Going into the gym of the Elementary School continued some of the snickers that people had at seeing me. A big five hundred fifty five pound male Bengal Tiger-Person barely contained by one of my wife's dresses. It reinforced my assumption that I looked ridiculous. However, we didn't know about this party until a few days ago, Molly was mostly winging the costume ideas as we went. So, I was crammed into something that didn't fit and Molly had to tighten my belt to make sure my pants didn't fall down on her. And of course, I was doing this for Molly, so I'd simply "grin and bear it" while the other guests of the party.
The gym was done up with jack-o-lanterns, tables with paper cups with juice in them. Judging by the smell, I guessed it was orange juice. There was a small table set up in a far corner with a boom-box on it, currently playing "the Monster Mash". And there were various games set up. There was a large metal tub set up and filled with water with a small wooden sign that read "bob for apples". Our looking around the gym was paused when Megan, who had moved in front of Molly and I as we went in, came to a stop.
"What is it, Megan?" Officer Barnes came around.
"They don't have anything for me," Megan gave a dissatisfied grumble.
I looked over at what Megan was pointing to, a small table that had boxes of candies on it. It was probably a reminder to Megan that the fun things of certain holidays, like Halloween and Easter, were now impossible for her, as a tiger's digestive system couldn't handle candy and chocolate was a potential poison for her.
"You don't need candy to have a good time," Officer Barnes commented, "I'm sure some of your friends from school are here. You can play games and have fun with them. It looks like they've got a variant of pin the tail on the donkey..."
I looked over to a far wall of the gym. One the wall was a poster of a cartoon werewolf in tattered pants. And there was a sort of "wolf tail" on a pin hanging next to it. There seemed to be a series of other games set up for the kids to play, including one that combined a bean bag toss with tic-tac-toe.
"But all the other kids will have candy," Megan protested, looking glum.
"And they'll risk losing their teeth," Officer Barnes answered, "all that sugar would give you cavities... besides, your mother, I've been told will have a special steak for you when we get home."
Molly and I looked on as Megan's tail gave a happy twitch at that.
"Okay," Megan said slowly.
"So, you'll have a good time?" Officer Barnes asked his unofficial step daughter.
"Yes, daddy," Megan answered and then hopped into Officer Barnes' arms to nuzzle his neck with her head.
"Okay go along and have fun," Officer Barnes gave a soft chuckle, and set Megan down as she moved toward the "pin the tail on the werewolf" game, where there was a small line of kids forming.
Officer Barnes then moved toward the juice table to get himself something to drink while I looked around again. A large portion of the gym was set aside for a sort of dancing and socializing area for many of the adults who were in attendance. Most of them were faculty members of the Elementary School while the rest were family members. All of them were dressed in various costumes. Some spooky, some fancy, some even based off of animals. The kids that were already there were also in costumes and they congregated to the area where the games had been set up. Other school staff members were there to supervise and make sure there was no trouble. It was very much a situation that didn't entirely need policing. Although things could go south quickly, and if so, it would be a good thing to have Officer Barnes and I there.
"Greetings George and Molly," came Mrs. Fitzpatrick's voice as she made her way through the crowd of people that were there, "it is good that you could make it."
"Officer Barnes and I were assigned to provide security for the party," I answered, "I would be here even if Molly couldn't be here... though a lot of it looks like you don't need security..."
"We generally don't," Mrs. Fitzpatrick answered, dressed as a college graduate, "but it's a "special" event and the district generally demands that security be present. Which is why we've allowed the DARE officer to dress in a costume as well... to let it be a bit of a party for them..."
"I see," I nodded.
"Though, Mr. Wayne, it would look like you've had a little trouble," Mrs. Fitzpatrick said while doing her best to hold back a snicker.
"That was my fault," Molly cut in, "we didn't have enough time to have any real costume made, so I had the idea to go as each other. I'd wear one of George's uniforms and he'd wear one of my dresses... unfortunately, I thought my dresses were a bit bigger then they are..."
"So I guess, it'd be best to take him to some place wear he can bathe and then shrink in the wash," Mrs. Fitzpatrick gave a soft chuckle, and then apologized, "I'm sorry... it's not that the idea of going as each other was a bad idea. It's that you look a little..."
"Go ahead and say it," I sighed, "I look ridiculous."
"No, I really shouldn't," Mrs. Fitzpatrick regained her composure, "Enjoy the night and feel free to mingle... though, Molly, you may need to be prepared to help out with supervising the games and handing out candy to the kids."
"Of course," Molly nodded as Mrs. Fitzpatrick then moved off. She then turned to me and asked, "so, shall we mingle?"
"I don't see why not," I sighed, "Give them all a good laugh at me trying not to bust your dress at the seems."
And so we managed to mingle and meet with the other teachers that were there. Some of them were the other kindergarten teachers and some were teachers from grades one through four. They were largely friendly, though a good many of them had a lot of fun with the fact that my costume was one of my wife's dresses, and was too small on me. It wasn't mean spirited, but they did have a lot fun with the fact that the costume didn't fit me well.
And the party otherwise proved to be a fairly good one. The kids seemed to have fun, and from what Molly and I could see, even Megan had fun with the games and playing with the other kids. Some of their games were ones that didn't even depend on what had been set up as games. At one point, as a chorus of shouts and a series of soft "rawrs" from Megan, I glanced over to see the kids engaged in a game of tag, regardless of how well their costumes helped or hindered movement.
"Good to see everyone's having fun," I commented to Molly.
"Yes..." Molly nodded, "are you having fun? Even though just about everyone has had a crack at my dress?"
"Not at your dress," I gave a chuckle, "at me wearing your dress... but I suppose I'm having a good time. Mostly so long as you're happy."
Molly smiled and gave me a soft nuzzle, though being careful to make sure that her claws didn't come out of their sheaths in her fingers. While my frame wasn't big enough to rip her dress apart from the inside out, I feared that any additional strain put on it would tear it open. And Molly apparently had that fear too.
As the night moved on, we ultimately made our way over toward the table that had the boxes of candy that had been set aside for the kids. Molly was going to help assemble the trick or treat bags for the kids, I largely went because the gym's water fountain was nearby and by that time I was looking for something to drink. As we arrived there, we found Joseph Patten packing the individual bags of candy for the kids who had come to the party.
"You wouldn't mind having some help, would you?" Molly asked him as she approached.
"Of course not," Patten replied, "should I call you George tonight or..."
I lapped up some water from the faucet while Molly chuckled at the joke and explained why our costumes were what they were. That earned a bit of a chuckle in response. When I finished I moved to stand beside Molly. Patten was quick to notice and gave a soft smirk.
"And how are you Mrs. Wayne?" He gave chuckle.
"Fine," I gave a sigh as it was a joke that everyone had repeated as Molly and I went through the party. It was actually beginning to feel old now, "You don't see me making jokes about being the Cobra Commander."
"I'm not dressed as him," Patten answered, "Clemens would be able to pronounce the name of the character better then I could... but it's an old Conan villain that supposedly turned into a snake or something like that."
"So he got you into it?" Molly asked.
"We watched some of the cartoon as kids, but Clemens always liked the series more then I did," Patten shrugged, "so much so that he's updated me on various convention type things related to the series."
"Have you ever gone with him?" Molly asked.
"No, as I said, my following of the series was never that intense," Patten answered, "but I let Clemens talk about... mostly because he's family, but he also has some good stories from some of them."
"Good stories?" I wondered.
"Yeah," Patten nodded, "he had a good one earlier in the month. He and his girlfriend had gone to a convention near where they live and he wore the hood part of this costume to the convention. He told me that Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the convention..."
"Ah-nuld?" I tried imitate the Austrian-American's accent.
"Yeah," Patten replied, "If I remember things right, he played Conan, while Clemens was at the convention dressed as the snake transforming villain."
"There wasn't a fight, was there?" Molly asked.
"Oh no," Patten replied, "mostly a lot of joking and faux wrestling. From what Clemens told me it made their local celebrity news segment."
"Well hopefully he had fun," Molly commented, "from what he told us during his visit here... I didn't want to hear that he'd been in a fight again..."
"One on one Clemens could probably deal with any physical attacker," Patten answered, "while the Serum didn't give his arms and legs the same proportionate strength that a python has in its coils..."
"As mundane snakes do not have arms or legs," I commented, to which Patten nodded.
"He does have that strength in his tail," Patten nodded, "and if he wanted to, he could easily coil it around a person... but Clemens has always been non-violent. It would take quite a bit to get him to the point where he'd want to fight someone."
Molly and I nodded to that before a question came to me.
"Say, if you're wearing at least part of the costume he wore to this convention, what is he doing for Halloween?" I wondered.
"As far as I know, the zoo he works in... mostly managing the reptile house and providing reptile behavior expertise to help various Animal Control Units with the Burmese Python down there and so forth... they do hold a Halloween party. And I don't know if this change was part of his wanting me to be into it or if one of his coworkers got him to do it... but he's actually going as Kaa for the zoo party."
"A bit more of a species appropriate costume," I commented, "wasn't Kaa a Burmese Python in the Jungle Book?"
"Actually Kaa is an Indian Rock Python, a relative of the Burmese Python, though Clemens would be better on the exact differences between those two species," Patten shrugged, "and since Clemens went as Kaa, he sent me the convention costume to wear and "brag" about it touching a celebrity."
Molly gave a slight chuckle.
"So what do you think of the party?" Molly asked him.
"This?" Patten looked out, "For meeting with colleagues and their families it is a good thing. The big thing is that it gives the kids that live out of town something close to a real Halloween... I mean, kids aren't going to go walking for miles the way you two do... If you could move the bags we pack to that table beside you, Officer Wayne, that would be helpful."
I nodded and began moving the bags that Molly and Patten had packed to a table that was nearby. They quietly packed the bags and passed them to me to move to the other table. After a moment, Patten came up with another comment.
"I heard about the address you gave to the high school in response to the attack on Amy Vin and Marcella Tyeree," Patten stated.
"The principal thought I'd be able to sympathize with them more... I guess because Marcella is an Animal Person," I managed, "and to be honest, a good part of me felt rather guilty about them getting attack..."
"Because you urged Ms. Vin to make her statement in the paper?" Patten guessed.
I nodded. Patten then sighed heavily.
"I'm not entirely sure if there is anything I can say that would be truly helpful," Patten sighed, "the attack on Ms. Vin and Ms. Tyeree could have happened anyway... if people were willing to attack them after they find out... it means that they would have made an attack even if the way they found out about the truth behind the predicament between the two of them was different from the way they found out."
"I'm sure," I sighted, "I still felt guilty about it."
Patten slowly nodded, "anyway, I... I just wanted to let you know that you didn't do too bad as a orator. A lot of it sounded like you were winging it, but it wasn't too bad."
"I was winging it," I said weakly, "the request to speak at the assembly came up on short notice... and while I think I can do reasonably well if given time to write it out and get an editor, but this was quick and I had to wing it..."
"And it wasn't too bad," Patten replied, and there was a brief silence, "How have things gone since then?"
"Pretty quiet," I commented, "Though I do not know how much of that is because the kids that launched the attack have been expelled for the rest of this school year and have received other legal penalties in addition to it and they don't want to get caught or because they realize that what the attacking teens did was wrong. I'd like to hope it's because they realize they were wrong, but I can't be sure."
"Hopefully they are," Patten gave a distant sigh, "the elections are coming up in a few days now... and Ms. Choir is in a very good position to win. And with Hireman gone... the hatreds, be they new or old, that Beauregard stirred up will finally die away... and we can all let this stress go."
Molly and I nodded to that.
The party finished at a relatively early hour, which I guess did good for the kids. Even if it wasn't a school night, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to have them out all night. The party ended with bags of candy being handed out to many of the kids who had come as their parents escorted them out. Officer Barnes and Megan were the last to head out.
"Daddy's promised me that mommy's making me a special steak," the told Patten when he went to hand her a bag of candy.
"Oh..." Patten spoke after a moment, probably realizing he'd acted out of habit, and then turned to Officer Barnes, "I don't suppose you would want it?"
"I've never done well on sugar," Officer Barnes commented, "but I think Danielle would enjoy some."
"So you can wrestle?" Megan asked him.
That earned him a smirk from all who had heard Megan's comment. Particularly as Officer Barnes turned an interesting shade of red from embarrassment.
"No I don't think we'll be wrestling tonight," Officer Barnes replied and accepted the candy, "This is to be more of a special treat."
"Oh."