood frame to the back of the plywood. This not only gave the BPTG rigidity it also gave us a good solid piece of wood to screw a stand to if one was to be used.

OUTLINE OF THE VICTIM:

For this, we simply laid the plywood down on the ground and then positioned somebody on it and traced their basic shape with a pencil. Once the general shape was traced, we cut out the holes for the parts that would be tossed during the game. We made the holes vary a little in size and shape in order to provide different levels of challenge.

After the holes were cut and all the rough edges sanded down, we painted the plywood white. Plain white may not have been the most creative choice for our game‘s backdrop but if you want your reds to pop out under any lighting, you need to put them on white!

Once the white paint dried we created body shapes such as chest, arms and legs using stucco wire. We like using stucco wire because it makes for a stronger wire frame form. Chicken wire would also work, however, you’ll probably find that you’ll be straighten it out more often. This is because the body parts, as they are tossed, tend to bash in the wire forms (Some people throw these things like they’re pitching a baseball!)

After the wire body shapes were created we attached them to the plywood in their proper spots. We used nails for this because the portion of the nails that were sticking out the back of the quarter inch plywood could be bent over flat so they would not be sticking out to poke anybody. But just to be doubly sure that nobody gets poked by any protruding nails, we have an actor dressed up with a fake chainsaw retrieving the tossed body parts for our guests.

DRESSED TO DIE FOR:

After the wire body shapes were all attached to the plywood it is time to dress our victim. In order to do this we cut the back out of an old used shirt and pair of pants that we had lying around. Next, we cut straight up the back of the legs and the arms of the pants and shirt. With the clothing opened-up in this manner we are able to wrap wire frame with the clothing, stapling the clothing to the plywood along the edges as we went.

DETAILING THE GAME:

Finally we added all the gory details, such as blood on the clothes, blood splatter on the plywood and of course the steaming pile of entrails! For the red paint we used high gloss red spray paint. Painting the clothes and the areas around the holes was easy, we just used as much as we thought looked good.

To get the blood splatter and drips was a bit trickier with spray paint. We used an ordinary stick and while the game was leaning upright and while holding the stick above the game, we sprayed the paint onto the stick (holding the nozzle close to the stick) letting the excess paint run off the stick. That is how we got the blood splatter and drips from a can of spray paint.

And for the final touch we used expanding foam to make the entrails. After reinforcing the waist with extra stucco wire, we put a small chicken wire basket inside the pants so that there would be something for the expanding foam to sit on.

Just some extra words of caution here: ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURE’S DIRECTIONS when using expanding foam products. We always wear protective gear when using this stuff, especially eye safety goggles. This stuff is so sticky the only way you can clean it up is with acetone when it’s wet and a sander when its dry. We DO NOT want to get this in our eyes. It is also a good idea to wear old clothes and gloves.

As we found out, there is no right or wrong way to make “guts” from expanding foam but we did practice a little bit before we set out to fill up our pants. The only thing we can say, obviously, is that we tried to create long and winding entrails. We had a piece of spine left over from a blow mould skeleton so we stuck that in there for extra effect. Also, solid red entrails didn’t look entirely convincing so we mixed it up with a little blue and purple spray paint on top the red. Over all we were happy with the way it turned out.

HALLOWEEN FUN WITH THE BPTG:

With the construction part of the game all done the only thing left for us to do was go out to our favourite Halloween stores and buy some body parts to toss! In hind sight we got lucky, it probably would have been a better idea to get the parts first just to make sure the holes were cut to the right size, but like I say, we got lucky.

A few last words: we usually lean the BPTG up against the side of our haunt or sometimes we have it free standing with a stand that we screw into it. We ALWAYS make sure that it is either staked into the ground or secured to the haunt and sometimes even both. That way there is no way it could ever fall onto one of our guests. And as we mentioned before we use an actor to do the retrieving of the body parts for the guests. We find that these extra steps of care make for a Safe and fun Halloween Body Part Tossing experience!

Thanks for reading and Happy Haunting!

How do these home growers do it? Pumpkin growing isn’t as difficult as you may think. All it takes is a little patience, a lot of yard space and a few tips on how to grow the best pumpkins in the neighborhood. After planting, you still have time to do other chores or play online bingo. Read on for a tutorial on growing your very own pumpkin patch.

Selecting Your Seeds

Your first consideration is how much land space you have for your pumpkin patch. Pumpkins require a lot of space—often ten feet or more per vine—so be sure you have a sufficient area available for the type of pumpkins you want to grow.

If space in your garden or yard is limited, try one of the two following options:

• Semi-bush hybrids. The most popular variety among these is the Spirit Bush Hybrid. It requires a mere 4-5 feet of space per vine and yields 10-12 lb. fruits, suitable for carving.
• Miniature decorative pumpkins. Jack B. Little, Wee B. Little and Baby Boo all fall under this category. Although the vines on these minis can still get quite long, the light weight of the fruits makes them ideal for a space-saving hanging garden. Simply fill a large size hanging basket with nutrient-rich soil, plant one to two seeds and allow the vine to dangle (it may reach the ground by the time its growth cycle is over). Be sure to keep the soil well watered and fertilized.

The most common commercially grown pumpkin in the U.S. is the Connecticut Field (Jack O’Lantern); you will find seeds for this variety in any plant nursery or store gardening section. Other popular carving-size choices include Howdens, Autumn Golds and Happy Jacks. Each has its pluses and minuses, so choose the variety that is best for you.

Preparing the Soil

Begin preparing your pumpkin bed after all danger of frost is over. Be absolutely sure of this timing – pumpkins are a warm-weather plant and new seedlings will not survive a frost. Depending upon what area of the country you live in, Final Frost will occur anywhere from mid-March to early May.

Choose an area that receives a lot of direct sunlight in the spring and summer; pumpkins prefer at least 6-8 hours of sunlight daily. Pumpkins do well in nutrient-rich soil; consider starting a compost heap or purchasing a fertilizer that contains manure. Otherwise, try turning shavings of your food and lawn leftovers into the soil. (Fruit parings and fallen leaves are popular choices among growers.) Do this well ahead of your planting date so your additives have time to decompose into the soil.

Dig an area approximately 4’X5’ and about 2’ deep and fill with your compost and soil. Remember that your plants will grow beyond this area; the bed is for the initial seedlings and the first root shoots.

Planting the Seeds

If you live in a northern area which experiences very short, cool summers, you can get a jump-start on your pumpkin growing by planting seeds in peat pots about 4-6 weeks before final frost. Otherwise, sow your pumpkin seeds directly into the soil. Poke a hole in the earth 1-2” deep with your finger and drop in two seeds; cover loosely with soil and water well. Space your seed mounds several feet apart (refer to your seed packet for the exact distance your variety requires).

In four to six days, you will be rewarded with a view of your first seedlings. As the plants grow, keep them well watered, but try not to let the leaves get wet; this can promote diseases, including the powdery mildew that is common to pumpkin plants.

Pollination, Maturation and Harvest

When your seedlings are approximately 2-3” high, cut the weaker of the two plants in each pair. You want the soil nutrients to go toward your most viable plants. Now sit back and watch your vines grow! Pumpkin plants grow at an amazing rate. About 40 days after planting, you will begin to see flowers on your pumpkin vines. Pumpkins produce male and female flowers; generally, the males appear first, with the females following a week or two later. Female pumpkin flowers have a tiny “node” below the base of the bloom. If pollinated, this node will begin to grow into a pumpkin. Insects will probably do the pollinating for you, but if you’re unsure, take the pollen from a male flower with a small paint brush or Q-tip and transfer it to the inside of each female flower.

Depending upon the variety, your pumpkins will be mature and ready to pick 95-120 days after planting. Be sure to leave a few inches of stem on the pumpkin when you cut it; an accidental slice into the fruit will dramatically shorten its shelf life. Store your pumpkins in a cool, dry place until you’re ready to carve them.

Pumpkin growing is a delightful activity for adults and children alike. Get your kids in on the growing action by involving them in every step of the growing process. You’ll leave them with an experience they’ll always remember. Just be sure to save some seeds for next year’s growing season!

Some kids and their parents have their Halloween Costume ideas well planned and mapped in advance. Others don’t decide to go trick-or-treating until the last minute. If you are scrambling around the night before or the day of to find a Halloween costume that is easy and fun, give these options a try:

• Statue of Liberty
• Stoplight
• Scarecrow

Each of these costumes can be put together fairly quickly and easily with items you will already have around the house, and some things that you can pick up at the local hardware store.

Statue of Liberty

While this costume idea might sound quaint, it is actually a visually interesting costume that can be put together with a minimum amount of work.

Materials

• 1 piece of poster board
• Yellow and Red construction paper or tissue paper
• 1 old bed sheet
• 1 can silver spray paint
• Tape
• A large book
• A piece of butcher paper
• A flashlight

Instructions

1. Wrap the large book in the white butcher paper. This is Lady Liberty’s tablet.
2. Cut the tissue paper or construction paper into a strip with jagged edges. Tape the two colors around the top of the flashlight. This is the torch.
3. Measure your child’s head just above the ears, and cut the poster board into the crown—at least three inches of overlap works well. Leave the bottom edge smooth, cut the top edge into triangles.
4. Spray paint the crown silver. Let it dry and then staple or tape it together so that it fits your child’s head.
5. Spray paint the sheet silver and let it dry.
6. When it is time to get dressed, Drape the sheet over one shoulder, place the crown on the child’s head and hand her the flashlight and tablet. It works well to wear a gray t-shirt and gray sweatpants under the sheet.

Stoplight

This is potentially the easiest Halloween Costume to throw together quickly. For the foundation, you need either black or yellow pants and a top. Then, cut three circles of about palm size of Red, Green and Yellow construction paper. (If you have more time, you can make fabric circles, but you will need to hem the edges because otherwise they will unravel.) Tape or sew the circles to the shirt. The red circle goes on top, the yellow in the middle and the green on the bottom. (How many of you could remember that before I told you?!?)

At this point, you are finished. If you have an enterprising youngster like myself, you might want to take a dowel and attach it to a hat and hang signs from it like “Wait, Delayed Signal” or “No Turn on Red.”

Scarecrow

You can be elaborate or simple when creating a scarecrow. For last-minute costumes, simple is probably better. All you need to make a simple scarecrow costume are a pair of blue jeans, an oversized, old plaid flannel shirt, a straw hat and a stick. It is a nice touch if you have some long grass or straw, too, but it is not necessary. This is one costume that requires no assembly ahead.

Have your child get dressed. Then, if you have some, tuck some straw around the cuffs of the shirt. You can also sew this on so that it does not fall out. Then show the child how to drape their arms over the stick, like a scarecrow. Put the hat on and Voila! A scarecrow. For makeup, you can use lipstick, eye shadow, and eye liner to draw on their faces.

There is no need to panic if your Halloween plans were not made well in advance. These three easy costume ideas will save the Halloween Holiday at the last minute.

William Shakespeare, Macbeth

You will love serving this delightfully cheesy brew instead of the same old Mexican cheese dip. And the crunchy breadsticks for dipping allow your guests to stir at the cauldron and pick up the pieces of flesh and bone in this warm, rich concoction with the distinct flavor of autumn. Serve this in a hallowed out pumpkin for a stunning presentation!

Ingredients to gather for your brew

• 1 package of chipped beef, chopped
• 1 can of condensed mushroom soup

• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 chopped green pepper
• 1 chopped large onion
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of ketchup
• 1/4 pound of shredded cheddar cheese

To make the brew

Sauté the chopped onion and pepper in the melted butter. Add the condensed soup, Worcestershire sauce, chopped chipped beef, and grated cheese. Heat until the cheese is melted and the ingredients are thoroughly combined, stirring constantly.

Pour into a heated dip server, or serve in a hallowed out pumpkin. Serve with crunchy breadsticks or tortilla chips. Yummy!

I hope to make a few suggestions about how you can plan decorations and what to grab if you need to throw something together at the last minute. That is where D.A.M.N. comes in! How to come up with decorations at a moment’s notice (D.A.M.N.)

Getting Your Halloween Party Set Up . . . Quickly!

Decide if you are going to use a porch, family room, or a basement and then do two things:

1. Decide how you’re going to make the area dark
Just tape black table cloths over the windows in only a few minutes. I can’t tell you how many Halloween parties I’ve gone to where the hosts keep the lights on! Nay! This is a party filled with make up, mystery, and costumes.

2.Turn off the lights and do some eerie lighting
Take all the lamps you normally have in the room out and put either low wattage or colored bulbs in them. Place them on the floor in each of the corners of the room.

You’d be surprised how just doing those two things will change the atmosphere of your room for little or nothing. And let me tell you, having all your lights pointing up is a great eerie effect and will make great shadows for your party. Oh, and for the guest that keeps saying, “Oh it’s too dark in here.” Send him or her to the store for more chips. DO NOT TURN ON THE LIGHTS!

Now What?

Oh, many other D.A.M.N. decorations exist that you can pull out what you might not even have thought about. For instance, look up. The ceiling is a perfectly blank canvas for your decorating skills because it’s the perfect showcase for a huge decoration. What, you say? Yes, get one of your large and light yard ghouls that’s just a head and arms and with a long gown or cape and get ready to wow your guests.

Get four 3M temporary hooks and some fishing line that will blend in with the color of your ceiling. Put your ghoul in the center of the room where everyone has to walk under it. Securely tie the arms and body to the hooks.

Add a fifth hook over in a hidden corner and run a separate line from the head of the dummy back to that corner. The head should be bent so it looks like it is peering down at your guests. If it looks too saggy, very slightly raise it. Finally, tie the end of the fishing line off on a table leg or some other heavy item so it can’t fall.

Now to play a trick on your guests. Stand in the corner of the room during the party and wait until everyone is used to seeing the ghoul there. When no one is looking, suddenly pull the string, raising it’s head (or hands if you so desire) and giving your guests quite a scare!

A Murder of Crows

Don’t you just love that group name? Well, it works for this occasion because if you need fast, effective and relatively inexpensive decorations, get a bunch of crows. Put white sheets all over your party room and attach those little birds in groups of three to five everywhere. You can’t go wrong with black and white, no matter what you do, and it’s easy to add to your collection at the end of the season. I’ve purchased them at four for a dollar, so every year I add to my birds. Now I can do a whole house in the style of the movie The Birds if I want.

Collections of Webs and Spiders

Another D.A.M.N. fast decoration is cheep webs and tons of plastic spiders! I bet you have loads of them in your Halloween items already or can make a trip down to your local dollar store to stock up on the little buggers and packages of webs. Get white or green webs because it really doesn’t matter about color, especially if you have a nice sized black light to add to the room.

Pull the webs into really thin, long sections and stretch them as far as you can so that they look real. Then put the spiders, hundreds of them, all over your party room, kitchen, and bathroom so that it looks like your house is working alive with the little devils. Add a black light and watch the webs glow like crazy, and your room will look spookily inviting to any guest in a short amount of time

Sophisticated Party Room

Not every Halloween party room has to be scary, because some really like the more sophisticated look like that of a Martha Stewart display. Great! Get enough inexpensive black material to replace your current drapes and add two or three crows to the ends of your curtain rods for a touch of whimsy. Cover lamp shades in scrap booking paper and tape in place for a temporary Halloween lampshade and use Halloween material to make fast runners for your tables. Add baskets of pumpkins, fall corn, and gourds around the room with branches of multi-colored fall leaves. Place your good Halloween collectables on your book shelves and on many of the surfaces around the room.

But be sure to leave room for drinks and hors ‘d vours your guests will need to set down during your soiree. Add any textile decorations where your normal art goes on the walls and lay past and present Halloween issues of your favorite magazines around your room. Go to you local Farmers’ Market and buy some carved apple dolls or walnut-headed dolls that are commonly made around this time of the year. Those dolls will add a homespun air to add to your room.

These styles of decorations just goes to show you that you don’t have to spend much money or look beyond your own stash for great Decorations At a Moment’s Notice. All you ever need to do is to look at what you have or have access to, and you can make your party and party space something special in just a few short hours. Enjoy your party!

My Dad helped us carve our pumpkins and go trick-or-treating. My Mom cooked us dinner, helped us make our costumes (unless they involved spray painting) and made us pumpkin cookies. Then she cleaned us and the counter and the walls after we got icing everywhere.

I grew up when packs of children still roamed the street, trick-or-treating in the dark, and eating candy without going through security check points. When we were little, though, my Dad always took us trick or treating. He always dressed like a golfer and carried his putter. I think that if he had his way, he would still always dress like a golfer. He does keep a putter and some golf balls in the corner of his office, but I don’t think he gets to use them very often.

My Mom was a good sport and dressed up for my school Halloween parades. I remember one year I was particularly mad because my friend and backyard neighbor dressed up like the Statue of Liberty, just like me. My costume was better, though. My torch had flames, and I wasn’t green. Some years, my sister and I would dress as a tag-team. My favorite was Strawberry Shortcake, and she was my cat, Custard. I thoroughly enjoyed ordering her around.

When I got old enough to make my own costumes, I got more elaborate, not less. My favorite was the dinosaur. I volunteered at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and we had these great people there helping kids make humongous masks. I made a dinosaur mask, and then made a tail out of an old pair of sweat pants. I was in seventh grade. Everybody else dressed up like princesses or Billy Joel or something.

My senior year in college, I dressed up as “Tigress Woods” and walked around campus all day in my old pair of golf shoes. I had tigger ears from Disney World, and I wore an orange shirt with tiger strips on it—over which I wore my Nike sleeveless golf shirt. I painted my face, wore a tail, and khakis and golf shoes. I carried around my 7 iron. I’m not sure if anyone really got it, but I had fun! I’ve always loved puns.

I can’t wait to have kids of my own one day so that we get to dress up and go trick-or-treating!

Isn’t there another way?

Traditionally decorated pumpkins – usually consisting of two round or triangular eyes, a nose and a mouth with just a few teeth – are a fun and familiar pick. But there’s more than one way to dress a naked pumpkin. Try something brand-new this year for a look that’ll make your house the best Halloween pick in the neighborhood!

For the Birds

You Will Need:

• One small or medium-size pumpkin
• Decorative black-feathered birds
• Decorative pumpkin tendrils
• Black spray paint
• Glue gun (with one stick glue) or instant-bond glue
• Cutting or digging tool
• Paint or glitter if desired

This idea is eerie, yet deceptively simple. You will need a small- to medium-size pumpkin (pie pumpkins work great!) A pumpkin with a slightly flattish bottom is ideal; the fruit should be able to stand upright without being propped up. Purchase decorative blackbirds, ravens or crows and decorative pumpkin tendrils (curled strips) from your local crafts store or flower shop. Buy a small can of black spray paint from any retail store.

Spray paint the tendrils black; allow to dry. Glue the crows to the outside of the pumpkin, arranging them so that a few are “pecking” at the pumpkin’s skin. Attach the tendrils to the stem of the pumpkin with glue. Decorate the rest of your pumpkin in paint or glitter with a catchy saying if desired.

Slithering Snakes

You Will Need:

• One medium or large pumpkin
• Novelty rubber or plastic snakes
• Carving tool
• Scooping tool
• Battery-powered pumpkin light

Turn your pumpkin over and carve a circle into its bottom, slightly smaller than the circumference; remove. (Alternatively, you can cut a top out of your pumpkin; however, cutting the bottom creates a seamless look and prevents the pumpkin top from falling in as it shrinks over time.)

Scoop out seeds and pulp and scrape carefully.

Turn the pumpkin right-side up and carve eyes, nose and a gaping mouth. Try for a frightened or disgusted expression on your pumpkin’s “face”. Place your light source securely in the pumpkin’s bottom. Because any added materials can pose a potential fire hazard, we recommend a battery-powered or electric plug-in light rather than a burnable wick candle.

Place the carved top over the cut bottom, then situate the novelty snakes so that they are slithering out of the eye sockets, nose and mouth. Sit back and enjoy the reactions!

Eerie Black-and-Orange Pumpkin

You Will Need:

• One pumpkin (any size)
• Carving tool
• Scooping tool
• Black spray paint
• Halloween stencil, if desired

Spray paint your pumpkin black; allow to dry completely. Carve the pumpkin, using tips shown above (see “Slithering Snakes”). Be careful not to nick the spray-painted skin; if you do, just cut a bit farther outward, or touch-up carefully with more paint or a black magic marker.

Your best look for this ghoulish gourd is a traditionally scary carving; try a frightened black cat, sinister tombstone or a witch flying past a crescent moon. Carve freehand, or use a Halloween stencil. When lit, the black will contrast spookily with the pumpkin’s orange insides.

Black Widow Web

You Will Need:

• One pumpkin (any size)
• Carving tool
• Scooping tool
• Black paint or black permanent magic marker
• Novelty toy spider
• Crafts glue

Because you won’t be carving or cutting into this pumpkin, it should last quite a while if kept outdoors in cool to cold weather. Draw or paint a spider’s web on the outside of the pumpkin; using the stem as your point of reference, paint lines out, down and back up again at intervals from the stem center. Now paint lines vertically at intervals, connecting the web.

Use your crafts glue to attach the spider to the web. You’ll be sure to startle (and delight!) any trick-or-treaters that come to your door.

This gelatin concoction is great for kids’ parties. It is fun and simple for kids to make. The result is a festive, colorful presentation and a combination of flavors and textures that is completely delectable. It looks gross, but isn’t that the point?

Ingredients

• 1 package orange flavored gelatin
• 1 small package of whipped topping
• 1 package of chocolate pudding
• 1 package of thin chocolate cookies
• 1 package of rectangle shaped vanilla or shortbread cookies
• 1 package of gummy worms
• Tubes of decorator frosting (the kind you write with)- optional
• 1 glass 13×9 in baking dish

Prepare gelatin according to package instructions (if you are impatient, use the quick set instructions). Pour into the bottom of the glass baking dish. Add some gummy worms and refrigerate until completely congealed.

While waiting for gelatin, crush the chocolate cookies between pieces of wax paper or rind them in the blender or food processor (this will be your dirt). Set aside.

Prepare the pudding according to the package directions and cool in the refrigerator.

Take the rectangle cookies and use the decorator frosting to write graveyard sayings on the top half of the cookie (the short sides being the top and bottom) such as “RIP” and “Here Lies Crazy Joe”. Decorate 12 cookies. Set on cookie sheets to allow the frosting to dry.

Once the gelatin is completely ready, remove from the refrigerator. Add a layer of shipped topping on top of the gelatin neatly scraping the excess of the sides of the pan to create a layer equal in thickness to the gelatin and as even as possible on top. Then add a layer of chocolate pudding the same way.

You should now have 3 layers that look even through the sides of the glass pan. On top of the pudding, sprinkle the crushed cookies to make a layer about 1/4 inch in thickness. Decorate by sticking the gravestones (the cookies you decorated) into the top so that the decorated part sticks out. Starting on the short end of the baking dish, make 4 rows of 3 gravestones, so that when you cut it, each person gets a gravestone on his piece. Sprinkle the top with the remaining gummy worms. If you wish, you may also add other gross candy (like eyeballs) that you find in a novelty or Halloween store.

Serve chilled by cutting into equal squares. Serves 12.

About 600 residents call Keene Valley home during the fall/winter months. The summer population is closer to 2,000, as the summer people descend on their “camps.” Everybody knows everybody. Anyone new is eyed with suspicion—more so if it is dark, cold, and rainy, and the new people are sitting at the end of their driveway.

Our wedding was scheduled for November 13, 2004 in Indianapolis, Indiana. I had moved over to Keene Valley from Middlebury, Vermont in July to cut the hour and a half commute from my apartment to my job to visit my fiancée. Though I was not yet married, by September I was already elbow-deep in housewifery. Mostly, that meant subjecting my patient husband to be to all of my family traditions, strange though they are—especially for someone whose family did not really have many traditions.

Halloween Family Traditions

We started with a marathon baking session. Pumpkin cookies! I opened bags of M&Ms and red hots and screwed decorating tips onto store-bought tubes of icing. “Decorate!” I commanded. And we decorated and decorated. The pumpkin cookie recipe makes about 50 cookies as big as your hand, and I was bound and determined to decorate each of them with flair and originality. Each of us took a large Tupperware to work the next day, and we still had about 30 left to eat.

The next family tradition of mine that I have never, ever heard anyone come remotely close to in strangeness is spaghetti in a pumpkin. We have had spaghetti in a pumpkin every single year since I can remember. My dad would always clean out a giant pumpkin, and help remove the extra racks from the oven while my mom cooked spaghetti to put inside the pumpkin along with spaghetti sauce. We never called it anything interesting like “pumpkin brains.” We just called it spaghetti in a pumpkin. We usually toasted the pumpkin seeds to eat.

I can’t really figure out why we created this monsterous mess, because once the spaghetti was cooked, we put it in the pumpkin, and put the pumpkin in the oven for about an hour, then took it out and ate it, and that was the end of that. Sometimes we had company over, sometimes we did not. I’ve seen many people take chips and dip in a cute little hollowed out sugar pie pumpkin to a Halloween party, but never spaghetti in a pumpkin.

Far be it for me to leave out this grand tradition, even though we had no counter space, and a very small oven. I handed the pumpkin, the knife and a giant spoon to my fiancée and said “Hollow this!” I made the spaghetti. The novelty of the enterprise was mostly in me taking pictures of him in each stage of pumpkindom. This was before blogs, or I probably would have posted them. Our lives were not yet that complicated, so we still had time to do such things.

Awaiting the Trick or Treaters – At the End of a Cold, Dark Driveway!

After spaghetti in a pumpkin, we had to carve our own pumpkins. I think we made one say Happy Halloween. I can’t remember the other. We lived above a barn-like garage at the end of a 1/4 mile gravel driveway with no lights. So, in order to have trick-or-treaters, we had to pile our jack-o-lanterns and folding chairs into the wheelbarrow and wheel them to the end of the driveway. There, in the cold drizzle of a mountain Halloween, we sat with our bowl of candy.

It gets dark early in the mountains in October, and soon it was pitch black. Roving packs of children wandered the circle of streets that make up the town. Each time someone came near us, we would shine our flashlights from our chin up to our faces to look ghoulish. More often than not, the parent would ask if we needed help. We would then say, “No, we just live at the end of the driveway—in Lew and Bridget’s place” and they would start chatting with us. So much for being scary!

I think we were more frightened of walking back up our driveway in the dark after our flashlights gave out. And that was our memorable first Halloween together.

Steven sipped his coffee, his kitchen forgotten as he stared out of the picture window. It was best to start long days early, but to forget to stop and see the world was a sin he would no longer commit. Had not Julia accused him of such? The coffee was bitter without sugar. Only the kitchen clock broke the morning silence.

With a sigh he checked his watch. It was time to start; he threw back the last of the bitter aromatic liquid. The garbage bag waiting by the kitchen door brought another sigh. It was the little things you miss, he realized. Not the arguing, the yelling; not the long conversations, but the constant sense of another in the house. The lingering scent in the washroom, flowers on the table, the gentle touch of her hand as she passed him in the hall. The smell of bread, the sound of her breathing at night, her scent on the pillows…

Opening the door he swung the bag up and walked into his yard. It took his mind a moment to register the dark thing that appeared in front of him as a gun. Yes, a gun, he told himself. He turned to the man holding it, mouth opening but no words came out.

“Inside, now.” The Man with the Gun hissed.

Steven stepped back, the bag falling from his hand. He tried to speak but no sounds came from his open mouth; behind the Man with the Gun, two more shapes appeared huddled together. As Steven backed through the open door, they followed him into the house

“Back up Doc! Back!” The Gun rose higher, the barrel a black hole.

“Ento, ent, bugs, bugs,” Steven tried to see around the gun’s muzzle, it consumed his world. An event horizon with it’s black hole, his death its centre.

“What?” The voice behind the gun was louder as Steven fell into a dinning room chair.

“Bugs! I work on bugs, I’m an entomologist. I work with bugs!” How here? This was a private community! This didn’t happen in Manitoba. Gated! Everything was locked down, secure! What could the Man with the Gun want? Drugs! “I don’t have any drugs!”

The other two shapes had huddled through the door and now the smaller one had flowed into the chair opposite him; while the other’s dirty hands closed the door. Steven jumped at the sound of the first bolt being driven home. He’d never noticed the sound of the other locks being so loud, so final. As the dirty hands touched the last bolt, he tore his eyes away from the black metal, grimy fingers slid the shiny steel home. The room was silent but for distant ticking and clicking. He could read the entire logo of the security company next to the locks.

He saw the shape opposite him now. Not something formless, but a person, a young person.

“She’s hurt!” The Man with the Gun shoved Steven toward her.

A girl, Steven blinked, sliding to his knees. The girl pulled back a grimy sweatshirt. Dirty rags encrusted with dark stains encircled her forearm.

“I have a first aid kit,” Steven looked up at the Man with the Gun. “Under the sink. I’ll need it.”

The Man with the Gun motioned the one who’d locked the door. Steven looked back at the girl. Under the filth and soiled hoody she was what fourteen, fifteen?

“Where?”

Steven looked over at the crouching boy by the sink. The doors were open showing boxes of cleaners, a container of pot scrubbers, a box of garbage bags and attached to the door the white and red first aide kit. The boy looked blankly at all the boxes.

“Where?” the boy repeated. He started pounding the flooring, “Where! Where! Where!”

“David! Shut up!” the Man with the Gun snarled, the gun bouncing about Steven’s head as he watched the hand tighten its grip.

“Please! It’s the white box on the door.” Steven started to stand up but the Man with the Gun pushed him hard.

“He’s not stupid!”

Steven went down hard, cracking his head on the table. He looked into dark eyes, cold dark eyes.

“No, no,” Steven breathed as the gun locked onto him, dead centre on his chest. “No, he’s not stupid.”

“Here,” David put the box on the table. He seemed to loose interest as he strolled to the buffet and looked through the glass doors.

“Get up and help her, now,” the Man with the Gun’s voice was very low, his mouth tight.

Steven got up and moved closer to the girl. He should have done something, he thought, he should have done something when the Man with the Gun was distracted. He motioned to the girl.

“You need to take that off. The bandages.” The girl looked down at her arm. Steven noticed how shiny her eyes were. Touching her hot skin, he started chewing his lip. Undoing the rags released the order of rot. He realized that much of the black on her hand wasn’t dirt. Peeling back the last of the rags he looked away. Steven covered his mouth and tried not to gag.

“It’s infected. Badly, she needs to go to a hospital.”

“Very funny, you’re a comedian. My medical insurance has expired.” The Man with the Gun leaned close. “I know who you are, Doctor Steven Eberius.”

Steven heart took his ability to speak away. “I don’t understand. I don’t know you, I can’t help her.”

“University of Manitoba. I was in your graduating class of 2008, don’t remember? I must have changed some over the years.” The Man with the Gun took a step back. “But you haven’t changed a bit. That gene therapy’s pretty expensive. How you managing that?”

The Man with the Gun crossed his arms and tapped the gun against his face. “Haven’t seen that pretty wife of yours around, have we David, Emily? No, not a trace. Not even at Services.”

Steven looked from the Man with the Gun to Emily; there was a resemblance there. His sister? His daughter?

“So here’s the joke doc, tell if you’ve heard this one before, Emily was-”

A scream turned them all toward the hall. David let out a second cry as he ran into the kitchen and hugged the Man with the Gun.

“Butterflies! Butterflies!” he pointed toward the living room.

“Shh, David, shhh. The doctor is going to show us,” the Man with the Gun hugged the boy. He motioned Steven to get up and lead the way.

Steven tried to think, to remember. Class of 08’ seemed a lifetime ago. Was a lifetime ago. Had the Man with the Gun been watching him? His house? Where was the security hired to keep him safe?

They stepped into a short hall; to the right was once the family room, now his office. The vaulted ceilings had the height for the cages holding the delicate insects and the vegetation they needed within. Each cage had insects at different life stages.

“Monarchs,” whispered the Man with the Gun. “Monarchs!”

Wonder appeared on his face making the years drop away, still, Steven couldn’t place him. As the Man with the Gun stepped closer, David hugged him again and tried to hold him back.

“David, these are real butterflies, real ones! They can’t hurt you like the ones outside.” He looked down at the boy. “Its okay. Do you remember when you were little and we’d go to the park with Emily and Mom?”

The boy looked up at his father, eyes tearing. “Mom’s gone. The butterflies got her. Will Emily die?”

The Man with the Gun hugged the boy tight. “You’re right, we need to tend to your sister.”

He turned back to Steven. “You save Emily, or you die.”

Steven felt his heart speed up again. “She needs a hospital, the infection is spreading.”

“She was bit by a Pog at around midnight. So if you don’t want to take a walk in Assiniboine Park…” the Man with the Gun waited, letting understanding sink in.

“No,” Steven shuddered. Definitely not the park… “I have some stuff in my desk, anti-venom. It also has a powerful anti-viral and antibiotic dose…it might work.”

“Let’s hope so,” the Man with the Gun’s smile was as hard as his eyes. “Get it.”

Steven opened his desk drawer and was pushed aside. The Man with the Gun looked inside then took out the white and red emergency kit. He stepped back and opened it, quickly reading the instructions.

As he read, Steven leaned onto his computer table and squeezed the buzzer sitting by the mouse pad.

“Okay, give it to her.” The Man with the Gun said, tossing the pack to Steven.

They went back into the kitchen. Steven gulped. The girl was now slumped on the table. The Man with the Gun stood next to her.

“Emily,” he whispered into her hair. “The doctor’s going to give you something. He’s going to help you.”

Emily opened her eyes and smiled faintly. She was quite pretty, Steven realized as he opened the syringe package and taking her clean arm gave her the injection. Her eyes looked at the packaging.

“It says I’ll need probiotics, what’s that?” Emily asked.

“Don’t worry about it right now, Emily,” the Man with the Gun said.

“Look! Pretty!”

Steven turned to see David pulling a picture from behind the buffet and hutch. The enlargement showed Steven receiving his Lifetime Achievement Award for his Stars and Stripes Butterfly. An inset showed a close-up of the butterfly and across the bottom the embossed words, ‘with love, for my Butterfly Man from your loving wife, Julia.’

Steven felt his chest tighten at the picture…Julia. David had pulled off the bow that had caught his attention, letting the picture drop.

“You bastard!” The Man with the Gun stepped around the table. He picked up the picture, staring at it, his eyes wide, “You! You killed my wife! You killed my brother! You started this…do you realize you’ve killed millions?”

He flung the picture aside, “What gave you the right!”

The Man with the Gun stepped forward, then jerked. He screamed, dropping the weapon, and seemed to be dancing. The door behind Steven burst open and security personnel overran them. The Man with the Gun was grabbed and dragged along with David and Emily out of the house.

“Are you okay, sir?” One of the guards said as he helped Steven up.

“Yes, thank you, I’m fine,” Steven took a deep breath. “What, what will happen now?”

“We’re checking them for contamination, sir,” the security officer said as Steven followed them out. Lying on his lawn, the man seemed small now, but still not familiar. The girl, Emily, cried out as they handcuffed her wrists. The boy, David, was still kicking and fighting, but a zap took most of the fight out of him.

Behind them the dead maples stood branchless; the crews had already started taking the old trees down. The recycling truck’s chipper shredder ate the branches as fast as they could be fed into it. The workers darted glances at the security guards.

Near him a voice was talking. Steven blinked away the sight of the dead trees and looked at the security guards.

“The boy’s neurally challenged. It’s developmental plus he’s infected,” the man shrugged.

“No! No!” The man who had held Steven hostage screamed until they zapped him. He moaned as the guard next to his son hit the boy with a club across the back of the head.

“You there, we have recycling here,” the Captain called to the tree trimming crew. Four of them walked over and took the boy’s body. Steven looked away, but he heard the chipper shredder’s engine work hard for a moment.

“Don’t worry, Doctor Eberius, we’ll send a clean up crew to make sure your home is disinfected. Do you wish to sponsor any of them, sir?”

Steven turned to the security guard, momentarily confused, “Sponsor?”

“They were seized on your property. They’re not registered persons. Do you want to keep either one? Otherwise we sell them to the lab. Spilt the commission, of course.”

“Right, I’m sorry, I…” Steven focused on Emily a moment. “Yes, the girl. Send me her clean up costs and I’ll keep her.”

“Yes, Doctor. Blessings of fortune on you and happy birthday.”

Steven realized they were waiting for something…right the response. What was it? Right, “Thank you and a blessing of security to you and yours.”

* * *

Steven entered his home, under his arm another award, this time for corporate earnings. The luncheon had been not just to celebrate his birthday, but his long record of biogenetic innovation. He placed the plaque on the kitchen table and allowed himself a sip of his twenty-year-old Canadian Club Whiskey.

The house’s quiet was a welcome relief from the noise and questions of those attending the banquet, too many asking about the incident. The quiet was nice.

Quiet, very quiet. Steven turned; the kitchen clock had stopped. Checking his watch, he headed to his workspace.

Emily sat in the middle of the room. Around her butterflies danced, some landing for a moment on her arms or knees only to flutter off.

“Emily, what are you doing out here?” Steven stepped forward.

Emily turned toward the sound of his voice. Her once dark eyes were milky now and sightless. Her arms and legs had developed red welts from the injections and bites. Steven didn’t doubt that the neurotoxin inhibitors were playing havoc with her immune system. But he was under contract; after all, how many people tried reproduction without the proper permits? Without paying the patent fees?

Steven looked at the Monarch Butterflies. They were his. Without patent protection where would he be?

“Well, lets get you off to bed,” Steven muttered. Perhaps he’d have to take on an assistant, but where would he find someone qualified? Someone who wouldn’t try to steal his work?

Emily didn’t resist him as he pulled her to her feet. She surprised him by reaching up and touching his face.

‘Mmm,’ she said softly. Steven leaned forward.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

Emily opened her mouth. Steven pulled back but not fast enough. The red, white and blue butterfly launched itself. He struggled to bring up his arms, but she was surprisingly strong. The butterfly’s bite burned his cheek, then his neck.

He kicked out, freeing himself even as the pain flowed from the bites. He tried to scream as he pulled himself to the desk. His right hand spasmed but he managed to open the drawer — it was empty.

He flipped onto his side as he lost control of his body. Emily had crawled to the window. Steven watched her, trying to focus on what she had in her hand. He saw the white and red box drop to the floor as she reached for the clasp.

“No,” he gasped. The open window seemed to draw them. They flew from the room into the darkening sky. Their black and orange wings vanished into the coming night.

“No,” Steven gasped, “No, they’re mine.”

The spasms ended with his heart.

About the Author

T. Masters-Heinrichs has been writing cross genre and regular genre fiction for years. Co-authored the 10 story anthology, ‘Don’t Worry, It’s Just the Wind’ with Eric McKinnon ,which is out this October. First novel, “Blood Is Black In Moonlight” is expected out by or before December 2008. Doesn’t swim too well for someone whose lived their entire life by the shore …

Favourite authors include Neal Stevenson “Snowcrash”, Jim Butcher “Dresden Files”, and the creators and writers of the ‘Firefly’ series, Joss Whedon and ‘Babylon 5’ series, J. Michael Straczynki.