Why does Little Miss Muffet wear pants with ruffles?

“Mom,” I say. “You make me look crazy.”

Pumpkin pie. Pizza pie.

It’s all the same. On Halloween.

The icing is too thin. It runs down the side of the house.

Perfect for a haunted house.

Don’t you think?

Trick or treating in the dorms.

Is easy candy.

A big package comes in the mail.

Is it for me? I ask Dad.

“No,” Dad says. And takes out the part of a car. “But you can have the box.”

That’s even better, I think.

Mom and I crawl under my bed covers. I turn on the flashlight.

Mom opens a book. She reads the first page.

About a monster.

Then I flip up a tab. And shine my light on the beast that now stands on the tip top of the page.

I see his shadow on the ceiling.

Ewwww. Scary, I giggle.

“Now cut off the light,” Mom says.

I do.

And the monster on the tab glows in the dark.

I giggle again.

Mom turns the page and reads about the next monster.

This book is so cool, I think. And reach for the tab.

Where’s Dad, I wonder. In his work shop, I think.

I open the door to the basement and head down the stairs. I can’t open the door to the garage. So I turn right.

And walk through basement. In the dark. Past shadows and shapes. Of things.

A big box hums. Loudly. I am scared. I run past it. Fast. And turn the corner.

I open the two white doors. And enter Dad’s work shop.

No Dad. Darn.

I turn back the way I came. The box still hums. But I am brave.

I run past it. Fast.

And scoot back up the stairs.

“Where have you been?” Mom asks.

Looking for Dad, I say.

“He’s not here,” Mom says.

I know, I sigh.