2008

The door to the modest apartment burst open with a clamor. The couple who entered, merrily ignored the clanging noise the witch-shaped door-hanging made as it fell off and onto the floor and proceeded to wander about the apartment.

“Ennis! Czes!” they shouted. “We have arrived!”

“Czeslaw isn’t here,” Ennis said as she came from the kitchen. “Miria, Isaac, you are early; he’s not due back home for another two hours.”

“Aww…!” Isaac frowned. “We wanted to take your little brother to the pumpkin patch!”

“Yeah! We had so much fun the last time!” Miria chimed in. “Where did he go?!”

“With Firo and Maiza,” Ennis answered plainly as she picked up the door-hanging from the floor. It was of a cute plush ghost and a wreath of leaves around it that Firo had bought for her.

“Well, I guess it cannot be helped,” Isaac said. He flopped down onto the couch, resting his hands behind his head.

“Cannot be helped,” Miria imitated, copying Isaac’s movements as well. Ennis just smiled; it was good to have them around again. “Where did they go?”

“A game, I believe,” Ennis replied. “There is supposed to be a large number of people to turn out for it.”

“Ah, a football game!” Isaac said with glee. “Firo and Maiza are making sure your little brother knows about such manly things as football, aren’t they!?”

“They’re making Czes into a man!” Miria squealed. Ennis rolled her eyes and sighed. It did not matter that Czeslaw had been her little brother for over fifty years; he was still her kid brother to them.

1913

“Hey! Did you hear the news?!” Keith yelled as he burst into the parlor the day after Halloween. “The old part of the city burned the rest down last night!”

“No way!” Berga gasped. “We were just there!”

“I know!” Keith replied. “I heard it from Dick and Sammy; they live a block away from where it happened you know.”

“I wonder how that happened,” Luck asked, fiddling with the cards in his hands. He looked over at Claire and the two boys smiled. Not another word to another soul. Besides, Berga and Keith would beat on them real good.

“What’re you two smiling about?” Berga snapped, noting the behavior of his youngest brother and their friend. “You know something about it, don’t you?”

“Nope,” Claire and Luck said simultaneously. They shook their heads vigorously, denying they ever knew a thing.

1956

“Too bad you have to go home, baby,” the boys teased as the little girl who went with them to the movie theatre ran up to the porch of her house. They laughed as they all walked down the lane, all contemplating on what to do next.

“I don’t think you should’ve made her see that movie,” Czeslaw said. “She was really scared.”

“Ah, she’s just chicken,” the one boy said. “Let her be like that. No one’s stopping her from leaving.”

“…but really, you should be nicer.”

“Czes, get out of the street.”

“No. I think you should really stop teasing her like that.”

“Come on Czes, we’re gonna go raid a cornfield next.”

“You guys shouldn’t treat her that way!”

“CZES! LOOK OUT!”

Czeslaw looked to his left and almost instantly he was hit by a large truck. The driver, too drunk to see straight, kept on going, leaving the child splattered upon the broken pavement. The other boys screamed, not sure about what to do. Eventually, they ran headlong for the town; they were sure to find someone there who could help.

What they did not notice, however, was the fact Czeslaw was somehow being placed back together. It was going to be a sore surprise for them when they take the sheriff out to the place of the accident, only to find that Czeslaw had already gone home.

1979

Nice took a step into the bathroom and wrinkled her nose. She glared at Jacuzzi, who was admiring his brown suit in the vanity mirror. His hair was no longer the silver it had long been, but was a warm brown color. A fake moustache of the same hue sat upon his upper lip, making him fully look like a man at least twenty years younger. He had even taken some of Nice’s makeup and covered his sword tattoo so that it completely disappeared.

“What is that awful smell?” Nice asked.

“The hair dye,” Jacuzzi said.

“You bought that disgusting off-brand dye at the store, didn’t you?”

“They only have this stuff out once a year; it’s not like I know what the brand name is,” Jacuzzi replied. “Relax Nice; I’ve got this one under control.”

“You better,” she replied, making sure he didn’t wash his hands with one of the jack-o-lantern-shaped soaps. “I’m never going to hear the end of this year if you don’t.”

“They let it go… didn’t they?” Jacuzzi smiled. “…besides, I’ve been practicing.” He gave Nice a blank stare and let out an eerie, high-pitched scream.

Nice rolled her eyes. “You do know this means one more year of me putting up with this nonsense from the neighbors then?” Jacuzzi kissed Nice quickly before exiting the bathroom, only to come back and poke his head through the doorway.

“Where’s that giant zucchini I bought at the State Fair last weekend?”

“Icebox. Also take tissues; you’ll start crying after scaring about four kids.”

“Thanks.”