Kiss Of Halloween’s Eve
No~one casually strolled past the tall shrubs guarding the well kept house. He paused near the gated entrance, just outside the boundary where Halloween’s children were singing for treats. He mused momentarily, considering whether the sugar laden candy or the singing itself were the trick or the treat. Perhaps both, he decided, as miniature jesters, superheroes and monsters continued to arrive, boldly marching through the gate and up the stairs to petition their expectations
Word had spread throughout the neighbourhood where the best Halloween fun
could be found. An enchanting young woman was engaging the small audience with delightful suggestions for songs and playful trickery. All fun in exchange for the most excellent Halloween’d offerings. Applause and encouragement worked their insidious spells over the growing crowd. Monster, hero and mocker alike began competing over whose performance and costumes were better instead of boasting about who had accumulated the largest haul of Halloween loot. Intrigued and impressed, along with many others witnessing the transformation, Noone decided to watch the entire performance unfold.
The young woman’s reputation had spread like wildfires in a windstorm throughout the community and soon the line up of whimsical costumes reached outward to the public sidewalk and carried on for some distance. While taking a glance at the line-up she noticed Noone holding open the entrance gate which had become an obstacle for some of the contestants.
She waved with a smiling face.
Caught unexpectedly, Noone smiled back through his mask, awkwardly realizing she couldn’t see his facial expressions. He waved back, but she had already turned away. ‘Weak’, he thought privately, ‘double down for the mistake, introduce yourself after the crowd thins a bit’ he told himself.
Noone watched closely as the event grew past anyone’s expectations. More Halloween’d treats expeditiously arrived just as her own excellent offerings dwindled low. Noone could see the worry in her brow ease, bringing back the mirthful, thoughtful personality the entire gathering had become enamoured with.
‘She must be genuine’, he wondered while watching her expressions respond smooth and naturally with each costumed contestant. Pleased, she beamed with a light that bathed the recipients in the shades of a sunrise without shadows.
Noone found himself all the more intrigued with questions as others also began commenting on how her sense of happiness seemed to be affecting others in a really good way. Perhaps it was the way Noone responded in agreement with another’s commenting, combined with the impromptu official self appointed status of ‘gate-holder’. The spoken question sucked Noone’s conscious mind into a spinning vortex of elusive replies, none of which relented in their journey to oblivion.
Noone’s cheeks flushed a deeper rouge than that painted upon his ironically identifiable mask.
Without reason Noone’s heart pounded an inaudible message meant for none other.
He looked back to the young woman, she was gone. Turning again to the person asking the question of Noone, he also was gone. The question echoed in the canyons of Noone’s disbelief...”Are you that mysterious man of the house?”
‘How peculiar’, Noone pondered, ‘A stranger says this strange thing to me- I, a stranger in a strange place, on a strange night where people dress and act and do strange things, and even this whole event is stranger than the normal strange that takes place on halloween’s night...
particularly...
peculiarly...
strange...
but so comfortably strange in a good seeming way that this again is...
was...
could be...
extraordinarily...
likeably...
awesome!’
Momentarily setting aside the facts for folly, Noone assumed the robes of familiarity as if he were one of the community members in good standing, engaging in all manner of small talk, banter, and good natured humor with everyone present. The line-up eventually gave way to intermittent groups and by the time the revellers were finished with their halloweening business the last of the interested onlookers bid Noone thanks and a good night with advice to go back inside for tea before retiring for the night.
“Good night”, he responded normally, but at the same time he suddenly felt cold, an irrational fear pounded in his chest when he looked at the sidewalk where his logical path should now be. He looked back to the doorway where so much had taken place earlier in the evening. The pounding in his chest eased. The light was still on. The doorway seemed warm and inviting compared to the cold grey sidewalks.
‘Just to say thank you then’ he said to himself as his legs turned into rubber stilts on his way to knock on the door.
He had barely tapped on the door once, his eyes focused elsewhere, the door opened while his half closed hand flapped at empty air in a search for the sound of knocking.
Her smiling face startled him into the beginning of a “hello just wanted to say blah.. blah.. blah..” speech. She quickly cut him off insisting that he come inside to warm and asking if he needed anything.
After both of them had become more settled and casual conversations were flowing easily between them Noone asked her name that he could properly express his appreciation for the evening’s entertainment.
She replied,
“Tonight, for you, I am Eve, and tomorrow I will be the light of your new Dawn”.
She then asked coyly,
“Can I see who is behind the mask?”
“No one really”, he replied, “its the one night of the year that I may become what I am instead of just who I am”.
“That’s all I needed to know, so I just wanted to thank you for watching over my people tonight”.
She gazed into his eyes just long enough to convey what she meant, then raised her arms around his neck.
Embracing him closely she said,
“This is for the Meme”.
She passionately kissed the noone mask on Noone’s face.
Lifting the mask just enough to expose his lips she whispered seductively,
“...and this is for the man”.
Their lips met intimately for longer than breath can be held; after which,
neither wished to cool in separation.
She took his hands holding him close to lead him further inside her world,
“This is for noone, noone and no other”.
Her confidence wavered while turning to stand firmly between Noone and a hand painted portrait of Noone wearing the mask of the unknown noone. Embracing him again she asked once more,
“Can I see who is behind the mask”?
“Yes, you do, there is only me, and I am a reflection of your own divine truth wishing to know ‘itself’ as the ‘other’ in a profound illuminated unity”.
“But what I really want to know is”, deftly kissing his lower lip, “If I were to kiss noone”, gently pulling and prolonging with swift urgency, “would I have noone to kiss for ever and ever?”.
She repeatedly teased Noone with her soft agile lips in between turns of phrase and rounds of elusively promised eternal bliss.
The newspaper article was later retracted as a hoax pulled off by some masterful pranksters. But the night was clearly etched in the memories of every person there. It was the little boy who had won the costume contest. Returning to offer his thanks for such a great hand crafted prize he found that the door to the house was open. The interior appeared to have remained in picturesque repose for years, with one exception. A freshly hand painted portrait remained of the man who had held open the front gate for the entire evening, the enchanting hostess next to him happily pecking his cheeks with Halloween’d lipstick kisses.
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