My Halloween Girl

I stood there in front of the house, shivering and rubbing my hands together trying to stay warm. I manage to reach into my pocket and pull out the folded piece of paper that a girl gave to me a week ago.

“I hope this is the right place” I murmur to myself as I unfold the paper. On it was the address of the girl’s house, and the time I was supposed to arrive there to meet her.

“2011, Parker Avenue. 8 o’clock p. m. sharp” I looked at my watch. 7:50

In my own panic and worry I had arrived early, understandably, considering that this was the first time I was taking a girl to the annual Halloween bash. There was a guy named Jeremy who lived not too far from where I lived, and every year he threw a huge party at his place, inviting anyone and everyone to come. He was a graduate from the high school I attended, a popular and well known graduate, so everyone from the school was invited to come except faculty, lest their careers be put in jeopardy. He also happened to be editor-in-chief of the most widely read newspaper in town, hence all of the publicity the bash received.

So I had my reasons to be nervous. After all, this could just be a cruel prank played on me for laughs. The wind was about to blow the note out from my hands, so I stuffed it back into my pocket, hoping for a girl to come out and greet me.

Fortunately, the door opened and the girl stepped out, taking a few moments to talk with her father who was standing beside her. I looked at my watch: 8:00 exactly. Her father said a few things to her, to which she nodded in agreement, and then she carefully walked down the steps from her house onto the sidewalk where I was standing. When she walked up to me I was able to see clearly how she looked. She wore a dark brown hooded cloak that reached to her ankles; it was fluffy on the inside, for her to keep warm, and tied at the neck and waist by thick string so as not to billow open. She had a large black and orange stripped bow in her hair; her hair itself was black and wavy, save for one streak of white. Her deep blue eyes almost glowed.

“Ummm” still confused “Are you the one who I’m supposed to meet here?”

“Is your name Allen Q.?” calmly spoken

“Y-yes”

“Then yes, I am” she said, then proceeded to walk ahead of me while saying, “You may escort me now”

“O-oh, alright” I said as I walked swiftly to catch up to her.

Strange as it may seem, I didn’t who this girl was. I simply found a note in my locker and, since I wasn’t going to complain about a date, followed its directions. I thought it strange how she knew who I was, but since she was one of the prettiest girls I’d ever seen in my life I just shut up and went with it. I did ask for her name though.

“Jessica” she answered

“Uh, got a… last name?” To see what I could pull out of her.

“Nunajuviak” she said quickly

“What?”

“Exactly” as if I insulted her just by asking the question

I could see that getting to know her personally wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I asked an easy question.

“So, um, what’re you dressed up as?”

She turned her head and looked at me to answer

“A witch, isn’t it obvious?”

I was a bit taken aback by the intensity of her gaze. It wasn’t so much intense as it was penetrating, making me feel as if I should’ve known better,
even though I couldn’t see her outfit under the cloak. It was anything BUT obvious what she was.

She faced forward again and asked “And I guess you’re dressed as a pumpkin with that jacket on?”

I looked down to examine myself “My jacket?”

It was an orange hoodie with the eyes, nose and mouth of a jack-o-lantern in black. I tried to laugh it off.

“Oh, well, yeah I guess so. I mean I had to find something you know”

I was starting to realize why this girl couldn’t find anyone else to go with, but also why I myself had no one to go with. She was distant and cold, I was awkward and clumsy. Who else could we find BUT each other? Although just as I was about to bomb my chances with this girl, salvation appeared. We had reached the corner of the sidewalk, and to our right was a long row of cars on both sides of the street with people in costume walking to a house of bright lights and loud music.

“I guess we came on time huh?” I said looking down the street.

I was expecting a snide comment in return, but when I looked at her, her eyes were wide open in amazement, the widest I’d ever seen them go. I’d forgotten that this was her first time coming to this party, and that she probably had always known about it but hadn’t had the courage to go, until I came along. Not wanting to miss this chance at regaining my dignity, I held out my arm for her.

“Shall we go?” trying to be as suave as I could

She didn’t say anything, but merely took both of her hands from out of her cloak and wrapped them around my arm. I was surprised by this, but didn’t show it, and we walked together towards the glowing house.

Making it to the entrance of the house we saw numerous people going in, and the front yard itself was packed with groups of people just talking with each other. The door was wide open, and right there ready to greet everyone was Jeremy himself. When we walked up to the door, Jeremy have us his typical warm welcome.

“Ah, and a merry Halloween to you both” he said in an English accent while taking a bow.

When he looked up and recognized who I was, he dropped the accent and became more energetic.

“OH! It’s you Allen! So good to see you!” he said as he vigorously shook my hand. By this time Jessica had enough sense to let go of my arm in preparation for the antics of this madman.

“So, how ya been?”

I shrugged “Aw, nothin’ much I guess”

“Nothing much!?” he said looking surprised, then turned to Jessica

“How can you say ‘nothing much’ when you’re with this fine…” he took Rebecca’s hand and kissed it

“…Example of womanhood?”

Jessica seemed flattered, but not impressed. She gave him the same expressionless sort of look that she gave me on the walk there.

Jeremy himself was dressed in a sort of 17th century English costume. He wore a white dress shirt and a brown button-up vest over it. His hat mostly is what gave his costume flair; it was a wide rimmed pilgrim’s hat with giant feathers coming out of it. He says he was dressed as Guy Fawkes, an English terrorist with a holiday in Britain named after him. He had a goatee to go with his outfit.

Walking past the energetic host, we laid our eyes on the living room, which had been largely cleared to serve as a dance floor. There was a table on the left that had drinks, and one to the right that had snacks. The room itself was enormous, and to the back of it there was a stage set up where a jazz band played music to soothe the crowd. Rebecca and I wandered around for a bit until we found ourselves somehow next to the drink table.

I was nervous standing there next to her, but I wasn’t scared anymore. I was no longer afraid that she would lose interest in me and leave me standing alone and senseless; that disappeared in the hour that we just spent chatting up friends from school who were at the party. She was friendly enough, never looking annoyed or upset that we had talked with so many people. Now I was nervous of whether or not she was bored and ready to leave already. I wanted to break the tension of us just standing there in awkward silence, and I noticed that it was much warmer in there than it was outside, so I turned to her and said:

“Y’know, I think that it’s ok to take that cloak off now. It’s kinda toasty in here”

“Hm? Oh, I guess it is a bit warm here” she said as she began untying the knots of string holding her cloak together. “Just give me a minute”

“Yeah, alright”

As she was unfastening her cloak, I was looking around the room for a certain group of people. The football team had a few unruly sorts of people, not many, eight or nine at most. The problem was that these eight or nine people were, simply put, a**holes who liked nothing better than to torment whoever they could, wherever they could. They always wore their sports jackets to this party, and were therefore relatively easy to spot. With the large crowds at this year’s bash, however, they could hide anywhere. I had only had a minute of looking before Jessica asked me:

“Where should I put this?” referring to her cloak

Having been turned around looking for the tormenters, I was distracted.

“Uh, Here, I know where to put it” I turned around to take the cloak from her, finally getting to see what she was wearing under it.

She was wearing a dark brown corset tied at the front with orange strings, with white feathers at the bottom of it near where her dress began. The dress itself was the same color as her corset, and ended at her ankles. The gloves that she wore matched everything else in color, and went about two inches past her elbows.

Her stunning appearance caused me to pause and stare at her for a moment with the cloak in my hand. She really was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen in my life, and my mind couldn’t get past it.

“What?” she finally asked, “There’s nothing in my hair, is it?”

Broken from my trance, “Oh, no, it’s nothing. . .” putting her cloak on a conveniently placed coat hanger to my right.

“It’s just. . .” I couldn’t really make up an excuse, so I just told her, “You’re looking very nice tonight”

“Nice” was an understatement on my part, but it was the best I could do, seeing as I wasn’t very used to giving girls compliments or getting very personal with them.

“Well, thank you very much” she said in a confused way, as if not expecting my compliment.

My anxiety had by that moment reached its breaking point, so I took a deep breath, and said:

“Look, y’know, if you’re bored and want to leave its fine, I understand”

Almost before I could finish my sentence, “No, no, no! Actually, I’m having a really great time here.”

She looked around the room and then back at me, “You know, it’s funny. . .” she said giggling, “This is the most fun I’ve had in long while, and it’s all thanks to you”

“Well, uh. . .” scratching my head, “It was nothing I guess”

I was thoroughly shocked and confused. “Where did all of this emotion come from?!” I thought to myself. It wasn’t as if I had just saved her life by adding my own awkwardness into it or anything. All I had done was acknowledge her as a person and treat her with all the respect and honor that a woman deserves. No big deal, right?

Before we could continue to fawn over each other, the jazz band began to play a slow rendition of “Make Someone Happy”. Almost immediately every guy had grabbed his sweetheart and proceeded to the dance floor. Not wanting to be left out, and not wanting to come after the vocals started, I stuttered:

“C-Can I, um. . . w-would you like to, y’know. . .”

She just held out her hand while a bashful smile ran across her face. I grabbed it, awkwardly I must admit, and together we walked towards the dance floor. I don’t know how long that pianist’s prelude to the song was, but evidently it was long enough for me to figure out where exactly I should place my hands on Jessica. She giggled at me with every fumbled attempt and eventually had to place them herself. It didn’t matter to me whether she laughed at me, I was just glad that she was enjoying herself, and that I could be of assistance.

The vocalist opened up the song shortly after we’d arranged ourselves, and I must say, it was a truly amazing experience dancing with her. Never mind that it was my first time dancing with a girl, but the way that she looked at me whilst effortlessly swaying to the music had me mesmerized. She knew exactly how to move and when to move; holding her as I was, I could feel every slight contortion of her waist and sense the subtlety of her form. While I had look down a few times to see how to move my feet, she had her eyes focused on me for the entire dance, piercing me with a deep blue stare as I would call it. The song itself added to this already romantically charged moment, and I found myself believing that I was actually on a date with Jessica instead of poorly planned rendezvous, which it actually was. Unfortunately, this dance was the peak of our enjoyment that night. Everything else went downhill from then onward.

It began soon after the end of our dance after the song ended; I was making my way back from using the restroom when I bumped into Gary Lasner, who I knew from school as a close friend and as one of the guys on the football team who were actually nice. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and said:

“Well, I’ll be damned! So you ended up comin’ after all, eh?”

He tugged at my jacket.

“Did you finally get a date to come with you?”

Gary was wearing the same sports jacket that the guys on the football team typically wore, except he wore his jacket unbuttoned. It suited his unrestrained personality; Gary was the kind of guy who acted first and thought later, but he always followed his heart and did what he thought was right. That being said he was also prone to fighting at the drop of a hat and he was also very stubborn.

I answered his question:

“Yes, actually I did!”

I pointed in the general direction of where Jessica was standing before I left for the restroom, which was near the drink table.

“She’s right over there.”

“Where?” he said as he squinted his eyes:

“You mean that girl over there bein’ bothered by all those guys?”

“What?”

I took a closer look, and surely enough the group of guys that I was on the lookout for all night had descended upon Jessica in force, all seven of them. They were doing things that rude guys typically do to women for the fun of it; being uncomfortably close to her being just one of them. I suggested to Gary that we just wait until they clear off of her, since based on my own experience I knew that she was cold and cynical to most people. Gary’s response:

“No, I’ll take care of it for ya. They just need a little Gary magic worked on ‘em”

“NO! It’s alright Gary, don’t do anything at all!”

I knew the term “Gary magic” well. It simply meant that he was about to start a fist fight to achieve some objective. He’d already stomped his way over to them before I had a chance to dissuade him, so I simply followed. I was scared out of my mind, truth be told. I never liked confrontation much, so whenever I was caught in a situation where it was inevitable, I got a little nervous. Gary’s brazen mode of speech didn’t help. He walked straight up to the largest of the bunch and said:

“Hey! You an’ your clown troupe are all up on my friend’s girl. Now I’ll put it in simple language that you fools can understand: back the hell off!”
They all laughed and then looked at me. The guy’s name who Gary was talking fighting words to was Jake. He pointed at me and, in a sarcastic tone of voice said:

“Yeah, you getting a date with this fine thing? Pfft! Yeah, right!”

At which point they all broke out in hysterical laughter. At which point Jessica stomped on Jake’s foot with an impressive amount of force. At which point Jake yelped in pain, and raised his right arm in arm in a move to smack Jessica. At which point Gary caught his arm and punched him in the face, which was the same moment that the jazz band began to play the song Rock Around The Clock, fitting the whole atmosphere. Another one of the guys tried to charge at Gary, but I somehow managed to grab him and push him into the drink table, which caused a laud crash as all the glasses smashed onto the floor. I quickly grabbed Jessica and told her:

“Hey, I think you should go back home. I don’t think this is going to end well”

“Why!?! You’re not seriously going fight all of these guys by yourself, are you?”

The way she asked me seemed more like she didn’t think that I was capable of the act, rather than genuine concern. Truth be told, I didn’t have any intention of actually fighting all of these guys, I just thought of staying to make sure that no one else got hurt. I reassured her:

“No! Well, yeah kind of, but not really. Look, I just think-”

I was interrupted by Gary yelling:

“Hey!! Ya gonna just stand there talkin’ or are ya gonna help me here!?!

“Just go, alright? I’ll be fine!”

She nodded at me and briskly walked towards the exit. As the band played louder, the fight escalated into a full on brawl, and a one-sided one at that. All of the other party goers were watching, until Jeremy came walking up to the commotion:

“Hey! Hey! What’s going on over here!?!”

“Whaddaya think’s goin’ on!?!” Gary growled as he fought off three guys at once. I could only hear what they were saying; I was much too occupied with being held by two guys while Jake unleashed a barrage of fists on me. Jeremy, seeing me getting thoroughly beaten, rushed up and shoved Jake onto the floor. When another guy, hoping for a surprise attack no doubt, came up behind Jeremy and removed his hat to punch him, Jeremy simply swiveled around and elbowed him in the head, knocking him out. The guy who was holding my right arm let go, and charged and Jeremy. This allowed me to grab the guy to my left and throw him off of me. While Jeremy was engaged with Jake, who had gotten up, and the guy who charged him, he yelled to me:

“Allen! I need you to get everyone out of here now!”

“Now!?”

“Yes! I said now!”

Not wasting any time, I ran over to the front door and yelled at everyone:

“Alright everybody, clear out!!! The exit’s this way!!”

Everyone hurried out in a sort of rushed procession, likely not wanting to have any involvement in this sort of situation. Everyone except for the band members, who were still paying their hearts out; I’d heard of being dedicated but this was ridiculous. While I was corralling the party goers out the door I took a look at how the fight was playing out. Gary was still brawling with the same three guys, who were now fighting him one at a time, rotating out every time one was beaten to the ground. Jeremy was fighting three guys as well, one of them being Jake, and was gaining the upper hand. By the time everyone else left the party, the football guys had given up the fight and ran out with their tails between their legs, and had even carried out their unconscious friend. And so it was just me, Gary, Jeremy, and the band that had finally stopped playing who were left in the room. Jeremy looked down, gave a tired chuckle, and said:

“Damn. Look at this mess.”

He kicked a half broken glass cup and added:

“It’s gonna take me forever to clean this mess up”

“Look on the bright side.” Gary said, “At least it’s just a broken table and some shattered glass”

“That’s not what I meant” Jeremy said while shaking his head

“But that’s beside the point. Anyway…” Jeremy raised his head, looked at me and said:

“Allen, I know you had a girl come here with you. Did she make it out OK?”

“Yeah, don’t worry. She left a short while after the fight started”

“You mean she walked back home?!” Gary said in a surprised manner.

“Yeah. So what?”

Gary walked towards the coat hanger near the smashed table, held up Jessica’s cloak and said:

“Allen, you really are a clueless doofus ain’t you?”

“Aw, no”

I couldn’t believe that I’d forgotten Jessica’s cloak on the coat hanger. I guess I was too focused on the fight to remember to give it to her before she left. Gary threw it to me:

“You let her go out there in, like, forty degree weather without her coat or nothing!?”

“I was preoccupied! You’re the one who started the fight in the first place!”

“Yeah, I did. But I only started it to cover your sorry ***!”

He had a point, so I said nothing further. Jeremy tapped me on the shoulder and said:

“Hey. You have to go and return that cloak to her quickly. Gary and I can clean this mess up”

He turned to Gary:

“Right Gary?!”

“Yeah alright. You’re going to owe me for this though”

“We’ll fine here, Allen. Go and reclaim your dignity”

“Thanks, I think” I said, and I rush out of Jeremy’s house into the night.

It was noticeably colder outside on my run back to Jessica’s home than it was earlier. It made sense; it was about 10 o’clock at night. I probably shouldn’t have ran back to her house in such weather; the cold air stung as it went up my nostrils, and my eyes felt like they were freezing over. All of the jack-o-lanterns placed at the front of peoples’ lawns, which I hadn’t noticed before, seemed to be smiling and laughing at my predicament. When I finally made it to her house, I had to bend down and catch my breath. My throat was dry, my nostrils were burning, and my eyes were watery, but I guess that’s what I deserve for letting Jessica walk home cold and alone. I saw that the lights were still on in her house, which was a relief because it meant that at least someone was still awake in there.

I walked up the stairs to the house, and when I’d reached the door a stopped and took a deep breath; I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I raised my hand to knock on the door, but before I could do so the door opened, and I suddenly found myself standing right in front of Jessica’s father.
He was few inches taller than I was, with short black hair that was slicked back and a thick moustache. He had a black eye-patch over his left eye, while the other eye that was scanning me was the same shade of blue as Jessica’s. His face had a few wrinkles, most noticeably near the two corners of his mouth and on his forehead, as well as crow’s feet on the sides of his eyes. He looked at me with a very stern expression, which didn’t help me feel very comfortable. We stood looking at each other for bit before he said to me:

“So, you actually came to return my daughter’s mantle, did you?”

His words snapped me back into focus, and I looked at the cloak I was holding:

“Um, yeah”

I held it out to him: “H-here you go, sir”

He stared at it for a few seconds, then turned away, started walking inside and said:

“Please come in.”

I certainly wasn’t expecting this. I tried to refuse:

“Uh, no, that’s not really necessary, you can just-”

“I insist” he turn his head around to tell me.

“Oh, okay”

“And be sure to close the door. It’s cold outside.”

I walked into the house and did as he said, then followed him through the kitchen, past the staircase and into the living room. It was a rather spacious room; to the right was a moderate sized rectangular table with two chairs. To the left was a small fireplace with two cushioned chairs placed a short distance from it. He sat down in one of these chairs and invited me to sit in the other one facing it. The chairs were closer to each other than it first seemed, as I found out from our close proximity. I rested Jessica’s cloak on one of the arms of the chair and tried my best to relax. Jessica’s father sat back, put his hands on his lap and said:

“I take it you had an interesting evening?”

“Yeah, it was pretty hectic actually” I forced a laugh.

He chuckled:

“I’m sure it was”

He shifted in his chair, and then stated:

“Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Jack Nunajuviak, though many people simply call me Jack or Mr. Nun. You may address me as the latter.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Nun” I said while nodding.

“Don’t you have a name as well?”

“Oh, um, my name’s Allen Q..”

“Allen Q.?” he said stroking his chin:

“Is that your real name, or do people just call you that?”

“That’s just what people call me”

“I see”

He then leaned forward in his chair:

“Well, Allen Q., it is my understanding that you, as her escort for the evening, were responsible for keeping her company and being certain of her well-being, am I correct?”

I gulped:

“Yes sir”

He smirked:

“Hm. Did you enjoy yourself?”

“Yes sir”

“And what about Jessica? Did she seem to enjoy it?”

“I believe so, sir”

He raised an eyebrow:

“You believe so?”

“Uh, well, y’see, I’m not really sure sir. She seemed to enjoy things to me.”

He took a pause, and then said:

“I see”

He then slowly got up out of his chair and said:

“I believe some refreshments are in order” and he leisurely made his way back to the kitchen.

While he was gone I took note of some of the items in the living room. On the fireplace mantel there were a few framed photographs that stood on top. The one on the left most side was a picture of a much younger Mr. Nun along with a few other guys in helmets and military uniform standing on a rough looking beach. His military background would certainly explain the calm yet deliberate way that he spoke. The picture to its immediate right was a baby photo of who I can only assume to be Jessica. It was the photo on the right most side of the mantel, however, that intrigued me most. It was a family photo that had Mr. Nun holding Jessica, who looked to be about 5 years old, in his arms, and there was a blond haired woman standing to his right. I could only assume that this woman was Jessica’s mother, and therefore Mr. Nun’s wife, and it was also safe to assume that she was deceased since neither of them mentioned her and because I’d never seen her. I was starting to ponder on how long it’d been since she died when Mr. Nun came back in the room and handed me a cup of tea:

“If you’re wondering why I’m asking you these questions, it’s because I’m highly curious as to what could’ve transpired that would’ve led to my daughter having to walk back in the cold by herself”

He took a sip of his tea:

“That’s all”

I felt compelled to defend myself somehow, so I sipped my tea, which I thought was extremely bitter and disgusting, and said:

“Look, Mr. Nun, I had absolutely no intention of disrespecting your daughter or of letting her walk home alone. A fight broke out at the party and I just decided that she’d be better off just going back home”

“A fight you say? If that is indeed true, wouldn’t it have been more sensible and gentlemanly to give her her mantle and walk her home yourself rather than send her out in the cold without it?”

I couldn’t deny that he made an excellent point. I could have done exactly as he’d said; why I didn’t is what was running through my mind at that
moment.

He looked up from having another sip at his tea and asked:

“You didn’t try disrobing and having your way with her, did you?”

I sat there stunned and speechless, in response to both what he’d said and how he glared at me. I managed a few words:

“N-no. No sir”

“I don’t think you understand” he said while placing his tea on the floor and leaning in forward towards me:

“Allow me to explain” piecing me with his vision:

“If you in any way or fashion violated, or attempted to violate my daughter, I’ll cut you down where you sit” He paused briefly, then said:

“I’ll ask again, did you in truth, try any kind of sexual act with my daughter?”

I was trembling a bit, but somehow calmed myself and answered him:

“No sir. I swear that I did not try anything underhanded with Jessica. That’s the honest truth.”

He looked deep into my eyes for a few seconds, and then gave a big smile, laughed and said:

“You’re a good kid. You’ve got an honest and dependable look in your eyes; completely without guile”

He picked up his tea and said:

“Alright. You can go and return her cloak to her”

He pointed his thumb to the staircase behind him:

“Her room is upstairs. First one to your right”

“Thank you sir” I said as I got up.

I was about to climb the stairs when Mr. Nun asked me:

“Say,You go by Allen Q. you said? What’s your real name?”

“Pardon?”

“You do have a last name don’t you? What is it?”

I don’t think I’d ever told anyone but Gary my actual last name, but I felt obliged to tell Mr. Nun for the sake of courtesy:

“My full name is Allen Quviasuk”

“Quviasuk, huh? I knew someone once who went by that name. You remind me of him.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Jessica’s still waiting on you, go on”

I wasn’t sure what that was about, but I brushed it off and went up the stairs. I stopped at the door to her room, thinking of how she’d react to the events that had unfolded. She’d probably be angry with me and no want to have anything to do with me, I thought, that would’ve been reasonable. I knocked on the door and heard her simply say:

“Come in.”

I slowly and carefully opened the door to a sight that, even recalling it to this day, titillates me with its imagery.

The walls to her room were a dark red color with thin pink stripes running down diagonally. Her bed, a bit large for just one person, was against the center of the back wall. The sheet was orange with brown and orange stripes, and the bed itself had tall wooden posts. Jessica was laying back on about six or seven black and orange striped pillows, while holding a stuffed doll in her right arm, and petting her pet black cat, which had nestled up next to her head, with her right hand. She was surrounded on her bed by various pieces of candy, and since she’d already taken off her dress, she was simply wearing her corset, panties, and brown leggings. On the desk next to her bed, she had three lit candles. She was staring right at me.
I looked around the room, soaking up all of the imagery, when I said:

“Wow, you really get into the groove of Halloween, do you?”

“Doesn’t everyone have a holiday that they get excited about? This is mine.”

She saw her cloak that I was carrying in my hand:

“Is that for me?”

She held out her arm:

“You shouldn’t have”

“Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot to give this back to you, huh?”

She grabbed the cloak out of my hand and draped it over her legs. She said to me:

“Thank you very much, Allen”

“You’re very welcome” I said, and in order not to raise the suspicion of Mr. Nun, I decided that I should be on my way out. When I’d made it to the door Jessica called me:

“And by the way Allen”

“Yeah?”

“If you ever ask me on a date, just know that I’ll be glad to go with you”

“That was blunt”, I thought, but I said:

“That would be fantastic”

“I’ll look forward to it” she said as I left the room.

When I made it back down the stairs, Mr. Nun was waiting for me:

“Did she take things well?”

“She took it very well” I said

He and I walked together to the front door, and when I exited the house he told me:

“I’ll give you permission to see more of my daughter if you ever come and ask.”

“Thank you sir”

“Please have a nice night” he said, and then he closed the door.

That Halloween night of 1963 was the first time I ever saw Jessica, and it wouldn’t be the last. I’d continue to meet her quite frequently, and at the same time I became more adept at handling prickly situations. On that night, for me, and for Jessica too I believe, the first step into the bright future had been made, and neither of us would ever be the same.

Is it Jessica or Rebecca?