Patricia Rockwell - Essie Cobb 04 - Ghosted (17 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY

“On Halloween, the thing you must do

Is pretend that nothing can frighten you

And if something scares you and you want to run

Just let on like it’s Halloween fun!”

              ––An early nineteenth-century Halloween postcard

Halloween at Happy Haven was the best ever, thought Essie.  As usual, the decorations had now totally filled the lobby.  Ghosts, goblins, and witches were everywhere.  Cobwebs, spiders, and all sorts of little creatures popped out of each corner.  Spooky music played in the background.  In the center of the lobby was a small table on which sat one of the cleverest and funniest decorated cakes Essie had ever seen.  Edward Troy, the dashing WWII hero and potential spy had turned out to be a genuine baker and artistic decorator with a fun-loving spirit that exhibited itself in a whimsical world of Halloween fancifulness.  The main part of the cake was a giant witch’s house.  Surrounding the house were all sorts of cake creatures climbing the walls or playing on the witch’s roof.  It was so delightful and beautiful, Essie couldn’t even bear the thought of anyone cutting into it and eating it, but unfortunately that would happen sometime before the day was over.

At the moment
, the residents were either sitting or standing around the lobby awaiting the arrival of the children who always came on Halloween afternoon to collect goodies from Happy Haven residents.  Essie held a sack with handles that her daughters had purchased for her years ago.  It was full of small candy bars and other treats.  Essie was wearing her witch costume, a long black flowing robe that didn’t quite reach the ground and a pointed black hat.  As she looked around the room, all the other residents were decked out in similar finery.  Some outfits were more elaborate than others; some were new and some were things that Essie knew the resident had worn year after year.  She also knew that at the end of the day, there would be an award given for the best costume. 

Sue Barber had placed a box with a cutout
slit in the top on the front desk.  A sign on the box said, “Best Costume.”  There were ballots in a pile next to the box for residents to write in a person’s name.  Obviously, with no voting control, it would be easy to “stuff the ballot box” but no one seemed to care and each year the best costume inevitably won.  Essie had never won, but then, every year she wore her witch costume which she kept in a bottom dresser drawer.  She was lucky, she thought, that her daughters hadn’t found it and tossed it out with all the other clothes they’d thrown away.

Essie was seated on
one of the long sofas in the lobby.  Opal and Fay were to her left and Marjorie was to her right.  Fay was a railroad conductor—complete with striped hat and red scarf; Opal was a nurse from the 1940s in a white hat, shoes, and hose (she, like Essie, wore the same outfit every year); and Marjorie was probably a hussy, although Essie was sure that that wouldn’t be the term Marjorie would use to describe her outfit: a black and purple sparkly headpiece perched atop her hair and a short satin dress with tassels around the edge.  She was also wearing those see-through fishnet stockings, although Essie thought they didn’t look as if they’d catch many fish.  Of course, Marjorie wasn’t out to catch fish.

Soon, the children arrived in their school bus and entered Happy Haven talking and laughing with enthusiasm.  Their initial shyness
dissipated quickly as they saw the wonderful decorated cake and all the costumed residents.  Soon they were moving around the lobby, going from resident to resident, collecting treats from each and stopping to talk to some, particularly those who were in some of the more outlandish costumes.

Essie loved talking to
the children.  They were always so curious and they never lied—which meant that they told the truth which could hurt sometimes.  They would tell her about her flabby skin or her bald spot on the top of her head.  But none of that mattered.  She loved them and she knew that their curiosity and honesty were wonderful traits—particularly for those who wanted to be detectives someday, as she was.  Maybe next year she should dress up as Sherlock Holmes, not a witch.  She closed her eyes for a second as she thought about this exciting possibility.

“Mom!” called Claudia, shaking her shoulder gently.  “Mom, are you asleep?”

Essie sat up suddenly and was delighted to see her entire family standing in front of her. 

“Hi, Grandma!” said Ned and Bo, both giving her kiss
es on her cheeks.

“Hi, Mom!” added Pru.

“Googling goose feathers!” cried Essie.  “What are you all doing here?”  Opal, Marjorie, and Fay scooted over and made room for Essie’s family on the sofa.  Essie’s daughters sat on either side of her and her two grandsons sat on the floor before her.  There were greetings all around.  By now, the school children were playing and talking to the other residents.  Edward Troy had gone to his Halloween cake and was busy cutting pieces for each child.

“Wow!” said Ned, “that’s some cake!”

“It surely is!” agreed Pru.

“One of the residents made it!” said Essie, not indicating exactly which resident and her own personal connection to the man.

“She’s really talented!” observed Claudia, as all of them looked at the group of children gathered around the pastry masterpiece.

“Oh, not a she!” noted Essie.

“Is that the chef?” asked Ned, gesturing toward Edward Troy who was carefully placing cake slices on paper plates for each child.

“Yes, it is,” said Essie, smiling.  “Now, why are you all here?” 

“Mom,” said Claudia, “we brought you some new clothes!”  She handed Essie a department store sack and Pru contributed a sack of her own.  Essie found herself overwhelmed with bags—her bag of Halloween treats for the children and now two sacks of new clothes.

“These will be much more attractive than your witch outfit, Mom,” said Pru, chuckling
and fingering Essie’s black gown.

“I don’t know, Aunt Pru,” added Ned.  “Gram looks pretty sharp in th
at hat!”  They all laughed.  Essie clutched her sacks full of new clothes.

“Oh, girls, you didn’t need to do th
is!” she said.  “I really have plenty of things to wear.”

“I hope you’re not counting the witch outfit,” suggested Ned. 
There was more laughter.

“Mom
,” said Claudia, “we also wanted to stop by to tell you that Bo’s friend—” She glared at Bo. “Or rather his former friend Dugan pleaded guilty to stealing your jewelry and will be sentenced to probably at least five years or more.  He won’t be bothering you or anyone else for a long time.”

“Oh, dears,
that’s a relief!” said Essie. 

Just then, the Happy Haven director
, Felix Federico, sauntered by, as usual, greeting everyone as he went.  He reached Essie and her entourage.

“Ah, Miss Essie!
  Or should I say, the Good Witch of the North?” he exclaimed.  “You have your fan club here I see!”  He bent low over the sofa, grabbed her hand and kissed it delicately.  Essie’s daughters froze, their eyes bulging out. 

“Mr. Federico,” said Essie.

“Felix,” corrected the man, squeezing Essie’s hand and staring at her with his large brown eyes.  “You know to call me Felix, Essie.”

“Uh, yes, Felix,” she replied.  “These are my daughters and
my two grandsons.”  Introductions were made. 

“Your Essie,” said Felix Federico, “is a star here at Happy Haven, you know.  We are very proud of her.”

“We are too,” said Pru.

“The best grandma in the country!” added Ned.
  Felix Federico smiled warmly at Essie’s relatives and continued on his rounds of all the Halloween merrymakers.  Essie could see him now in the middle of the lobby sampling some of Edward Troy’s amazing decorated cake.

“Mom!” cried Claudia.  “He’s the new director?”

“Yes,” replied Essie with a shrug and a smile.  “Word has it that he was a minor movie star in Italy before he came here.”  The sisters looked at each other and at the vanishing figure of Felix Federico.

“I wouldn’t need a hallucinogenic drug to put me in the hospital with him around!” noted Pru to her sister.

“Indeed,” said Claudia.  “If that man kissed my hand, like he did yours, Mom, call the ambulance!” 

“Mom!” said Bo, sitting on the floor next to the sofa, his hair flopping so far in his face, Essie could barely see his eyes.  It was the first actual word Essie had heard the teenager make
since he arrived.  “Yuck!”  A second word.  Maybe a record.

“That’s not all,” said Marjorie, piping up from down at the end of the sofa.  “Essie’s been detecting again.”

“What?” said Claudia.  “Mom!  You promised you’d be careful!”

“Now what did she do?”
Pru asked Marjorie.

“She’s been tracking potential spies,” offered Opal, sitting on the other end of the sofa.  Claudia now directed her attention to
the opposite direction.

“What?” she asked Opal.

“Opal,” snorted Essie.  “Please!  Really, Marjorie!”

“A bomb plot!” Marjorie tossed out, giving Essie a smile and a stuck out tongue.

“Mom!” cried Pru. 

“That’s for not sharing your suspicions with us,” added Marjorie.

“And your adventures!” said Opal.  Essie was trying to follow her friends’ comments from one end of the sofa to the other like a spectator at a tennis match.

“It really has been quite an adventure lately,” agreed Essie.  “And, girls, Marjorie and Opal are making much more
of it than it’s worth.  I made much more of it than it was worth.”

“Than what, Mom?” asked Claudia.

“Oh, I thought I was about ready to uncover a spy ring,” said Essie casually, “but it turned out to be a cake decorating ring instead!”  Marjorie, Opal, and Fay laughed knowingly and Essie’s family chuckled. 

“Please be careful, Mom,” admonished Pru.  “I don’t want another episode with you in the hospital!”

“Me either!” added Claudia.

“But there is one good thing that came out of all this!” announced Essie brightly.

“What?” asked her daughters.

“I learned bladder control!” said Essie.  “If I can hold my pee when a strange man grabs me from behind, when I think he
’s building a bomb, when I start losing track of time, when the room is spinning, when giant squirrels are popping up in my bathtub, and when my late husband is showing up virtually everywhere, I guess I can hold it anywhere.”

“You shouldn’t be
dressed as a witch today, Gram,” noted Ned from the floor.  “You should be a ghost!  After all, you’ve seen quite a few lately!”

“That I have,” agreed Essie.  “I’ve been ghosted!”

With that, everyone on the couch laughed heartily and then eventually rose to get a piece of the Halloween decorated cake before it completely disappeared.  Essie’s daughters took her back to her room and had her try on all her new clothes and Essie threw her witch’s outfit in the trash.  Next year she would be a ghost—or maybe Sherlock Holmes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patricia Rockwell is the author of two mystery series.  Her Pamela Barnes acoustic mysteries include SOUNDS OF MURDER, FM FOR MURDER, VOICE MAIL MURDER, STUMP SPEECH MURDER, and MURDER IN THE ROUND.  Her Essie Cobb senior sleuth mysteries include BINGOED, PAPOOSED, and VALENTINED.  She is the founder and publisher of Cozy Cat Press, which specializes in producing cozy (or gentle) mysteries.

Patricia has spent most of her life teaching.  Her Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees are from the University of Nebraska in Speech, and her Ph.D. is from the University of Arizona in Communication.  She was on the faculty at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for thirteen years, retiring in 2007.

Dr. Rockwell is presently living in Aurora, Illinois, with her husband Milt, also a retired educator. 

For information about other Cozy Cat Press mysteries,
visit our website at: 
www.cozycatpress.com