A FAMILY HALLOWEEN by BOOMERCAT RATED FRPT

My entry in the 2009 TIWF Halloween Challenge. Alan is upset about Halloween. Wee Tracys. Fluff alert.

Ten-year-old Alan Tracy plucked at a thread on his jacket, his thoughts dark. Throwing a black look at his brother across the aisle of the school bus, his mind whirled with a series of arguments. The ride out to their home seemed to take forever, but Alan didn’t want to try to talk over the rumble of the bus and the chatter of other, happier kids.

None of this would be happening if Scott were here. His big brother would have said something that would have made Gordon change his mind. But Scott wasn’t here. He’d gone off to England to go to college. Alan didn’t see why Scott had to go there. There was a perfectly good community college in Dodge City. Scott could have gone there and still lived at home and Alan would have been able to go to him.

But no, Scott wasn’t here, and talking to him over the phone just wasn’t the same. Alan would die before admitting it, but he missed Scott’s big, warm hand sitting on his shoulder when Alan had a problem and needed help. He missed his brother’s regard. Scott always made him feel like he was important, like his problems weren’t just baby problems.

Sometimes Virgil was like that too, but since school had started, and he’d met that girl, Lainie Thomas, he’d been too busy to really listen. Besides, if he told Virgil, Virgil would probably go and yell at Gordy, and that would just spoil things.

Not that they weren’t already spoiled. Alan looked over at his brother again. Why did he have to be friends with that stupid Jimmy Caudill anyway? Their dad and grandma both said Jimmy was a troublemaker. It was like anytime Gordy listened to Jimmy, he’d land up in trouble, but it was like Gordy was blind or something. All Jimmy had to say was ‘let’s do this,’ and off Gordy would go, no matter what anybody said.

It wasn’t so bad in the summer. Jimmy lived in town, and Alan and his brothers lived way out in the country. It took a special effort for Gordy and Jimmy to get together, and Jimmy never, ever made the effort, it was always Gordy. So for the most part, Alan had his brother back, and it was great. They did a lot of stuff together, and Alan always thought he was Gordy’s best friend.

But then school would start, and there would be Jimmy. And suddenly, Gordy would start to act like Alan didn’t exist. Like now. It was Halloween, and Gordy had announced that he’d be going trick or treating with Jimmy, not Alan. When Alan had protested that he had no one to go with, Gordy had looked down his nose at him and said that only babies had to have someone to go with.

Alan always hated that argument. It was true he was the youngest of the five Tracy brothers, but Gordy wasn’t all that much older. If fact, when they stood in the doorway so their grandma could measure how tall they were, Alan was less than an inch shorter than his brother. He wasn’t a baby, and he hated being told he was.

When he tried to argue that their grandma would be angry if they didn’t go together, Gordy had pulled out the ultimate Tracy argument. He’d looked Alan straight in the eye and asked if Alan had his back or not. Alan frowned. It just wasn’t a fair argument. If Alan said no, then he was breaking one of the most important rules of being a Tracy brother. If he said yes, then he had to just agree with whatever Gordy said. It wasn’t fair.

Finally, the school bus pulled up in front of the long drive to the Tracy farmhouse, and Gordon jumped up with typical bustle and noise and led the way off to the door, calling out good-byes to various kids on his way. Alan stomped behind, the look on his face keeping anyone from saying anything to him.

Once off the bus, Gordy started to trot up the lane, intent on getting home. That just made Alan angrier. He hurried after his brother, calling, “Hey! I wanna talk to you!”

Gordy didn’t slow his pace, just saying over his shoulder, “Okay, so talk.”

Alan stopped dead in his tracks. “I’m telling Grandma.”

That got his brother to stop. Gordon turned and stood staring hard at him. “Telling Grandma what?”

“I’m telling her you’re going to ditch me tonight.”

“So, you don’t have my back, huh?”

“Oh, please. Why should I have your back if you don’t have mine?”

“God, you’re such a baby!”

“You always say that whenever I don’t do what you want. But you never do what I want, so I guess you’re a baby, too.”

Gordon narrowed his eyes, and Alan braced himself for a fight. The moment passed, and Gordon instead crossed his arms. “So, what is it that you want?”

That brought Alan up short. What he wanted was for his brother to be his friend again, like in the summer. But he couldn’t say that. He just knew Gordon would laugh at him if he did. Finally, he said, “I don’t want to go trick or treating alone.”

“Geez, Al, I didn’t say you had to go alone. I figured you’d get one of your friends to go with you. Come on, think about it. Wouldn’t it be fun to go with Lawrence or Brandon?”

“You didn’t tell me you were dumping me until ten minutes ago! How was I supposed to get someone to go with? Lawrence was already gone, and Brandon’s mom doesn’t let him go out. I don’t have anyone to go with. It’s not any good when you go by yourself. I want to go with you.”

“Well, you can’t. I’m going with Jimmy, and he doesn’t want you around. I’ll tell you what, when we get to town, I’ll stick with you until you can find Lawrence or someone.”

Alan hid his sudden hurt behind tightened fists and a stiff neck. “Why doesn’t Jimmy want me around? He afraid I won’t let you get into trouble with him?”

Gordon snorted, but Alan noticed he wouldn’t look at him. “I’m not getting into trouble. I’m just going trick or treating with someone my own age for once.”

Alan saw his opening, and delivered what he hoped would be the winning argument. “So, you don’t have my back after all, do you?”

It was Gordon’s turn to frown. “Oh, come on! Going trick or treating with Jimmy Caudill doesn’t mean I don’t have your back!”

“Yes, it does. You’re deserting me for him. If something happened, you wouldn’t be there to help me, so you don’t have my back.”

“That’s baloney, and you know it!”

Turning at the sound of a vehicle crunching the gravel at the end of the drive, Alan said, “Here’s Johnny’s bus. Let’s ask him.”

“No! You shut up, Alan!”

Their brother hopped off the bus saying something over his shoulder to someone in the front seat. Alan made to take a step toward him, but Gordon grabbed him by the shoulder. “Alan, don’t say anything,” he said warningly.

“Hey guys. You waiting for me?” John shouldered his backpack looking down at Alan and Gordon. Alan squinted up at his tall blond brother. Over the last summer, John had grown almost a foot, and though he was only fourteen, he was almost as tall as Scott and Virgil.

“No, we were just talking,” Gordon said firmly. “So, did you decide what to go as for Halloween? I still think you’re missing a bet not being a scarecrow. You wouldn’t have to dress up or anything.”

Alan frowned at the change of topic, but John didn’t notice, instead responding to Gordy’s comments, as they all walked towards the farm, “Well, I’d suggest you go as a jack o’lantern, except you’d need more make-up to make you less scary-looking.”

“A lamppost. You’d make a good lamppost.”

“Tell you what, you can go as a fireplug, and I’ll go as a dog.”

“Maybe you could borrow some girl’s clothes, and go as a anorexic supermodel. Oh, wait, you’d have to be good-looking. Forget it.”

John reached out and cuffed Gordy playfully. He seemed to notice Alan’s grim funk for the first time, and asked, “Hey, Al, what’s up? You okay?”

Alan stopped in his tracks. Despite being older, and now, much taller, John wasn’t as authoritative as Virgil. Alan decided to ignore Gordy’s warning looks. “No. Gordy’s ditching me tonight to go trick or treating with Jimmy Caudill.”

“I told you not to say anything!” Gordon dropped his book bag and took a threatening step toward Alan. Alan, for his part, stuck out his jaw and set himself for a fight.

“Hey, none of that!” John stepped between his brothers, putting a hand on Gordon’s chest to stop him. “You guys show up with bruises and Grandma will ground us all. Now, what do you mean, Alan?”

“I mean he’s ditching me. He told me on the bus that he’s going to go with Jimmy Caudill, and that Jimmy doesn’t want me around.”

“That true, Gordy?”

“John, nobody else goes with their kid brothers. I just want to go with someone my own age for once.”

“Huh. I guess I can understand that. And here I was going to take you both to the big haunted house this year. You’re right, Gordy. I should just go with kids my own age.”

Alan’s eyes widened. “I can go with you? Really?”

“If you want. If you promise not to go running away.”

Alan frowned, highly insulted. “That was a long time ago. I won’t run, I promise. You really mean it? I can come with you?”

“Yup.”

“Hey, wait a minute.” Gordon was wearing his own frown. “Last year you went with friends. How come you want to go with us this year?”

“He said just me,” Alan interjected.

“Yeah, I went with friends last year, and you know what? I missed not being with Virgil. I figured out that for Halloween, it’s just better if you go with your brothers, and like it or not, you two are my brothers.”

Alan was elated. He turned to Gordon. “Okay, you can go with your old Jimmy Caudill. I’M going with Johnny. And I’m going to have the best time ever.”

Gordon stood there, clearly torn. He had lobbied every year since Kindergarten to go to the more adult haunted house put on by the local grange. Finally, here was his chance. “Well, maybe I could come with you to the haunted house, then go trick or treating with Jimmy.”

“Uh-uh. It’s all or nothing, squirt. You can come with Alan and I, or you can go with your friend. Your choice.”

Alan adopted John’s pose, arms crossed, head cocked to the side. But he just couldn’t help the smirk on his face. That would show his brother for trying to ditch him. Seeing the smirk, Gordon huffed and shouldered his backpack. Without a word he headed up the lane.

John and Alan shared a smile, and together, followed Gordon home.

Looking in the mirror, Alan couldn’t help his grin. “Grandma, I need more blood. Right here.” He pointed to the only bare spot on his face.

Ruth Tracy leaned back to see, and shook her head, tsking. “You’re going to frighten the vampires at the haunted house as it is. Here, let me put a bruise instead.”

“Okay!” Alan liked the ghoul he’d become. It had been a hard choice between this and caped superhero costume he’d seen at the store, but now that he saw how great he looked, he was glad he’d let his grandma talk him into it.

“Wow, Grandma, that looks terrific! You’ve outdone yourself.” Virgil walked into the kitchen where Alan was seated at the table admiring himself in his grandmother’s make-up mirror. “Al, you better stay away from the cemetery. They’ll think you belong there.”

Alan laughed with delight. He looked up at his brother, then wrinkled his nose. “What are you supposed to be?”

Virgil made a show of shooting the cuffs on his white cutaway tuxedo, then tapping the tall white top hat on his head. With a grin, he said, “Hidey hidey ho.”

Alan didn’t get the reference and just looked askance at his brother. Ruth however, chuckled, and reached over to straighten the white bow tie. “You look like a movie star. You’re just so handsome.”

“Exactly. I’m a handsome movie star. Oh, wait a minute, I forgot something.” Virgil turned his back and did something, then turned back.

Alan broke out in delighted laughter. His brother had donned a gorilla mask under the white top hat. Ruth giggled, shaking her head. “Well, I suppose if you must. I liked you better without the mask.”

John came into the kitchen at that moment. “What mask? Hey, Virg, looking good.”

“Better than you, anyway. What is that supposed to be?”

John was dressed head to toe in a skintight, flesh colored outfit with just what appeared to be a Speedo to provide modesty. He donned a black haired wig that seemed to be pulled up in a tiny bun at the top of his head. “Sumo wrestler.”

Virgil snorted a laugh at the dry remark, and Alan smiled, not really sure of the joke. “What’s a Sumo wrestler, Johnny?”

“It’s a kind of wrestling they do in Japan, but the wrestlers are all these huge 300 pound guys,” Virgil responded. “Johnny’s apparently the world’s skinniest Sumo wrestler. You should carry a bowl of rice.”

“Well, sit down here, Sweetie, and I’ll do your face for you.”

“Grandma, make him a ghoul Sumo wrestler. That’d be neat.”

“Close your eye, honey,” Ruth said to the tall teen. “John was a ghoul last year. And the year before if I remember rightly. Although, maybe a few hand-shaped bruises would lend authenticity.”

“No, that’s okay, Grandma. Just make me look fat.”

“Oh, I don’t have enough make-up for that. You’ll just have to settle for looking slightly Japanese.”

The kitchen door burst open, and Gordon walked in. “Here you all are. Grandma, how do I look?”

“Like someone cruisin’ for a bruisin’ if he doesn’t stop slamming around the house.” Ruth finally looked up from where she was decorating John’s face and softly said, “Oh my. You do look good, baby.”

Alan felt a flash of jealousy. Gordon was dressed up in an astronaut’s suit just like the one their dad had worn to the moon. It looked really good on him and Alan wished for a moment that he’d decided on an astronaut costume. Gordon grinned, then looked over. “Whoa, Allie! You look great!”

Alan noted with surprise that Gordy’s look was definitely envious. “You look great, too. And don’t call me Allie.”

Gordon didn’t respond, instead looking up at Virgil. “Great costume, Virg, but maybe you should get, like, a mask so you don’t scare people.”

“I hope you went to the bathroom, squirt, because that costume doesn’t have any zippers.” Virgil pointed out.

Unfazed, Gordon said, “No, I’m good. I got a couple of your favorite shirts to wear as diapers.”

“Gordon!” Ruth exclaimed as Virgil swooped down and grabbed the redhead, giving him a knuckle rub on the head.

Gordon pushed off his big brother and promptly put on his space helmet. “Ha! Can’t get me now!”

Virgil smirked. “When you least expect it, kid, when you least expect it.”

Even Alan had to laugh at that. It was a threat that Scott had often used, but rarely followed through on. Ruth sat back. “There. What do you think?”

Alan turned and scrutinized John’s face. As far as he could tell his grandmother had only made his brother’s eyes look like they were pointed up at the ends. It wasn’t much, but John nodded in satisfaction. “It’s perfect, Grandma, thanks.”

Gordon wrinkled his nose. “You look like a Vulcan. A girl Vulcan.”

Alan giggled. The wig did kind of look like a girl’s. John just lifted an eyebrow and did a Vulcan salute. “Live long and eat sushi.”

Everyone laughed at that. Grandma stood up, saying, “Well, I’d better go and get dressed myself. John, I’ll want you and the boys to meet me at Walker’s at nine. And take your coats. Anybody with sniffles is still going to school.”

“Okay, Grandma. Virg, you ready?” John looked at their brother. The plan was for Virgil to take them to town, then he’d head over to the party he was attending, and John would take Gordon and Alan trick or treating. Alan still wasn’t sure if Gordy was going to ditch them for Jimmy Caudill or not.

Virgil pulled off the gorilla mask. “Yeah, let’s get going.”

“Aaaaaaa! Put the mask back on! Put it back on!” Gordon feigned horror at Virgil’s face.

“It’s a long walk to town, kid,” Virgil growled. “Go get your coats.”

“And don’t forget the pillowcases.” John called out as both Gordon and Alan headed to their bedrooms. Alan grabbed his coat and the pillowcase he’d squirreled away for the occasion. As he headed back out, he stopped at the linen closet and pulled an extra pillowcase out for John.

Running down the stairs, he jumped the last three steps, ending with a thump on the landing. Gordon was two steps behind him, and together, they pushed through the front door, and headed for Virgil’s van. Gordon pulled open the long side door, and both boys climbed in.

Alan found himself again thinking of Scott, and more particularly, Scott’s car. Scott had had an old mustang with a backseat big enough for him and John and Gordy to all fit.

Virgil’s van was lots bigger, but behind the front bucket seats was just a padded cargo hold. Virgil had put in a long bench along one side so there was a place to sit with seatbelts and all, but Alan didn’t like sitting sideways. And he really didn’t like not having a window to look out of.

“Everybody buckled up?” Virgil asked as he turned the ignition. Amid the general acknowledgements, the older teen pulled the van out of its parking space and headed up the long gravel drive.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Alan asked Gordon in a low voice, “Are you going to come with us or not?”

Gordon shook his head. “I promised Jimmy I’d go with him. I can’t break a promise.”

Alan pursed his lips. He could hear the regret in his brother’s voice. He doubted that Jimmy Caudill would give a second thought to breaking a promise. He almost said something, but the idea of getting to go alone with just John was too tempting, so he kept his peace.

Gordon was squirming in his seat, and Alan felt a certain satisfaction that his brother was uncomfortable. Served him right for trying to dump him. But still, Alan felt a certain sadness.

He’d been looking forward to going trick or treating with Gordy. Gordy had a way of saying things that made the whole thing lots more fun. John was lots of fun too, when he bothered to be a kid, but his sense of humor was really weird, and Alan didn’t always get the older boy’s jokes.

Alan looked toward his older brother sitting up front in the shotgun seat. He frowned as he saw Virgil passing what looked like money over to John. The quiet way they did it made Alan think they were trying to hide it from their younger brothers.

Alan felt his heart plummet as he realized exactly what was happening. Virgil was paying John to take him and Gordon trick or treating. Virgil didn’t want to spend time with him, and John only wanted to if he got paid.

Alan bit his lower lip hard to keep it from quivering. He suddenly felt like he was all alone in the world and no one cared. Scott didn’t want to stay in town for him. Gordon didn’t want to trick or treat with him. Virgil and John probably drew straws to see who got stuck with him.

The boy sat fuming for the rest of the trip into town. He’d show them. He would. They didn’t want him? Well, he didn’t want them. He would just go trick or treating by himself, and he’d have more fun than any of them.

As they pulled up in the parking lot near the entrance to the downtown area where the town of Kalvesta had set up The Halloween Experience, Gordon stopped his fidgeting, noticing Alan’s stiff posture. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“None of your beeswax!”

Virgil parked the car, and Alan got up and pulled open the side door and stomped away from all of his brothers, heading for the entrance, guarded as usual, by Mr. Hallett. Ignoring the calls for him to wait up, he nodded to the fireman. “Mr. Hallett, I’m here to go trick or treating.”

“Hey Alan, you look very scary. Make sure you don’t give anyone a heart attack, okay? I’d hate to have to leave my post here to resuscitate your Aunt Tina or someone.”

Alan tried to smile, but he was too mad to do more than nod with a grim little grin on his face. He started marching down the street so wrapped in his cocoon of anger that he didn’t hear the running feet until a big hand came down on his shoulder.

He turned to find Virgil holding on to him. “Hey, where are you going? You forgot your coat. And John and Gordy are still at the entrance.”

Alan shrugged off the hand. “I’m going trick or treating by myself. I don’t want to go with John.”

“What? Why not? Hey, talk to me, kid. What’s wrong?”

By this time John and Gordon had caught up, and Alan stood facing his brothers, his face red with his anger and upset. “You guys don’t want to go with me and I don’t want to go with you, so there’s nothing wrong! You all just go get away from me!”

“Hey, I said I wanted to go with you!” John exclaimed, surprise on his face.

Gordon had a worried look and he stepped forward. “I never said I didn’t want to go with you, Al. I just said I wanted to go with kids my own age. But hey, I’ll just tell Jimmy Caudill you’re coming with us and that’s that. Okay? Okay, Al?”

“Wait. What’s this about Jimmy Caudill?” Virgil put his two cents in, clearly confused.

“I don’t need any of you. I can go by myself. I know you don’t want me. None of you do. Well, I don’t want you guys either. I’m going by myself.” Alan turned his back and stomped away.

He didn’t get far. Suddenly Virgil was right in front of him. “Oh, no you don’t. First, Grandma would kill us all if we let you go off on your own. And second, what the Hell do you mean, we don’t want you? You’d better explain that crack right now.”

Alan could see his brother was mad, but he didn’t care. “Gordon says he wants to go trick or treating with Jimmy. And I saw you hand that money to John to get him to stay with me. You want to go off to your stupid party. And John just wants money for his dumb telescope. None of you want to go with me.”

Alan was determined not to cry, but as his anger boiled over, he found he had to wipe his eyes with the back of his sleeve. That just made him madder. He tried to push past his brother, but Virgil was like a big wall, and he held back the younger boy with ease.

“Gordon! Get your ass over here!” Virgil barked. With an air of resignation, the red headed boy came over. “Is this true, you told Alan you weren’t going with him?”

Gordon folded his arms across his chest. “Yes. I want to go with kids my own age. You’ve done it, and so has John. I don’t see the big deal.”

“He didn’t tell me until we were on the bus today. He says I should go with Lawrence, but I didn’t have any time to talk to Lawrence or anybody else. He knew he was just dumping me!” Alan’s accusation rang in the cold clear air.

“Jimmy didn’t ask me until today. I couldn’t tell you any earlier. Geez, can we just go find Jimmy and get going? All the good candy’s going to be gone.”

“No. You’re not finding that little hoodlum, Gordon. You and Alan are going with John and that’s all there is to that.” Virgil’s eyes were steely.

“Yeah, John wouldn’t want to lose that money you gave him.” Alan sneered.

John, who had been quiet to this point, poked Alan in the chest. “Okay, I’ve just about had enough of that! I told you I wanted to go with my brothers, and that was the truth. God knows why when you two act like this. The money is from Scott, not Virgil.”

“Scott called me. He’s really sorry that he can’t be here this year, so he sent money for us to go to Walker’s and get a sundae in his honor. It was going to be a surprise. We were going to meet up at Walker’s at 8:30.” Virgil held up his cell phone. “Scott was going to call and join us.”

Alan’s eyes widened, and once again moisture threatened. “Scotty’s gonna call?”

“Yes.”

“And you really want to go with me?” Alan looked at John, hope in his eyes.

“Absolutely. Halloween’s always more fun when you can just be a kid, and not have to try and be cool with your friends.”

“Hell, I would rather go with you too.” Virgil said, a thoughtful look on his face. “You know, I think I’ll just make a call. Hang on.”

As the older teen walked off for some privacy, John and Alan both looked over at Gordon. Without Virgil there to make him defensive, the boy’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t really want to go with Jimmy. He wants to put a bag of cow patties on Mrs. Eckhardt’s doorstep then set it on fire. It sounded kind of fun this afternoon, but now it just sounds mean. Besides, I like Mrs. Eckhardt. But I promised him. I don’t want to break promises.”

“But didn’t you tell Alan you’d have a map of streets so you could both get the best houses first?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Seems to me that was a promise to go trick or treating with him. And that was last weekend. It has priority over anything Jimmy said this afternoon.”

Gordon’s eyes lit with surprise, but then he frowned, shaking his head. “If I don’t go with him, Jimmy will tell everyone at school I chickened out.”

“Not a problem. You just tell him you had no choice, because I decided to go with you guys,” Virgil stated as he walked up.

All three younger boys exclaimed with delight. “Ah cool!” “Really?” “Excellent.”

“I’m with Johnny on this. It’s way better being with your brothers than trying to impress people. Besides, this way I score some candy.”

“Maybe we could get extra candy and send it to Scotty,” Alan ventured.

“That is an excellent idea. Okay, guys, let’s go take this town!” Virgil put out his hand, palm down. John, Gordon and Alan all stacked their hands on his. “Tracy Brothers!”

They broke apart all grinning at the affirmation, and headed off toward the first of the decorated houses.

In the beat up Formica booth at the back of Walker’s Pharmacy and Soda Fountain, the four Tracy boys were gathered around Virgil’s phone, talking to their big brother across the sea.

“So you guys went into the real haunted house?”

“Yeah. It was great! I remembered the part with Frankenstein, so I poked him before he knew I was there! And I chased that vampire, too! But I didn’t like the part with the ghosts. It smelled funny.” Alan was excited to tell his brother all about it. “Gordy got scared, but I didn’t.”

“Hey! I wasn’t scared! It just surprised me is all!” Gordon exclaimed, indignant, to the scoffing of all three of his brothers. “Next year, I’m gonna open up that jar with the eyeballs and eat one. Just wait, you’ll see!

“No, you’re not. The last kid that tried it landed up in the hospital, and then they banned him from ever attending again. Think about it. No trick or treating. No Abba Zabas,” Scott said firmly, then grew misty-eyed. “I don’t suppose any of you got any Abba Zabas?”

Alan hid his grin as he and his brothers all solemnly shook their heads. They had in fact gotten the candy bars, but they had decided to make their care package of Halloween candy a surprise for their brother.

“Really? Not even old Mr. Joseph? He always had Abba Zabas.”

“Yeah, I remember. But this year he was giving out Atomic Fireballs,” Virgil said with a straight face.

“Aw! I love Fireballs! Don’t suppose you could send me a couple?”

“What’s the matter, Scott, don’t they have candy in England?” John teased.

“Hey, they have great candy here. It’s just not the right candy, you know? I mean, you’d think chocolate would be chocolate, but it’s just different. And as far as I know, there is nothing like an Abba Zaba. At least not that I could find.”

“Well, I’ll send you the Atomic Fireball that I got,” Virgil said stoutly.

“Only one?”

“Uh, well, I got two, but I ate one, sorry.”

“I traded mine to a kid for Skittles,” John shook his head sadly.

“Skittles? I haven’t had Skittles for a year,” Scott said mournfully.

“Aw, gee, I’m sorry, Scott. I ate them.” John said, shrugging his shoulders.

Alan was hard put not to give the game away. He spoke up next. “I got Skittles too, but I ate most of them, I think I still have three or four. I can send those.”

Gordon had to lean back out of the phone’s camera range, his eyes shining with mirth. He took deep breaths to keep from laughing out loud, then said, “Scott, if it helps, I got a whole bunch of Almond Joys. I can send you some of them, if you want.”

It was Alan’s turn to hide his face. Scott hated coconut, and considered Almond Joy bars to be a waste of chocolate. “No, Gords, that’s okay. But I will take a Hershey’s with Almond if you got one.”

“I don’t think so, but I’ll check when we get home.”

Scott sat back running his hand through his hair. “I really miss you guys, you know?”

“Yeah. We miss you too,” Virgil responded softly.

“Yeah, it wasn’t near as much fun without you, Scotty.” Alan said, real regret in his voice.

“Well, Christmas is only two months away. I’ll be home then.”

“Bring us some of that English candy, and we’ll do a taste testing.” John smiled.

“Hey, that’s a good idea. I’ll do just that. Listen, guys, I have to get going. Take good care of Dad and Grandma for me, would you?”

“Absolutely. You just make sure you don’t go all native over there. Last thing we need is for you to show up looking like Sherlock Holmes.” Virgil grinned.

“Speak for yourself, Virg. I’ve always thought I’d make a good Watson.” John pulled himself up and struck a pose.

“Yeah. Besides, Sherlock Holmes would be an improvement over how he looks now,” Gordon piped up, grinning.

“I don’t care what he looks like, just as long as he comes.” Alan said a bit sadly.

“Thank you, Alan. It’s good to know at least one of you guys appreciates me.”

“Oh, we all appreciate you, Scott. But don’t forget to bring Christmas presents,” Gordon said, cheeky as ever.

Scott smile became fond, as he took in all four of his brothers, and Alan felt as if he was being wrapped in a warm hug. “Okay. Well, I’ll talk to you all soon.”

“Bye, Scott.” “Bye!” Bye, Scotty!”

The connection broke and all four boys sat quietly for a moment each lost in thought. “Well, you’re all here early!”

Alan looked up to find his grandma standing at the table, dressed like a waitress. He smiled up at her. “We were talking to Scotty, Grandma. He sent Virgil some money so we could have this ice cream.”

“Well, wasn’t that nice? I trust you all thanked him?”

“We’re gonna do one better. We got him a big bunch of candy, and we’re going to send it to him.” Gordon smiled.

“Now, that is a truly wonderful idea. You boys pick out what you want to send, and I’ll box it up and ship it tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Grandma,” Virgil said. “Have a seat. Scott sent enough money to get you a sundae too. He said you should have a double fudge banana split with double cherries if you want.”

“Oh! That sounds good! I think that’s just what I’ll have. Scoot over boys.” Ruth sat down next to Alan, and he leaned in against her, reveling in her warmth, and the arm that she draped over his shoulder. “All right, I want to hear all about the haunted house, and trick or treating this year. Was it as good as last year?”

As John started in, Alan leaned back, content for the moment just to listen. When John declared it was the best Halloween ever, Alan joined in with his brothers, agreeing with all his heart.