William's return from the church and report that the worst of the second wedding was James Harper Senior having a heart attack came as a great relief to those that had been waiting there. It left everyone free to turn to thoughts of lunch and other things, largely relating the sorts of activities that directly related to Halloween. Martha and William both noted that Ben looked especially relieved at William's report that the worst of the second wedding had been James Harper Senior having a heart attack. With that good news, the group was quick to turn to other matters.
"So, would you like some lunch?" Martha asked to Ben as they got up from the couch and while William and Alex carried the chairs they had carried out from the dinning room back, "We have some leftovers available or you could make a sandwich if you'd like."
"I was thinking on heading back home to eat and then wait to get ready for the dance..."
"Nonsense," Martha answered, "you're MORE then welcome to stay for lunch. We don't mind."
"Besides I'm still waiting for someone to say what his costume for the dance is," Alex added as he and William entered the kitchen from the dinning room's entrance.
"I told you, something wolfy," Nate said to his boyfriend small smirk that Martha and William both noticed and guessed that there was "something" going on between the two, "Beyond that it's a surprise."
Alex gave a bit of a grunt at that, indicating that he didn't like the fact that Nate's costume was a surprise. Martha and William both looked to each other as a small queue formed up between the Anderson family refrigerator and the drawer where the bread was. Nate backed away from the refrigerator holding a jar of grape jelly while moving toward one of the counters. Alex watched Nate for a moment while William looked into refrigerator and Martha could tell he was going for some leftovers. The comment sort of made Martha chuckle a little, as the conversation was moving away from all the stress and worry from the Jenkins/Harper wedding. That was handled and things had ended about as well as could be done.
"Well... okay," Ben commented, "So long as I'm not imposing."
"You aren't, you're Nate's friend," Martha assured him, "I'm sure we can figure out something to do until it's time for you to get ready for the Halloween Dance."
Ben then nodded, which then triggered Alex soon renewing the attempt to get Nate to say what his costume was. Which again made Martha chuckle.
"Great, and now to find out what Nate's costume is!" Alex declared.
"You'll find out when we go to the dance," Nate answered.
"But..." Alex began to complain and then groaned in frustration.
Martha couldn't help but chuckle as that as she picked out her own lunch, pretty much leftovers, as was William's lunch. Halloween was always a fun holiday for them. Martha could remember alternating with William on who got to take Nate and Eric trick or treating when they were little. Both of them had loved seeing what sorts of costumes kids wore at Halloween. Nate often did go as a werewolf or werewolf-like character. It made sense given Nate's fandom of werewolf movies and it was one of the few times when William and Martha were truly okay with Nate's enjoyment of werewolf movies.
The thoughts on past Halloweens then got Martha's own curiosity going. As she accepted a plastic plate to put what she wanted to eat for lunch on before putting the dish in the microwave, Martha then wondered what were children dressed as for Halloween. The holiday often included plenty of spooks and the like. Things like werewolves were seen as something scary to those outside Moon Lake and thus part of the fun of the holiday. However, Moon Lake wasn't like other towns. After all, most of the population WERE weres of some kind and the normal population of Moon Lake, be they those who moved to the town or had been raised in the town all knew their neighbors could turn into animals and thus saw it as something more... normal. So, if werewolves weren't scary to those who lived in Moon Lake, that made Martha wonder as to WHAT Moon Lake children would dress up as to pretend to be scary and so on. That also made Martha somewhat eager to welcome trick or treaters to see what Moon Lake's children dressed up as before she and William would have to go out for their part in the plans that Skulk had come up with for Halloween fun...
"William... do we have any candy for trick or treaters?" Martha asked as she waited for her turn to warm up her lunch in the microwave.
William blinked as he looked back to her and after a moment his eyes did widen. This gave Martha some indication that the answer was "no." Eventually, William looked down and scratched the back of his head.
"Between moving in and then all the drama that went with Yvette Smith scratching me... no..." William said slowly, "But being close to noon... I don't think any kids will be trick or treating, yet... and Halloween isn't quite like Thanksgiving or Christmas. A lot of places will still be open."
"So, we can go out and GET candy," Martha spoke, emphasizing the word "get." To that William nodded. When William nodded, Martha smiled and clapped her hands, "That'll be great. We can get Eric ready and then take him and Julie to the dance and then come back to see all the costumes little weres wear. It'll be neat to see what they think is scary."
"They might wear stuff that is cute too," William pointed out.
Martha only shrugged as they then finished warming up their lunch and journeyed into the dinning room where Alex was still hoping to get Nate to reveal what his costume was. It was something rather amusing. Ben seemed to be quietly sitting by eating the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that he had. Martha even noticed an amused smile on Ben's face.
"Come on... I need to know so we can coordinate," Alex pleaded.
"We don't have to," Nate answered, "it's a surprise. In that, you can surprise me with YOUR costume. It'd be fun, don't you think."
"He does have a point there," Ben commented to Alex with a small smile.
"Arrgggh... I can't spend the afternoon trying to get you to tell me!" Alex declared as he looked to Nate with a bit of a frown and clearly frustrated, making both William and Martha chuckle.
"Then how about tagging on an errand," Martha offered, "and just have fun with regard to the costumes."
"An errand?" Nate looked up, one cheek puffed up as he had a mouth full of PBJ stuffed there to talk.
"We need to get some candy to give out to trick or treaters," William explained, "as while you all have your dance... we get to hand out candy..."
"And see what little weres dress up for Halloween as," Martha added as she and William sat down by each other.
"Most probably aren't too different from what you've seen before," Ben commented, "the only difference that those going for "scary" costumes don't choose werewolves..."
"Still... William and I have both loved Halloween, seeing Nate and Eric dress up and seeing what all the others trick or treaters are dressed up as," Martha gave a shrug, "It's fun that way..."
"Perhaps you could give us a few tips on where to go?" William asked, "it there any place particularly good?"
"Well... for trick or treating type things... your best bet is probably Safeway and buying party packs of Skittles or something like that," Ben answered, "the only other option would be the Decrux Sweets Shop... but her shop is more home made sweets. Something you'd have in a small dish for a personal desert and the like... Not giving way candy to trick or treaters. And at the same time... I've heard some grumblings from mom that relate to the owner... something about scratching someone, but I don't know for sure..."
William's eyes widened and he very nearly spit out what he'd been eating. They'd only just closed the book on Yvette Smith's "rampage" that had resulted in his transformation and then Jenny's. He would have thought that Moon Lake wouldn't be dealing with the exact same problem again, and so soon.
"Scratching someone..." William said slowly.
"I don't know for sure," Ben answered, "it was late and I was tired. I could have misheard."
"Hopefully it was that," Martha commented, "but I think we could go with Safeway. We could probably stand to pick up a few things for dinner, anyway."
And that was pretty much what they ended up doing. Ben, Nate, and Alex tagged along with William and Martha, as they didn't have much to do but wait for the afternoon to pass. Ben had some wish to find out more from his moms as to what had happened, but if they took the Harpers to the hospital after James Harper Sr. had a heart attack, it'd probably be a while before they got home. There was some continued debate of Nate's costume choice, but that remained fairly playful and at one point Alex simply began to guess at random just to see what Nate would say. It didn't work out, but Alex seemed to at least grudgingly accept that he wouldn't know what Nate's costume was until Nate and he went to the Halloween dance, which as the afternoon hours ticked away wasn't THAT far off...