The Parade: Part VI, Trixie's Walk

Continued from The Parade: Part V, Mystery on Maryland Avenue

The Parade
Part VI

Trixie's Walk
 

Doris Hutchens opened the refrigerator and looked plaintively at its contents.  She wasn't really hungry but there was still some time until the news and she was bored.  She would go to bed after, but she needed a quick update.  Tomorrow was going to be a day long event and she'd have no time to catch up until Sunday afternoon.  She had multiple clients to see before noon and then parade preparations all afternoon.  There was still a piece of cheesecake left in the fridge from their dinner out in Hamptonville.  She scooped it up and placed it on a saucer.

At least everyone's costumes were finished.  She had finished all the sewing Wednesday.  She and Renee and Margaret, the two other stylists from the Style Shop, were all going to be dressed as 1950's housewives but with a witchy twist.  The float they would be riding had been constructed with three swings created to look like brooms.  When they sat in the swings, it would appear as though they were flying on broomsticks.  The rest of the float was constructed to look like glitter covered clouds.

She sat at the kitchen table and dug her fork into the cheesecake.  She savored the first creamy bites as they dissolved against her tongue.  Trixie, her chihuahua, came into the room and whined at her feet.  Doris dropped a small bite of the cheesecake onto the floor and Trixie quickly devoured it.  Doris leaned down and nuzzled the dogs' ears.

The Parade: Part V, Mystery on Maryland Avenue

Continued from The Parade: Part IV, Under the Mackey Building

The Parade
Part V

Mystery on Maryland Avenue

Maureen pulled her car onto Baker, the street leading to her neighborhood.  A thin fog had settled in amongst the trees and had given everything a faint glowing aura.  She slowed to enjoy the view.  Despite its inherent danger to drivers, Maureen had always enjoyed the magic of fog.  Fog could make any landscape mysterious and otherworldly, even the plain streets of Rivercross.

She reached over into the passenger seat and flipped open the styrofoam take out box from the Star diner.  She extracted a single french fry and shoved it into her mouth.  She hadn't had anything to eat since she'd begun her shift at four.  She ate several more fries before closing the box.  Once she got home, she and her husband Daryl would have a late dinner.  He always waited so that he could eat with her.  Although he usually had four or five beers before she got home.

Daryl had tried cooking dinner once long ago and had nearly burnt the house down.  Maureen had forbidden him in the kitchen since.  Her compromise was to bring dinner back after her part time shift at the Star.  She worked mornings at Norris grocery and a few hours in the evening at the Star.  After two shifts, Maureen just didn't have the energy to cook as well. 

The Parade: Part IV, Under the Mackey Building

Continued from The Parade: Part III, Behind The Star

The Parade
Part IV

Under the Mackey Building

Richmond Norris turned the open sign over to closed and locked the front door of his store.  The jack o' lantern decoration on the interior of the door smiled gleefully at him.  He stuck his tongue out in retaliation.  It had been a long and busy day and he was ready to be home.  There was at least an hours worth of work left before he was finished with the store, but all he wanted was a pillow beneath his head. 

Daylight Savings time was this weekend.  The clocks would be "falling back" and he'd be getting back the hour of sleep he had lost in the spring.  He loved Autumn for that reason more than any other.  Despite the darkness in the morning when he rose, the ease of a perceived extra hour of sleep made his days much more palatable, at least until next March when the whole cycle began again.  He flipped the switch for the exterior sign to off.  His last customer of the evening, Ethel Blackwell, had left about fifteen minutes ago.

Ethel was usually his last customer every night during the week.  She always came in fifteen to twenty minutes until nine to pick up a chocolate bar.  Sometimes she would buy a bottle of Tums or a tube of Aspercreme for her arthritis but she always purchased a single chocolate bar. On Saturday night she would buy two bars as Norris was closed on Sundays.  He always smiled to see Ethel.  It meant his work day would soon be over.

The Parade: Part III, Behind The Star

Continued from The Parade: Part II, Under the Mason Bridge

The Parade
Part III

Behind the Star
 

As Jackie entered the Star diner, she was pummeled by a wall of sound.  The dinner rush had come early and the restaurant was full.  A coffee maker at the far end of the bar gurgled and hissed as it finished making a pot of its dark elixir.  In the kitchen, Abe was busy filling orders.  She could see his arms rising and falling behind a wall of steam as he flipped burgers, pulled plates, and dropped baskets into the deep frier.  He placed several full plates in the window behind the bar and yelled, "Order up!"  The television over the bar blared and all around her different conversations merged with the clatter of plates and silverware. Ruby smiled at her as she rushed by with a cup and a pot of coffee.  Jackie waved and moved closer to the bar.

"...and coming up on channel five news - Are you looking for a good scare this Hallo-weekend? We'll give you a listing of the best haunted houses and trails in the tri-state area...and if you haven't carved your Jack O Lantern yet, we'll tell you the best places to shop for that last minute pumpkin.  Later we'll be speaking with federal authorities about the nationwide manhunt that continues for convicted serial killer Doctor Theodore Mars.  Dr. Mars escaped from federal custody in February of this year and has eluded federal authorities si-"

The Parade: Part II, Under the Mason Bridge

Continued from The Parade: Part I, Skipping School

The Parade
Part II

Under the Mason Bridge

Jackie sat on a bench at the edge of the park and watched the cars move through downtown Rivercross.  They zigzagged like confused ants, disappearing behind trees and buildings then reappearing moments later in a new direction.  A breeze knocked bright orange leaves loose from nearby trees.  They danced across her field of vision like bits of flame and floated away down the hillside.

Her tears had finally passed.  She held the brown bag tightly in her grip.  She had shoved the test stick in with the packaging.  She almost threw it all in the trashcan nearby but found that as she approached she couldn't release the bag.  She still had not decided if she was going to tell Sam.  She didn't know what she was going to do at all.  Jackie watched the clouds stretch themselves across the sky like cotton candy.

The Parade: Part I, Skipping School

The Parade 
Part I

October 30th, Skipping School

Jackie pedaled her bike out of the parking lot and away from school.  She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one had seen her leave.  Her last class was a free period and she wouldn't be missed, but she didn't want to take any chances.  Rivercross High disappeared behind a bank of trees as she rounded the curve and sped towards downtown. She turned at the next intersection to avoid Main street.  She didn't want to be seen by anyone who might tell her dad.  Doris over at the Style Shop had ratted her out when she had skipped class before and she just couldn't deal with that extra stress today.

She bought the test from Maureen at Norris grocery on her way to school.  She knew that Maureen would keep her secret.  She sold Jackie cigarettes sometimes.  The test was wrapped in a brown paper bag deep in her backpack.  She would go to the park for some privacy and then she would know.  If she got to the park before three she could get home before four-thirty and her mom and dad wouldn't be suspicious.  She angled her bike onto Myers boulevard and towards the Mason bridge.

Coming Soon: Third Annual Halloween Outbreak!

As the days grow colder and darker, the walls between the worlds grow thinner.  Strange entities wait just on the other side of the veil. Each year on All Hallow's Eve they break out and overrun the world of the mundane.