Rhys and Craig slowed once they were round the corner at the end of the road, helpless with laughter and covered in biscuit crumbs. They brushed themselves off and started to walk the mile or so to Tom and Cam’s house along roads increasingly lined with trees and where the gardens were more cared for and the houses were larger and the cars in front on them were newer. Apart from Cameron’s mum’s car, which was one of those huge people carriers but it was the most revolting mustard that was flecked with metallic specks. It was there, parked crookedly on the gravelled drive and that meant that at least Cam’s mum was home and they could find out about trick or treating later that evening.
They crunched across the gravel to the back door, knowing that the family never used the front and they knocked on the open door even though they could see Cam’s mum moving around the kitchen making soup. She turned round and pushed her dark hair back from her face, running her fingers through it to put it back into the ponytail it had fallen out of.
“Oh, hello you two, are you looking for cam and Tom?” She smiled warmly. “I’m afraid they’re out at Andrew’s for the afternoon but they’ll be back later. Can I give them a message for you?”
“Do you know if they still want to come trick or treating with us? And my mum wants to know if you or Cam’s dad would be with us so we have a grown up to make sure we behave.” Rhys rolled his eyes and Cam’s mum laughed. “I’m sure Jack’s going out with the boys and he won’t mind a couple of extras if he doesn’t know already. I’m staying home with the girls so we can hand out sweets. Make sure you come and trick us won’t you?”
“We will.” Craig and Rhys chorused.
“Do you want to come over here around six and then you can all go out together?” She stirred the soup. “I’ll make sure Jack and the boys know you’re coming. Are you dressing up?”
“I’m a vampire.” Rhys grinned.
“I’m a werewolf.” Craig snarled, but then spoiled it by giggling.
“Right then boys, I have to finish up here so I’ll see you later?” She wiped her hands on a tea towel and waited until they both nodded and ran off down the drive and back to the road.
When Rhys got home he was given the job of gathering and preparing the ingredients for the pumpkin soup so he peered at diced onion through weeping, sore eyes. He weighed out butter and the pumpkin flesh from earlier that day. He found a stock cube, measuring jug and pulled the bottle of milk from the fridge.
“Mum, have we got any parmesan?” He asked over his shoulder.
Lou was sitting at the kitchen table with a pile of bills. “Sorry Rhys, we haven’t but normal cheese will do if you want some grated and sprinkled on top.”
“It’s all weighed out and chopped Mum, what do I do next?”
“Do you want to make it? Do the whole thing from start to finish?” Lou didn’t feel like cooking but she would happily sit and supervise and she could step in to save things if she needed to.
“If I make the soup do you wash up?” Rhys turned to look her in the eye and she frowned at him.
“I suppose you have a point.” She agreed reluctantly. “Yes, if you make the soup then I’ll clear up and wash up. But only if it’s edible.”
Rhys laughed. “Of course it’ll be edible. I’m a genius at cooking!”
“Yeah right.” Lou snorted. “I don’t think you can go far wrong as long as you don’t burn it. First put the butter in that big saucepan and turn the ring on low to melt it, about half way should be fine. Once the butter’s melted then put your chopped onion in and cook it until it goes soft and starts looking see through. That should take about ten minutes. Let me know when you’ve done that and be careful with the cooker, it’s hot.”
“I know Mum!” Rhys protested. “Which spoon can I use?”
“Any you want, you choose.” Lou was sorting through the bills again and looking worried. “Try not to let the onions go brown though, keep stirring them.” She sounded distracted and as Rhys looked over at her she sighed.
After about an hour the soup was ready and the bread warming in the oven. The combined smells made Rhys’ mouth water as Lou ladled soup into bowls and two pots for the freezer. “That’s two more dinners for another day.” Lou smiled at him and she licked the ladle. “Well done, it tastes really good too.”
Later that evening a vampire with white face and blood dripping fangs swirled his long black cloak in the cold night air and breathed clouds of steam as he giggled along the road.
“You shouldn’t be able to do that.” The werewolf beside him said with a growl. Hairy, clawed hands poked from torn sleeves and fur spilled from rips in a tattered shirt under a fake leather jacket. Dark trousers bore the marks of an apparently recent feast, vivid red splashed down one leg. “Vampires are undead, they don’t breathe.”
“So?” Rhys scowled. “I’m not really dead and I’m not really a vampire and I like making smoke. Maybe I should have been a demon instead and then smoke would have been right.” He kicked at the pavement and a stone flew from his foot into a hedge and something small and dark with glittering eyes ran out, stopped and froze at the sight of them and then ran back in.
“What was that?” Craig stared. “It was too small for a cat and too big for a mouse. A rat maybe?”
“Nah, it didn’t have a tail.” Rhys crouched down, cape spilling across the pavement behind him, and peered under the hedge. “I can’t see it.”
Just then a car drove past and its headlights lit up the hedge for a moment and both boys were on their knees peering under the hedge. “I can’t see anything either.” Craig got back to his feet. “Whatever it was it’s gone now.” He glanced at his watch. “Come on, it’s almost six.” They gave up and ran the rest of the way to Tom and Cam’s house, arriving so out of breath that their chests heaved and the breathed steamed from their gaping mouths.
“Vampires are the undead; you shouldn’t be getting out of breath.” Cam’s dad was the same height as his mum with unruly curly dark hair and a smile that wrinkled his eyes and made them sparkle. He wasn’t dressed up but he did have a short, dark jacket on and he had a torch in one hand. “Does anyone need the toilet before we go? Has everyone got something to carry sweeties in? Because if you haven’t then I get them all.” He teased and Cam pushed him as they all held up bags for collecting their treats. Jack moved to the back door, which was now strewn with skeletons and a large bat, and there was a carved pumpkin on either side of the step, candles flickering in each one. “Kate?” He called. “Rhys and Craig are here, we’re off out. I’ll make sure they get home before I bring Tom and Cam back.”
Kate called something indistinct from the kitchen and then stuck her head out of the door. “Do I get hugs from my two monsters or is that very uncool?” Tom and Cam grinned and hugged her close and she pushed them away towards Jack waiting with Rhys and Craig on the drive. Tom had his face painted green and his torn shirt and painted on scars matched the over sized boots that meant he was Frankenstein’s monster. Cam wore a scarlet cape over a black shirt and trousers with red horns and he carried a trident spear. Hi face wasn’t painted but his dark hair had been allowed to grow so it fell almost into his eyes and that helped with the demon-monster look. All four boys carried small cloth bags decorated with stars, moons, witches and bats, ready to be filled with whatever treats they managed to collect along the way.
i like that chapter becuase it makes the story make more sense. It is the best chapter out of them all!!! I want to read the next one but mum is a meanie and she’s sending me to bed!!!!
LOL, your mum’s definitely a meanie, but the rest will be there tomorrow and if I decide to publish it you can always get her to buy you a copy!