Special Costumes(Marla) Sarah, dressed in jeans and T-shirt that read simply “This is my Halloween Shirt” and her two boys were in a thrift shop, hoping to find Halloween costumes. They had already seen a few superhero costumes, but they looked too small. Sarah was about to suggest cutting some holes in sheets when Tanner, technically her youngest, said, “I think there are more back there!” He pointed toward a corner in the back of the store.

“Okay,” Sarah replied. The three made their way to the corner. The costumes there looked quite old. They started moving the hangers, looking at each costume.

“Hey, cool! A dog costume.” The costume was a full-body one, with a hood attached. There were feet and hand covers as well.

“Is there another one?” asked Timothy.

“Well, there is a similar costume, but it’s a cat,” answered Sarah.

“Cool. We don’t want to be exactly the same anyway,” said Timothy.

Sarah took both costumes off of the hangers. She held them out to the boys. “Well, what do you think?”

“I like them!” said Tanner, his eyes bright with anticipation of wearing the costume.

“Me too! Can we get these, Mom?” said Timothy. He gave the hopeful look that he always gave when he really wanted something.

“Well, let’s check for the prices,” Sarah answered. She turned the costumes around several times but couldn’t find any tags.

The store manager, who had been with another customer, approached them. “I see you’ve found a few things in our special department.” The small, older woman spoke with a soft voice. She was dressed entirely in black, and the effect was one of classic elegance.

“Special department?” asked Sarah.

“Oh, well, these are quite old. I tried to look them up online, but I couldn’t find anything. I think that they were custom made.”

“How much are they?” Sarah hoped that the manager wasn’t going to overcharge her for the costumes. It was true that they appeared to be unique, but still, it was the day before Halloween. How likely would it be that she'd be able to sell them later in the day?

The older woman considered the costumes for a moment or two before saying, “How about $15.00 for the two?”

Sarah didn’t have to think about it. “Yes,” she answered. “Thank you.”

The older woman smiled at the boys. “I’m sure that you will have fun. These costumes are so realistic, aren't they?”

The boys let out a cheer and gave each other a high five. “This is going to be awesome!” exclaimed Tanner.

At home, the boys wanted to put the costumes on. “You may put them on, but only for a few minutes. We don’t want anything to happen to them before you need them tomorrow. The boys agreed, surprising Sarah somewhat. She’d prepared herself for some begging from the twins.

The next evening, the boys put the costumes on again. “We’re ready, Mom!”

“Okay, hold on! I’m grabbing the flashlight. It will be getting dark as we are coming back to the house.” She stepped into the living room and saw her boys. Although she had seen them wearing the costumes for the agreed upon few minutes the night before, she was struck again with how great the costumes looked. She’d definitely gotten a bargain.

The happy mom and excited boys left and headed for the first door.

“Trick-or-treat!” they said in unison.

“My goodness, what great costumes!” said their neighbor, Mrs. Peterson as she put two mini candy bars into the boys’ bags.

“Thanks, Mrs. Peterson!” Said the boys, again in unison.

They made their way down the street, waving to the kids. After about fifteen minutes, Tanner suddenly said, “Oh wow, oh wow, this is so fun! This is so so fun!” He jumped around a few times, and he circled Sarah in unrestrained joy.

“Tanner!” Sarah laughed. “Tanner, what’s gotten into you? You haven’t even had any candy yet!”

“I know! I know! I just love you so so much and I am so so happy to be here!” Tanner exclaimed.

“I love you, too! But let’s try to walk like normal people, okay? I am glad you are having fun, though. She glanced at Timothy and was surprised to see that he was walking with a sort of swagger. “Timothy! What on earth are you doing?” Timothy gave her only a quick glance and kept walking. “Hey…son of mine, Timothy.”

This time Timothy stopped walking. He looked, no he gazed up at Sarah and then inexplicably rubbed his head against her arm. “What was that?” Sarah asked. “Oh, I see now. Both of you boys are really getting into character. Well, okay then. But remember, we have to be careful on the street.”

Ten minutes later, the boys were still behaving like the animals they were dressed up as, but on a higher level. At three houses, Sarah had to tell Tanner not to sniff the shoes of the people handing out candy and she had to tell Timothy not to slink away.

“Boys, we are going home,” Sarah said. “It was fine at first, but it’s not funny now.” The boys didn’t even argue, which was very strange. Sarah sighed. It only got worse on the walk home. Tanner barked a few times. Timothy hissed when another child got a little too close.

As Sarah opened the door to the house, both boys darted in quickly. Timothy ran to the couch and curled up into a ball. Tanner wagged his rear end and sat on the floor. Then he quickly stood and wagged his rear end again. He looked at Sarah as if waiting for her to say something.

“Boys, get those costumes off NOW.” At this, Tanner let out a whine and turned his head to one side. Timothy merely stretched himself out fully, gave a yawn, then curled up again. Sarah crouched down next to Tanner. She gently pushed the hoodie part off of his head. “Tanner. Listen to me. Take the costume off.” She unzipped the front and helped her son out of the costume.

“I’m so tired,” he said sleepily. He took a few steps to the recliner chair and fell into it. “Love you, Mom,” he said before falling to sleep.

Sarah went to the couch and repeated the process with Timothy, who did not resist. When the costume was off, he got back onto the couch and fell asleep.

Sarah shuddered. What a weird night! She shoved the costumes into a plastic bag and put the bag in a closet. She made herself a cup of hot cocoa and added some whipped cream. After she felt somewhat settled, she placed the cup in the sink.

She considered carrying the boys to their rooms but decided to wait. She knew that Ian wouldn’t mind helping her with that task when he got home. Instead, she retrieved two cozy blankets and covered her boys.

……………

The next morning, the boys ran to the kitchen while Sarah was making coffee. Tanner was the first to speak “Mom! We did go trick-or-treating, right? I barely remember anything!”

“Oh, I assure you, we went.”

“Where’s our candy?” asked Timothy.

“It’s on the table. You’ll have to wait until sometime after breakfast before you eat it,” said Sarah.

“We didn’t have any last night, did we?” said Tanner. “Because I don’t remember having any.”

“No. You were pretty tired when we got home.”

“Hey, Mom,” said Tanner. “Do you think we could wear the costumes again today?”

Sarah nearly dropped her coffee cup. “No. I think it would be better not to.”

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