“Mom, mom!” the little girl dressed up as a unicorn galloped over. “Mrs. Olsen said my unicorn costume is better than Timmy’s!”

“She said my Spider-man was just as good!”

“But my unicorn was better!”

“She did not!”

“Excuse me, Linda,” Marcia said, turning to the arguing “Kids, kids, you both look great.”

“Marcia?” Linda said. “Mrs. Olsen?”

Marcia raised an eyebrow. “You’re right. Did Jeff get married?”

“Not to my knowledge…”

“Mom! Can we go to Danny’s house?” Spiderman pleaded.

“Yeah, Mom, can we?” the Unicorn asked.

“Gotta go,” Marcia said to Linda. She looked behind her and saw Linda’s Pirate and Dinosaur about to visit the Olsen house. “Let me know what your kids find at Jeff’s house, will you?”

“You bet,” Linda said as Marcia hurried to keep up with the Unicorn and Spiderman.

“Okay, guys, slow down…”she called after them.

The Pirate beat the Dinosaur to the doorbell. Both waited anxiously in front of the door, the Dinosaur admiring the jack-o-lantern carved to look like a cat. The door started opening and the Dinosaur and Pirate said “Trick or treat!” in unison.

Jeff Olsen stood in the doorway and started to lean forward to drop candy into the outstretched bags.

“Now wait, Jeffrey! Let me see who we have here…” the older woman hurried to the doorway, crowding him out. “Oh, Dick, come see! I love your pirate hook,” she said.

“Arr!” the little boy replied.

“Oh, what kind of dinosaur are you?” The older man said as he put his glasses on and moved closer to his wife.

“Stego-shorus!” the other boy said, his missing tooth not helping his pronunciation.

“Did your mom make your stegosaurus?” the older woman said.

“Uh huh,” the boy said.

“These are Linda McNulty’s boys, mom. Well, Linda O’brien now.”

“Little Linda McNulty?”

“Well, I’ll be, Margie” Dick said.

Jeff dropped a piece of candy in each bag.

“Jeffrey!” his mother admonished. “Don’t be so stingy with the candy! Give them a couple pieces each!”

“Thank you!” both kids said in unison.

As Jeff closed the door his mom angled herself to get one last look at the kids.

* * *

“Marcia?”

“Hi Linda. Kids! Don’t get too far ahead!” back in the phone, “Sorry, Marcia. What’s up?”

“The boys just got back from Jeff’s”

“And?”

“They said there was a nice old woman and man aside from Jeff.”

“His parents?”

“Who died five years ago in that car accident?”

“Couldn’t be!”

“I know, right?”

* * *

“It’s getting late,” Jeff stood up at from the kitchen table. “I’m going to go blow out the pumpkin and turn off the porch light.”

“Do you really think so, Jeffery?” his mom implored. “There might be some late children still…”

Jeff looked to his dad who gave him a barely perceptible head shake. Jeff sat back down. “I’m so glad you both could make it this year. I’ve missed you so much.

“Oh, Jeffery, we’re so glad we could be here. You know how much your father and I loved Halloween!”

“I like the paint in the kitchen,” his dad said looking around. “You’re keeping the place up nicely,” he nodded.

“Thanks dad,” Jeff knew there was a lot more to the compliment than the paint color. “Do you think you will be able to come next year?”

His mom and dad exchanged looks, “Jeffery,” his mom said, “We didn’t know we’d be able to come tonight! It just sort of… happened.”

“Well… I’m not going to question it,” Jeff said. “Thank you for making this a great Halloween,” he smiled and was grateful for the distraction of the doorbell as a tear fell onto his cheek.

“See, Jeffery!” His mom got to her feet quickly and started for the door.

Jeff looked to his dad who chuckled with his eyes closed, and then both men started up to follow Jeff’s mom to see who was at the door.