The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
A short story that I'm hoping to submit for the FurFright conbook. Feedback welcome, especially before the end of the month! I have a 1000 word limit, so some detail had to be sacrificed along the way. Enjoy!!!
"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"
Bobby smirked as he approached the Jorgensen's house in his skeleton costume. It was hard to evade his little brothers, and he guessed his parents would be angry when they found out he'd ditched them, but Petey and Brad were so boring. They actually thought it was funny when the Goldsmiths gave them raisins and called them "Nature's Candy".
Bobby's candy bag thunked against his leg as he squinted at the blue-and-white painted house. The Jorgensens moved in about a month ago, after the previous owners, the Morgans, had left for California. Bobby missed Timmy Morgan, who'd been his age. He hadn't been to the house since the Morgans had left. He didn't think his parents had met the Jorgensens yet either; gossip around the neighborhood was that they kept to themselves, though Joanie Bryant said her parents had gone to the Jorgensens to welcome them to the neighborhood. According to Joanie her parents called the Jorgensens "white trash" and said their house smelled funny. Bobby didn't know what white trash meant, but wondered if he'd see heaps of garbage lying around if they opened their door for him.
Bobby stepped up to the Jorgensen's front door and pressed the doorbell, hearing it buzz in the darkened hallway beyond the closed portal. A light turned on in the hallway and he heard loud footsteps approaching. There was silence for a bit, then the door was thrown open and a man peered down at him.
"Yeah?" the man asked, dressed in overalls and not much else. His hair was a greasy brown tangle with some patches that looked like they were balding. While he looked down at Bobby his eyes darted around. Maybe he's in costume, Bobby thought to himself.
"Trick or treat!" Bobby said cheerfully as he looked up at the man.
"What?" the man replied, looking down at Bobby as though he had spoken in Spanish or something.
"Trick or treat! It's Halloween, you know?" Bobby replied.
Mr. Jorgensen...at least that's who Bobby assumed it was...knelt down to look Bobby in the eyes. The twelve year-old boy kind of wished he hadn't...the man's watery gaze never stayed on him but kept looking around, and this close Bobby could see that the man had...well...whiskers on his face. Bobby's dad had a beard, and this kind of looked like that, but...more furry. It was creepy. Plus now Bobby could see the way Mr. Jorgensen's nose twitched as well.
"Halloween, huh?" the man asked quietly.
"That's right Mr. Jorg...uh...Jorgensen," Bobby replied, tripping over the funny-sounding name. "Either you give me candy, or I get to play a trick on you."
The man brushed the back of one hand along his chin as he looked at Bobby. Then he smiled, which just looked worse. Bobby thought it was the kind of smile you gave someone when you didn't really mean it. Mr. Jorgensen had bad teeth too, yellow and not lining up quite right.
"What if I want to play a trick on you instead?" Mr. Jorgensen asked as he smiled at Bobby. Bobby's feet made him take a step back. He hoped it was just because he was thinking about the question and not because he was scared. At least Brad and Petey weren't there to see it.
"Nuh uh. I get to play a trick on you!" Bobby replied defiantly.
Mr. Jorgensen got to his feet again, his narrow-set eyes looking around the darkness that lay before the house. "I like my idea more," he said. Before Bobby could say anything a scrawny but strong arm was curled around him and he was yanked off his feet. Bobby yelled in surprise as Mr. Jorgensen hauled him into his house, but the man quickly shut the door behind him.
"Lemme go!" Bobby shouted as loudly as he could.
"But you haven't seen my trick yet," Mr. Jorgensen replied, carrying Bobby into the living room before tossing him onto a worn-out couch. Bobby tensed his muscles to run, but Mr. Jorgensen towered in front of him.
"Now you see me, now you don't!" Mr. Jorgensen intoned. On the final word he bent forward, his face inches from Bobby's as fur burst from it. Large, rounded ears seemed to explode out of his head as his nose jutted forward, the tip brushing Bobby's cheek for a moment. Mr. Jorgensen fell onto all fours, his arms and legs sprouting hair as whiskers extended from his snout, flicking in the air. Finally the creature skittered out of the overalls he'd been wearing, a long rat's tail squirming behind him.
Bobby screamed, but the rat that had been Mr. Jorgensen shoved a fuzzy paw over Bobby's mouth, muffling it. "Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise," the rat said as it curled its other paw around Bobby and lifted him from the sofa in a steel grip. The rat-creature walked on three legs while the fourth carried Bobby deeper into the house. Now Bobby smelled what Joanie's parents must have been talking about...it reminded him of sour milk mixed with straw.
Mr. Jorgensen kept talking, "My kids love this holiday. The one time of the year they can walk around and nobody cares how they look. Everyone thinks they've just got great costumes. They don't mind the candy either." With that the rat-creature flung open a door and dragged the flailing Bobby halfway down a flight of stairs before flinging him to the bottom, hard enough that Bobby saw stars for a moment.
The door slammed shut above him. Bobby looked around the dimly-lit basement and realized there were several other small children, all dressed in Halloween costumes as he was.
It was a couple of hours later when Bobby heard scampering on the floorboards above him and heard Mr. Jorgensen say loudly, "Now kids, you can have as much candy as you want as long as you don't ruin your appetites. I've got a special dessert for you downstairs!"