"The Halloween Tree" Chapter 8

I really want to go fly a kite now.  Sure I'd rather fly with the kite, but if I can't do that the least I can do is watch one from the ground.  Watch as it loops and veers and soars on the wind.

Chapter 8 of The Halloween Tree continues with the boys and their mysterious host, gliding through the night with the aid of a bewitched and wondrous kite.

They yelled with delight.  They shrieked with ingasped, outgasped terror.  They rode across the moon in an exclamation point.  They soared over hills and meadows and farms.  They saw themselves reflected in dusky moon-bright streams, creeks, rivers.  They brushed down over ancient trees.  The wind stirred by their passing shook down whole government mints of coins, leaves, bright showering to the black-grassed earth.  They flew over the town and thought --
O look up! see! here we are! your sons!

The kite soars above and around the town, before returning back to where they started.  They see Moundshroud's house and the Halloween Tree again.  The plunge downward in rapidity, causing the candles in the pumpkins to go out, but as the kite swoops back up again, "the Tree blazed up with a thousand new cut-pumpkin frowns, glares, grimaces, and grins!"

Then the kite changes direction, leading them to the "Undiscovered Country" as Moundshroud calls it.  "The Past" is a term we might use.

"Two thousand, count them, years before Christ!  Pipkin's there, waiting!  I smell it!  Fly!"
Then the moon began to blink.  It closed up its eye and there was darkness.  Then faster and faster it began to wink, to wax, to wane, to wax again.  Until a thousand times over it flickered and in flickering changed the landscape below, and then fifty thousand times, so fast they could not see it, the moon extinguished and relit itself.
And the moon stopped winking and held very still.
And the land was changed.

And what's below them now?  EGYPT!  Not only do they see the pyramids and the the Sphinx and the River Nile sprawling out before their very eyes... but they are new!  These structures look a good 4,000 years younger... because they are!  They've gone back to the time of Ancient Egypt!

The kite "shook itself like a wild dog ridding itself of fleas" and the boys all fall off into the sand.  The kite, having served its purpose, shreds into a thousand pieces, just as an Egyptian tomb opens up in front of them.  The ripped paper from the kite is sucked into the tomb, followed by Mr. Moundshroud.

The boys, alone in the Valley of the Kings, look down into the tomb.

The tomb breathed out a sick exhalation of paprika, cinnamon, and powdered camel dung.  Somewhere, a mummy dreamed, coughed in its sleep, unraveled a bandage, twitched its dusty tongue and turned over for another thousand-year snooze....

The chapter ends with Tom Skelton calling out Moundshroud's name.  I can't wait to see what they'll discover in the tomb, and what we might learn from the Egyptians about Halloween.

My Super New Cut

My new 'do.

I've been wanting to cut my hair for a while now.  I've just been getting tired of it so long.  And having to straighten it all the time.  I know.  Totally gay, right?

Brian is such a hard worker that he won a coupon for a free haircut at SuperCuts from his job the other day.  He gave it to me so I'd quit begging him to cut my hair for me.  So today I had some free time, and my good friend Wendy was able and willing to give me a ride.  She and baby Alison were able to witness the shearing of the locks.  Wendy was shocked to see that I would go as short as I did.  But at the rate my hair grows, it won't take too long for it all to grow back.

I'm off to work now.  I wonder what my coworkers will think.  I wonder what Brian and my roommates will think.  What do you think?  Do you like my hair better short or long?

Brian's Early Birthday

Brian blowing out his birthday candles... all 23 of them!

Sunday the 17th we bravely headed south into Happy Valley, a place of continual pleasantness and sweet smiling song (due partly to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but mostly to an abuse of painkillers).  Not many of our fellow Salt Lakers can withstand the sanctimonious glibness that is Orem, but we venture it time and time again. And what's more, we were headed that day straight to the grand mecca of Crazy Town...

The Kesler Home.

(Crash of thunder.  Flash of lightning.  Terrifying scream in the distance.)

We were there that day to celebrate Brian's 23rd birthday, although his birthday wasn't for another week.  We approached the front steps cautiously, narrowly avoiding the flashing claws of a most terrifying feline.  The door creaked ever so ominously as we entered, bracing ourselves for the horrors within.

In an eerily-lit kitchen we found them.  Candles flickered their ghostly pale light, throwing long dark shadows up the walls. 

"You're early," an old witch cackled, "we weren't yet expecting you..." She pressed her gnarled face right up into mine.  I could smell her cobweb breath blowing dankly into my nose, burning my eyes. "Dinner isn't ready, my pet."

At these words the old hunchback in the corner sharpened his knives with a terrifying screech of metal on metal.

"No," continued the witch, "dinner isn't quite ready.  You were both very naughty to come here so early.  When you weren't wanted."

She turned suddenly to the three ghoulish females hovering close by in the shadows.  One of the hags, dark as sin, fled from the gaze of the witch.  Like a cat she sprang to the nearest banister, and then up the stairs in two quick bounds, finding a sanctuary in the solitude.  The other two were too scared to move.

The witch moved slowly toward them, dragging a purpled and deformed foot behind her.  "You two!  Take your brother and his friend down into the dungeon.  You will wait there until I give word."

The taller girl, pale as death with hair as light as the moon, grabbed Brian forcefully and dragged him along with her.  The shorter girl, with hair dark as night but equally strong, gripped me in her vice-like claws.  I didn't put up too much of a fight.  I knew our torture would be unavoidable.

Down the dark winding stairs we went, without even a torch to lead the way.  Scurrying mouse feet echoed throughout the catacomb, and a distinct smell of rot and decay wafted over us as we plunged deeper into the gloomy abyss.

We waited there for what seemed like hours.  My stomach rumbled with hunger.  All I wanted was some food, dear God, why wouldn't anybody feed us?  Our keepers smiled their sinister smiles as they tortured us happily.  They threw things at us and sang their shrill songs.  They poked us in the eyes with their bony skeleton fingers and made us smell their feet.  It was horrible.

Just as I was about to let myself go and just die there on that cold stone floor, the old witch had joined us.  In my delirious state I thought she was there to kill us.  She hovered overhead and glared her evil eyes down at us, penetrating into our skulls.  A small smile pulled at either side of her mouth, turning into a gaping grimace of broken, yellowed teeth.  She burst into a terrifying shriek of laughter, an enormous cackle that shook the walls of our tomb and reverberated into our very souls.  A flash of lightning threw her chortling face into sharp relief, and her eyes seemed to flash at us like fire from a struck match.

I closed my eyes in fear and braced myself for the striking blow of death.  One of the hags was screaming my name, "Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack!"

"Jack, could you pour me some water."

I opened my left eye.  I could see Courtney sitting next to me, her mom across from me with Jenny at her side.  I opened my right eye.  Brian and his dad were seated furthest from me, and Amy was at my right, looking at me quizzically with her cup in her outstretched hand.

"The pitcher is right next to you.  Could you pour me some?  Or at least pass it over to me?"

"Yeah.  Sure," I said dazedly, coming out of my trance. 

"This is really good pot roast, Dad.  Thanks," said Courtney.

I looked down and sure enough, my plate had roast and potatoes and carrots and fruit.  In the middle of the table was a beautiful red velvet cake, decorated with festive fall sprinkles and candy corn embellishments.  The candles atop the cake reminded me that it was Brian's birthday dinner with his family.  Further down, at the end of the table, sat many birthday gifts waiting to be opened.

Brian leaned his head behind Amy, and motioned that I should do the same.  He whispered in my ear, "I think reading The Halloween Tree is affecting you.  No more ghost stories, okay?"

"The Halloween Tree" Chapter 7

With the mission of constructing a kite, Mr. Moundshroud makes use of the fading old circus posters and rips them from the side of the barn.  The boys help of course.

They blinked.  They ran.  They scratched with fingernails.  They plucked with hands.  They seized off strips and patches and huge rolls of animal flesh, of fang, and piercing eye, of wounded flank, of blood-red claw, of tail, of bound and leap and cry.  The whole side of the barn was an ancient parade stopped dead.  They tore it asunder.

As the boys collect the paper for the kite, Mr. Moundshroud gets two wooden fence posts to create the cross.  As each boy brings him a strip, he lays it in place and somehow fuses it with another and another and another.

All, all mingled beautifully into a single thing, a wild jigsaw puzzle jungle zoo billowed and trapped, pasted and tied, growing, growing, taking color and sound and pattern in the light of the ascending moon.

He was pleased, the boys were pleased.

It's decided that the kite resembles a pterodactyl, and that it will fly them to where they need to go.  But first, it needs some kite string, and the boys discover an old clothesline that will do the trick.

The kite rises a little, but is jerky and unsteady.  It won't rise any higher.  But Tom, who's very bright, realizes that all it needs is a tail.  He jumps up and grabs hold of the kite.  It rises a little higher.  Each boy catches on to what must be done, and one by one they grab hold of each other's ankles.  They are a human tail.

Mr. Moundshroud runs after them and leaps into the air to grab ahold, but instead his cape catches the wind and he soars along on his own, as if he has wings.

The chapter ends here.  Pretty exciting stuff, huh?  They've taken flight and are soaring to God knows where.  It's getting harder and harder for me to put the book down after each chapter and wait a day.  I want to know what happens next!

Oh, on a somewhat random note, the chapter names the rest of the boys, except for two.  There's Ralph Bengstrum the Mummy, Fred Fryer the Beggar, George Smith the Ghost, and Wally Babb the Gargoyle.  The Apeman and the boy dressed as Death are still unnamed.  Personally, I'm not sure why any of them have names.  I don't think they are important at all, except for Tom and Pipkin.  And if he wanted to include their real names (I mean, we've never even seen their real faces... they're all in masks) why didn't he introduce them all at once?

"The Halloween Tree" Chapter 6

I apologize for posting this so late, but I had a long busy day.  However, I promise you the wait was worth it!

If you recall, yesterday's chapter ended with Pipkin showing up unexpectedly.  And when you hear what happens... oh boy, you're going to wish he had never showed up.

Ray Bradbury says it much better than I can:

His figure was small, small, small.  There were shadows mixed everywhere.  Bats flew.  Owls shrieked.  Night ravens clustered like black leaves in trees.
The small boy, running with his lit pumpkin, fell.
"Oh," gasped Moundshroud.
The pumpkin light went out.
"Oh," gasped everyone.
"Light your pumpkin, Pip, light it!" shrieked Tom.

 Tom thinks he sees Pipkin trying to light it, but then something dark blocks his view.  They all hear something.  Wings?  A beast?  And then suddenly the moon shines down on the spot where Pipkin was last seen.  But there is no Pipkin.

Something dark sneaks away, and a fading cry of "Help!" is heard.  Mr. Moundshroud expects something has taken the boy away.  I suppose that's obvious, but I think hearing an adult -- even a crazy one -- say it out loud somehow confirms what the boys all fear.

"You don't mean that Thing in the ravine, It, or Him, or whatever, that Something, was -- Death?  Did he grab Pipkin and -- run?!"
"Borrowed is more like it, perhaps to hold him for ransom," said Moundshroud.
"Can Death do that?"
"Sometimes, yes."

What a terrible thing!  To realize that Death has taken hold of your friend.  Pipkin, who is clearly sick, is on the verge of death ... and to see it played out so literally is quite stirring.  What can they do?

Mr. Moundshroud decides that it's all the more important now to fly into the night.  They can kill two birds with one stone.  They can discover the history of Halloween while searching for their lost friend.  The boys have even more resolve than they did before.  Now their quest has a purpose.  A life might be saved.

They hop a fence and come upon an old barn, covered with old circus posters.  Mr. Moundshroud commands them to build a kite, and that's where the chapter ends.  Why they need a kite, I do not know.  But I hope to find out tomorrow!

"The Halloween Tree" Chapter 5

So yesterday's chapter ended with the boys setting eyes on the titular tree for the very first time.  The fifth chapter in Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree proceeds to describe in detail this spectacular tree, and it's much more wondrous than I initially thought.

The pumpkins adorning this mammoth tree aren't just mere gourds.  They are actually Jack O'Lanterns; each one is carved with eyes and noses and wide, grimacing smiles.  And is if they are alive, they begin to light up on their own.

One by one, starting at the botton of the Tree and the nearest pumpkins, candles took fire within the raw interiors.  This one and then that and this and then still another, and on up and around, three pumpkins here, seven pumpkins still higher, a dozen clustered beyond, a hundred, five hundred, a thousand pumpkins lit their candles, which is to say brightened up their faces, showed fire in their square or round or curiously slanted eyes.  Flame guttered in their toothed mouths.  Sparks leaped out their ripe-cut ears.

As if this isn't phenomenal enough, it gets even better!  From a source unknown -- perhaps from the pumpkins, the night wind, the tree, or the house -- voices begin to sing:

"It's big, it's broad...
It's broad, it's bright...
It fills the sky of All Hallow's Night...
The strangest sight you've ever seen.
The Monster Tree on Halloween.
The leaves have burned to gold and red
The grass is brown, the old year dead,
But hang the harvest high, Oh see!
The candle constellations on the Halloween Tree!
The stars they turn, the candles burn
And the mouse-leaves scurry on the cold wind bourne,
And a mob of smiles shine down on thee
From the gourds hung high on the Halloween Tree.
The smile of the Witch, and the smile of the Cat,
The smile of the Beast, the smile of the Bat,
The smile of the Reaper taking his fee
All cut and glimmer on the Halloween Tree..."

While the song is being sung, the candles within the pumpkins all light up until the tree appears to be one giant smile hanging in the air.  What a moment!  I'm telling you, I had goosebumps while reading it... pure magic.  I was completely swept up in it all.  The boys, then, like myself, began to wonder aloud over the things they have so far witnessed.  Suddenly they hear a voice again coming from nowhere, and then a large and inviting leaf pile appears seemingly out of thin air.  They can't resist the urge to just jump into that pile of leaves!

But as they are about to dive in, they stop because a bony hand emerges from the pile, followed by a smiling white skull which zooms toward them.  The boys all fall down in a heap.

Then peal after peal of laughter froze them further as the hand upon the air, the bony skeleton hand, reached up, took hold of the white skull face and -- peeled it down and off!

The tall man appeared before them, growing up out of those leaves taller and taller, laughing so hard the earth shook.  His laughter somehow makes the boys laugh too, no longer afraid.  Finally the man says, "Yes, boys, that was a Trick!  You'd forgotten?  No, you never knew!"

Turns out the man knows all of the boys' names already, and he introduces himself as Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud.

"A fine name," said Mr. Moundshroud, giving it a full sepulchral night-church sound.  "And a fine night.  And all the deep dark wild long history of Halloween waiting to swallow us whole!"

Then he begins to ask each boy about the costumes they are wearing.  Clearly none of them know why they are dressed like witches or skeletons or ghosts.  They dress up simply because it's the thing to do on Halloween.  But Moundshroud thinks it'll be fun to teach them.

"I'll tell you!  No, I'll show you!  If only there was time--"
"It's only six thirty.  Halloween hasn't even begun!" said Tom-in-his-cold-bones.
"True!" said Mr. Moundshroud.  "All right, lads -- come along!"

But the boys don't want to go anywhere without Pipkin.  Then suddenly they hear his voice, calling from the other side of the ravine, away in the distance.

And that's where the chapter ends!  Extraordinary, right?  This chapter was the longest of any chapter so far, with the most happening in it.  The song of the Halloween Tree, the trick played by Moundshroud, the introduction of his plan for them, and Pipkin's sudden and unexpected appearance.  What will happen next?!

Our Very Own Haunted House

Gotta love a $2 bag of spider webs...  Thank you, Target.

Yes, that styrofoam headstone says "Jack Black" on it.  Nothing's scarier than an overweight comedic actor.

Doesn't that candle look freaking awesome coming out of a mug?

That's right.  Spiderwebs from the ceiling to the centerpiece.

Who knew cute little pumpkins could be so creepy?