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Title: A Halloween Tale HALLOWEEN 1981 "Melissa, are you sure about this? I look more like a whore than "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark". Where did you get that name anyway?" Dana huffed. "I got it from a TV show I was watching. She's this really cool vampire-looking woman who was on hosting a Halloween movie festival. She's really sexy and with-it. You look great, Dana!" Melissa was determined to convince her sister to come along. She needed another girl to go on a double date to the Most Important Party of Halloween after her ex-best friend chickened out. "You know you have great legs, for such a short little runt." Melissa mused. "That's it. I'm not going and I bet if Mom and Dad knew, they'd ground you for even thinking about going to a college party. Come on Melissa, can't one of your friends go instead of me? I had a lot of plans for tonight with my friends!" "Dana, if any of my friends fit the costume and didn't already have a date to this party, I would take them. Believe me, you're not my first choice. Hold still, I have to finish your makeup." "Yeah, but I don't know why you even want to go. You don't drink; you don't do drugs. What is it about this party that makes you want to go so bad?" "Well, if you must know, Master Randy Gold is going to be there. He's the psychic that's going to give readings at the party. I just have to meet him! I feel we have a psychic bond. I know he's going to want to give me a private reading!" Melissa gushed. "All he'll want to give you is a good feel, like Billy says about all his friends when they ask you out." Dana huffed. "Oh, all right. I'll go. Someone has to go with you and keep you out of trouble. Where's the stupid wig?" "Hurry, Dana, the guys will be here any minute." Melissa fairly glowed with anticipation. "Just remember, if that creep Denny brings for me even tries to put his hand on me, he'll draw back a bloody stub! Did you make that clear to Mr. Dennis Farrell?" Dana scowled. "Yes, yes, yes! Just hurry!" Melissa hissed. "We have to meet them at the corner in twenty minutes. Remember, Mom and Dad think we're going to a CYO party. You have to put this black sweatshirt over the dress so Dad doesn't see how low it's cut." During the next twenty minutes, the girls rushed to finish dressing and bid their parents goodbye. As they ran for the corner, they tossed the sweatshirt into the bushes down the street. Denny was waiting in his older brother's 68 Plymouth Barracuda. He was dressed as a football star. His buddy, Joey, in the backseat was a pirate. "Come on, I got to get out of here before your old man or your brother Bill spots me!" was all he said as they quickly climbed into the car and headed for the party. "Great costume guys!" Melissa said. "Maybe you'll win a prize." "Hey, baby, you know the only reason I'm going to this gig is to drink as much free beer as I can before I fall down. Joey back there doesn't drink so much. He said he would drive home. You and I can have the back seat all to ourselves!" Denny leered. "Hey, watch it! Dana's not used to your kind of jokes. Cool it!" Melissa scowled. Within a few minutes they were at the party. Dana grabbed Melissa by the arm when she saw all the others drinking and partying. She had a really bad feeling about the evening. "I don't want to stay here all night Missy. Don't make me call Mom for a ride home," Dana insisted. "Do you understand, Melissa? We have to be home by 11:30!" "Sure, sure! It's handled." Melissa blew her off and disappeared into the crowd with Denny. "Hey, you want a drink?" Joey asked. "Yeah, sure." Dana said. As soon as Joey shoved into the crowd to get her a beer, she turned and walked as fast as she could to the darkest corner of the room. As she approached the corner, she skidded to a halt. There was someone already there. "Don't worry, I won't bite." They guy sitting on the couch said as she approached. He moved over so she could arrange her dress as she sat down. "Good pun. I get it. You must be the Big Bad Wolf, right?" She said trying to see what his costume was in the dark corner. He smiled. "No, Actually, I am Don Quixote, but everyone around here thinks I am a character from a Shakespeare play. You look like Elvira, Mistress of the Dark." "Hey, that makes two people who know what I'm supposed to be. I feel like an idiot," she admitted. "I should have a 'fool' costume on instead of this tacky dress." "You look great!" He was surprised that he really meant it. In fact he didn't think he had noticed anyone at the party look as great as this girl. She didn't look old enough to be hanging out with the crowd that was here tonight. "What year are you?" "Oh, I don't go to this college. In fact, I don't go to college yet. I'm only in my sophomore year at James Madison High School here in town. I'm just here with my sister on a double date. Her best friend chickened out at the last minute and she was determined to get here to see some psychic. I don't even think she likes the guy who invited her. I don't know why I let her talk me into coming; I hate parties like this. I hate looking like this. This stupid dress exposes more of me than my swimsuit does." Dana rambled on. "What do you like to do? I mean, if you don't want to see the Amazing Randy what would you rather be doing?" he asked. "I should be working on my science project for the Winter Science Fair. You see, I want to be a doctor..." And so the evening went. Dana and the unidentified young man who ask her to call him Don talked for hours. She asked him to call her Elvira. At one point he left and got them a couple sodas and some munchies. They talked and ate and talked some more. They talked about everything. All their hopes and dreams were discussed-as many as could fit into a few short hours at least. Don wanted to see the Amazing Randy and told her the reason he needed to do so. He had a mystery in his life and he wanted to know if this guy was a real psychic and could tell him something that would help him solve his mystery. He wouldn't tell her anything about it in case Randy had spies throughout the room. "Come on, Elvira, go with me upstairs to see Randy. You've got to go home soon and you'll probably see your sister up there." "All right Don, but this is against my better judgment. It's not been proven scientifically that psychic abilities even exist." They went upstairs to the room where the physic readings were being given. Dana found Melissa sitting on the arm of the Amazing Randy's chair. She had had one beer and was putty in the hands of the psychic fraud holding court, fawning over his every word. Don and Elvira stood in line and waited for his turn. When Don sat down, she moved to sit on the arm of his chair in a mirror move of her sister. Don looked up at her. Dana was shocked when she looked into his eyes. She felt herself falling in love "at first sight". She had spent hours talking to him and baring her soul. Though she didn't have a clue about what he looked like, he intrigued her; he had a quick mind and seemed to be interested in so many things. She felt comfortable with him. She liked every- thing about him. But when she actually looked into his eyes in the light, it was as if she fell into his very soul-she felt as if she had just come home. She was barely able to speak but she whispered, "That's my stupid sister by his side." It was just a few words, but it seemed to tell Don everything he needed to know. "What is it you would ask of The Amazing Randy?" Melissa asked. She was furious with Dana. She knew she was making fun of her by sitting on the arm of the guy in the Shakespeare getup. "Um, Amazing Randy, what can you tell me of my past?" Don asked at last. "Give me something personal of yours, young man," The Amazing Randy demanded. Don snorted-the guy wasn't but a few years older than he-then he handed him a baseball cap, obviously old and well used. The psychic took the cap and turned it over in his hands. He held it to his head and began to speak in a deep, showy voice. "You have always been a jock. This cap is from your championship little league team. You are especially gifted at baseball and football. That is all I can tell you about your past that is worth mentioning." Suddenly he stopped. A look of puzzlement crossed his face, and then he went on. "You will become a doctor and will work with the dead. You will take two long, strange trips. You will have a major illness in your life, but will overcome and survive. You are going to have a great love in your life, but you will have been hurt so many times you will have a hard time admitting to that love. Your courage and strength will help save the world. That's all I can see. Please pay my assistant $5.00. Next." "But wait, I wanted to know...." Don started to ask. "I cannot give you more. You have drained me. Please move on, or I will have to completely leave the room and recharge my psychic batteries. Five dollars, please." The Amazing Randy threw himself over Melissa's lap as if totally drained of energy. "Come on, Melissa, time to go home," Dana said as she walked to Missy's side. "Dana, I...I can't. He needs me. Let the guys take you home. I'll get a ride later from someone," Melissa whispered back. "Please?" "All right, I'll call Billy or something, but I'm not covering for you!" Dana stormed out of the room. Don was waiting for her outside the doorway. "Problems?" he asked. "She doesn't want to go home, and I just have to. I can't break curfew. If Mom and Dad ground me, I won't get to go on the field trip to the hospital next week, and I need that time so I can get the information I have to have to complete my science project. I saw the two guys we're with passed out in the stairwell. I guess I'll call my brother," she sighed. "I'll take you home Elvira," Don offered. "I haven't had anything to drink, and I'm a good driver, I promise." He smiled. "Really? That would be great." Dana smiled back. On the way home they were strangely quiet. After all they had to say earlier, it seemed odd. "Did The Blazing Dandy give you any hints to the mystery in your life?" Dana asked after the silence became too hard to bear. "What a total fraud. Not one word he said was true. I'm no jock. The only sporting activities I'm any good at is swimming and track. Is this your street?" Don asked. "Yeah, stop right up here. That's my house over there. We normally live on base, but this time there wasn't enough base housing for the officers with families, so we get to live here. So what was the hat about?" "It...it was my sister's. She was abducted when she was a little girl, and I wanted to see if that guy could give me any clues about her whereabouts. It has torn up my family and I just want to do something to help my Mom stop being so sad." "Well, he sure was wrong about that. And did you get a load of your future? You'll be a doctor and work with dead people? You will help save the world. What a joke. Well, I better go in. Thanks for the ride Don." "No problem, Elvira. Thank you for making a boring evening fun." He smiled as he looked at her. They just stared at each other for a long time. Don leaned over toward Elvira to open the door handle. Dana was so inexperienced with dating she thought he was going to kiss her. She closed her eyes and leaned toward him. He stopped when he saw her with her eyes closed. She was way too young, he knew that, but they had bonded somehow in this short night. He felt closer to her than he ever had to any other girl. He closed his eyes and gave her a soft, sweet kiss. The spark that flew between the two was a total shock to them both. They pulled apart and just stared at each other. "Wow!" "Yeah!" "Can I call you?" he asked. "Yes, what can I write my number down on?" She replied. "Just say it to me. I have a photographic memory. I remember everything I see and hear forever," he sheepishly replied. "Really? Cool. Okay, my number is 893-2330. We move around a lot, so I don't know how long we'll be here. So call soon, okay?" Dana blushed as she realized how desperate that sounded. "Sure. See ya!" "'Kay!" Both Melissa and Dana were grounded for the next month. They might have gotten away with the whole evening if Dana had remembered to retrieve the sweatshirt from the bushes and not to go in to say goodnight to her parents as she always did after an evening out with her friends. She was so floored by Dons' kiss that she walked right in the front door in plain view of her parents. Not only was Melissa not with her, but the low-cut dress she was wearing and the smell of smoke and beer from the party that clung to her hair and her clothing clued them into the fact that she hadn't been at the parish hall all night. It didn't matter that she was innocent of all crimes except not going where she said she was, she was grounded. Fortunately, she was allowed to go to on the fieldtrip, but that was the only place she went for the next two weeks. Melissa was not as lucky. She had a much more serious punishment. Even one beer had been too much for her parents. She was grounded and after they called Denny's parents, was not allowed to see her boyfriend again. Three weeks later, they moved from Boston to Charleston, South Carolina. Dana never heard from her Don Quixote again. HALLOWEEN 1999 Dana Scully put the finishing touches on her make-up and stood back to view her handwork. She sighed and shook her head. Long black locks swirled over her shoulder. What was she thinking? Why had she let Mulder talk her into going to this Halloween costume party? Yes, it was for a worthy charity, but it didn't make her feel less foolish. And what was she thinking, picking out the 'Elvira, Mistress of the Dark' outfit? She knew the only reason she had been drawn to this particular costume was an old memory: Her first real case of puppy love-her first heartache. Her cell phone rang and she walked to her purse to answer it. "Scully." "Hey, Scully. What are you wearing?" Mulder asked. "Are you ready?" "Yeah. Are you? What costume did you choose? Where are you? Wait a minute, someone's at my door." "Wow!" He said as she opened the door. "Oh!" Scully gasped. "Don?" Mulder strode into the room resplendent in his Don Quixote costume. He couldn't take his eyes off Scully. "El...Elvira?" He stuttered. "Hey, Sc...Scully, where did you live around Halloween 1981?" |