Page 108 of Touch the Sky

Before Tess has a chance to answer, Shel’s friend Ali and his parents come over to find us from where they’d been admiring the pumpkin display on the inn’s lawn.

Thankfully, I set the display up myself a couple weeks ago. Natalie and Brooke’s shitty pumpkins from that night we ran into them at Le Verger Tremblay would have made us the laughing stock of the town.

“Everything okay?” Jamilla, Ali’s mother, asks.

She, her husband, and Ali have been walking through town with us all night. Most kids who live on the rural outskirts come into the center of La Cloche for trick-or-treating. My cousins and I used to pile into the back of a truck to get driven into town by one of my uncles every Halloween.

“Yeah, we just have to call it a night, unfortunately,” Tess answers.

Shel’s shoulders droop, but she doesn’t argue.

“But we didn’t do those streets!” Ali protests, pointing at a distant block.

He’s wearing a big cardboard tube with holes cut out for his arms. The tube is covered in real strips of tree bark with mushrooms super glued all over its sides.

When I asked him what his costume is, he told me he’s a ‘decaying log being reclaimed by the forest to illustrate the circle of life.’

It’s no wonder he and Shel became friends.

“We can finish up on our own if Shel has to go home now,” his dad says, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

Shel looks even mopier but still doesn’t try to argue.

“We just have to get back to the farm,” Tess explains. “Jacinthe’s mom had to hang back, so we want to make sure she gets some company.”

“Shel could finish up the last few streets with us,” Jamilla offers. “We’re happy to drop her off, if that helps.”

Shel starts bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, making the candy in the bulging pillowcase she’s clutching jostle around.

“Please, please, please can I stay?” she chants. “We’ll go fast!”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to say we can all stay to finish the night, but I really do need to check onMaman, and we came over in Tess’s truck.

“What about the movie?” Tess asks Shel. “We can’t start too late. It’s a school night.”

“Yeah, but it’s also Halloweeeeen,” Shel drawls. “Do you know how many times a year Halloween happens, Mom?”

Tess crosses her arms and tries to look stern, but I can see her fighting not to laugh. “Are you getting sassy with me, Miss Rosy Maple Moth?”

“Nooooo!” Shel rushes at her mom, flapping her bed sheet moth wings and then throwing her arms around Tess’s waist to look up at her with a simpering pout. “Can I pleaseeee stay?”

Tess laughs and pushes Shel’s sunglasses up onto her forehead so she can look her in the eyes.

“Where did you learn these manipulation tactics?” she demands.

Shel just keeps making puppy dog eyes. Tess sighs.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” she says. “You can stay for another hour to finish the other streets while Jacinthe and I get the movie set up, but the second the credits roll, you are in bed, missy.”

Shel release Tess’s waist with an excited squeal. Ali whoops, and the two of them take off scampering up the sidewalk.

We say goodbye to Maddie and Natalie just before getting into the truck. They’re sitting on the inn’s porch with a bulk size bag of candy bars, Natalie with a purple felt witch’s hat stuffed down over her curly hair, and Maddie wearing wire cat ears with whiskers drawn on her nose in what looks like eyeliner.

They pout almost as much as Shel when we tell them we’re leaving and can’t stick around for a beer, but they perk up when Tess suggests they join us for movie night back at the house.

“They like you, you know,” I say to Tess as she drives us out of La Cloche.

She glances over at me. “Huh?”