"That was fun!" Ryan said. "I hope he does it again next year!" Jenny laughed. Jonathan ran a hand through his hair. It was such a great start to the evening -- he was glad his friends were not there to see it.

"Where's the next stop on our glorious journey?" Jonathan asked.

"This way!" Ryan said. He jogged down the street. Jenny and Jonathan followed just behind.

"Are you having fun?" Jenny asked.

"I'm having boatloads of fun," Jonathan said. "It's not every day I get attacked by fake corpses and father two children."

"You'll have more fun, I promise," Jenny said. "It's Halloween! Just let yourself go!"

Jenny hooked her arm in Jonathan's while they went on. They had walked down the path and back onto the main sidewalk when Jonathan thought he heard something. He raised an eyebrow and leaned to the side, letting his left ear go to work like a wartime radar antenna. The noise was faint, but there was definitely something there; however, he could not make out exactly what the noise was.

The noise got closer. Jonathan thought he recognized it. He listened more and realized he could form words and sentences from what he heard. But there was something else there that set him on edge -- something that told him there was more to what he heard than the basics. He walked a few steps farther, oblivious to Jenny and Ryan standing still behind him, tilting their heads at his peculiar behavior. Suddenly, the gears moved in his mind.

Jonathan's eyes widened. He turned quickly and ran in the other direction, but it was too late.

"Jon!" he heard as he grabbed Jenny and Ryan's collars and abruptly stopped. "Holy crap, what the hell are you doing out here?"

"Hello, everyone," Jonathan said, turning around slowly. "How is everything?"

He had his hands on Jenny and Ryan's shoulders and stared at the crowd of four standing before them. They were his college buddies: Martin, who was dressed as Rick Astley; Steven, who was dressed as Indiana Jones; Jessica, who was dressed as Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees; and Christine, who was dressed as Katharine Hepburn.

"Dude, things are awesome tonight," Steven said. "We've got a crapload of candy, even though we had to go all the way down here to get it. What the hell happened to this place? People used to have candy out the ass, and now we're fighting for the scraps. What the fuck, man?"

"Hey, watch your mouth, man," Martin said. "He has his kids with him."

Jonathan looked down at Jenny and Ryan, and his face reddened. He looked back up at his friends, hoping desperately that the red was fading away.

"We're not his kids," Jenny said. "He's just taking us out tonight."

"Oh?" Jessica said. "I thought you were busy tonight, Jon. That's why you couldn't go out with us, right?"

"Um, yeah," Jonathan said, looking away at nothing in particular. "I thought I'd be busy with something else tonight."

"Cute kids," Christine said. "Whose are they?"

"I bet I know whose they are," Steven said nudging his left elbow into Christine and cracking his toy whip with his right hand. "Methinks Jon Boy fancies himself Señor Martinez tonight."

Jonathan scrunched his face up and glowed a bright shade of red, while Jenny and Ryan laughed a bit.

"Oh yeah," Martin said, dancing to an imaginary tune. "He's never gonna give her up, never gonna let her--"

"Oh, Christ," Jessica said, slapping Martin on the back of his head. "You killed that joke two hours ago. God, Steven, why did you give him an excuse to do that again?"

Christine shook her head at Martin and looked at Jenny and Ryan.

"Those are nice costumes," she said. "Did you make them or buy them?"

"We bought them," Jenny said. "We had to save up for a while."

"I know what you mean," Steven said, waving his hands over his costume. "This sh-- I mean, this costume was really expensive. I blew half my paycheck on it."

"And now he's mooching off me for food," Martin said. "Why don't you get food from Jon? He's the responsible one. Look, he's dressed in a suit and everything."

"Who are you supposed to be, Jon?" Steven asked. Jonathan stammered for a few seconds before Jenny answered for him.

"He's Clark Kent before he turns into Superman," Jenny said. "I bet Tom Welling will look like that in the future."

Jonathan raised a hand to his forehead and muttered to himself, while Christine and Jessica clapped and Martin and Steven hooted, whistled and stomped their feet. When Jonathan looked at the group again, Martin and Steven were speaking excitedly to each other.

"D'you hear that?" Martin said. "Tom Welling!"

"Oh yeah," Steven said. "He's going to look soooooooooo handsome! He'll be a movie star!"

"OK, cut it out," Jonathan said. "We have to get going."

"All right, Mr. Welling, we get the picture," Martin said, snickering.

"Have fun," Jessica said. "We'll try to keep these two dopes away from you."

"Ignore her," Steven said. "Since you're out tonight, how about you join us for some ..." He looked at Jenny and Ryan before continuing, "... fun later on. You know, throw down a few B-E-E-R-S?"

"They're kids, not retards, you dumbass," Christine said, rolling her eyes. "You know where we'll be if you have time later, Jon. See you."

The group turned and walked away, with Martin throwing his head back and singing high to the sky, the moon his only audience. Christine and Jessica clapped their hands over their ears to drown out the noise. Soon they were gone.

"They're nice," Jenny said, looking up at Jonathan. "Do you go drinking with them a lot?"

"I don't do much drinking at all," Jonathan said, adjusting his glasses. "And it's not something you or your brother should be doing, either."

"Well, yeah," Jenny said, smiling innocently. "We're kids, not retards, remember?"

"Har har har," Jonathan said. "Let's get going, OK?"