What Day is This?
Was this Tuesday? Phyllis was outside. How did she get outside? It was cold. A ghost! Wait, just a boy in a sheet. He had a plastic pumpkin. Oh, this is Halloween. Phyllis forgot. That was why there was a cardboard Jack O’ Lantern in the cafeteria! That made sense. So much of the world didn’t make sense. She should really get home. Oh, girls dressed as ballerinas! Phyllis followed them to the end of the block. She turned, and saw Death! No, just a decoration someone put up. It was cold, and the decoration had a real cloak, so Phyllis took it and wrapped it around her. That got her warm, especially the hood. She turned to go home, but which way was home? She picked a direction. There was a church at the end. Was this her church? There were people in a line, all in costumes. Maybe they would know where she lived. She dug out her emergency $20 bill. She could get a taxi to take her home. She joined the end of the line. When she got to the front, she waved the $20 and said in her quavering voice, “I would like to go…”
A man in an eye patch took the $20 and gave her a $10 back. “Oh, yeh think you be scarier than us, eh, Mr. Reaper? Well, we’ll give you the special treatment inside, yarr.”
Thank the Lord for these nice people. They must be making her tea, although it must be a big expense for them since they couldn’t afford many lights inside. Phyllis walked into the dark house, glad to be safe and warm. The doctors said she shouldn’t be taking these walks much longer, what with her weak heart.