A Pizza To Die For - A Pizza To Die For Part 29
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A Pizza To Die For Part 29

And that's when it hit me. I was getting tired of being alone. Having David Quinton join me after work had already become something that I looked forward to, and the first night he was going to be absent, I was shocked to realize that I was feeling lonely.

After giving myself a pep talk, I left the Slice and drove home. I was a grown woman.

I could spend the evening by myself if I had to.

I just didn't want to.

When I woke up, I said, "Happy Halloween" to myself, and got ready for a very big day. We'd have our regular opening time for lunch, but our dinner shift would be hit or miss, serving our little ghost pizzas for a dollar each and contributing the profits to the Helping Hand Fund, a program set up to relieve some of the burdens of the very poorest in our community. It was a charity I fully supported, and I was happy for the opportunity to contribute my little bit to it. I completely understood the desire of some folks to help others in foreign countries, but I had a hard time doing it when I knew that kids within ten miles of me were going to bed hungry at night, or being forced to do without much-needed medications. Giving them my time and money made me feel as though I was making a difference, no matter how little I managed to contribute every year.

After my shower, I realized that in the rush of everything that had been going on over the last week, I'd forgotten to get a costume, and for the first time in years, I felt like dressing up. I went through my closets, trying to come up with something I could put together, but I wasn't having much luck when my telephone rang.

"Happy Halloween," Maddy said.

"The same to you. What are you dressing up as this year?"

"I'm going to be Tinkerbell."

"Excuse me? You're kidding, right?"

She laughed. "No, I picked up some gossamer wings, and I'm doing the coolest makeup. The outfit shows off my figure, too."

"Not too much, I hope. We've got kids coming to the Slice." My sister had been known to get carried away in the name of Halloween.

"It's in perfect taste," she said. "Well, it should at least pass inspection. How about you? What did you come up with?"

"I haven't," I reluctantly admitted. "I forgot to do anything earlier, and now it's too late."

"Nonsense," she said. "Give me twenty minutes, and I'll be right there. We can come up with something together. It will be like old times. We made our costumes at the last minute more than once in the old days, remember?"

"See you then," I said. When Maddy and I were kids, we couldn't always afford the latest and greatest in costumes, so we'd started a tradition of making each other's outfits for Halloween. In our own little world, the sister who helped the other achieve the best look got a third of that sister's candy, so it had been serious business between us. Sadly, Maddy usually won. She had a knack for seeing the potential in a pile of junk, and I almost always had a costume cooler than anything we could have bought at the store.

I grabbed a yogurt and added some cold fruit to it, and then scanned the newspaper as I waited for her.

When Maddy showed up, she looked absolutely adorable. Her costume shimmered as she moved, and her eyes were highlighted by a skilled makeup job. Something was missing, though.

"Hey, where are your wings?"

"I had to take them off. They're murder to drive in. Do you like it?" she asked as she twirled around, her skirt flaring as she did.

"It's perfect. You're going to have all the boys in town chasing after you."

"It's not the boys I care about," she said with a wicked grin. "It's the men I'm after."

"Not just one in particular? What's Bob going as?"

She shrugged. "He won't tell me, but he bought his costume at a big shop in Charlotte, and I can't wait to see it."

"You're really good for him, aren't you?"

She shrugged. "Honestly, we're good for each other. He's probably a better man than I deserve."

The admission was unusual for her. "I find that hard to believe."

"It's true," she insisted.

"Then why don't you treat him better than you do?"

Maddy bit her lip, and then said, "I wonder that sometimes myself."

"Could it be that your heart can't take being broken again? It's almost as though you don't want to get your hopes up this time."

She thought about that, and then said, "I honestly don't know. You could be right, Eleanor."

"He loves you, Maddy," I said.

She looked as though she wanted to cry when she heard me say that, something I didn't want. Making my voice lighter, I asked, "But then, who doesn't? You're going to be the hit of Halloween."

"Not if I can help it. Now let's see that closet of yours. Not the good stuff, either. I want the things you're ready to take to Goodwill."

After going through every item of clothing I had in my possession, Maddy frowned at the lot of it. "There's not a great deal here to work with, is there?"

"Sorry. I suspected that it was too much to ask."

"Nonsense," she said. Maddy frowned at it all, and then looked intently at me. "I'm going to suggest something to you, but if it's a bad idea, tell me up front and I'll drop it. Will you promise to do that?"

"I'm listening," I said. It was hard to tell what my sister was about to suggest, but her warning gave me more than a little pause.

"Do you have anything of Joe's that you kept?"

"No," I said firmly. "I won't do that."

"Fine, it was just an idea."

I explained, "Maddy, the things I've kept aren't for mocking, and that's what would happen if I wore them for Halloween."

"I said I was fine with it." She kept looking at my clothes, and finally said, "This is hopeless."

"Well, we both know I can't wear anything you've got." I could, if I was going for a laugh. My sister was tall and slim, whereas I was a good deal shorter, and curvier than she'd ever been in her life.

"Let's see your basement," Maddy said firmly.

"There's nothing down there that I can wear," I insisted.

"Well, the same goes for up here. Come on, what have we got to lose?"

"I don't have to dress up this year," I said as I reached for a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt. I was still wearing my pajamas in the hopes that my sister would find something better for me to wear.

"Go on, put those on first. I have an idea. I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

"Trust me," she said.

That's when I knew I was in trouble.

I dressed as usual for a day of making pizzas and had just about resigned myself to being plain and boring when she came back upstairs carrying something.

"These are yours, aren't they?" She was carrying a paint-splattered pair of white overalls and an equally cruddy hat in her arms.

"Yes. I wore them when Joe and I painted the house."

"Any sentimental value to them?"

I thought about it, and then shook my head. "It was miserable standing on a ladder trying not to fall and cutting in paint around the edges of all the woodwork. I would have donated them long ago if I thought anyone would be interested in them."

"Put them on. I need to get my makeup kit, and we'll finish it off."

"That's it? I'm going as a painter?"

"Hey," she said, "don't be so critical. I didn't have much to work with here, and at least people will know that you made some kind of effort."

"Okay," I said. "I'll try anything at this point."

"Trust me, you'll look adorable."

I pulled my overalls on over my jeans, and there was so much paint on the legs that they crinkled as I walked. Next, I put the hat on, tucking my hair back in a ponytail before I did, and then I looked in the mirror. It wasn't bad at all, once I had it on.

Maddy came back, not with her makeup, but with some small plastic containers of the craft paint sold at craft stores.

"I found these in my trunk," she said. "They'll be even better."

"Whatever you say."

"I love it when you say that," Maddy said. "Now sit down on the bed so I can get to work."

"Why don't we go downstairs?" I asked. "That way we won't have to worry about spilling any paint up here."

"It's all water based, so it will come right up."

"But there's no reason to take the chance." I started downstairs, with Maddy close behind.

After taking a seat at the kitchen counter, I turned my face to her and said, "Knock yourself out."

She took out an old pie tin and asked, "May I use this?"

"Be my guest."

Maddy squirted dollops of paint from several little bottles, and then took out a small paintbrush and started making sweeping dabs on my face.

After half a dozen strokes, I said, "That's enough."

"Just one more," she said as she dragged one across my nose.

"That's too much."

She shrugged. "See for yourself. I think you look adorable."

I couldn't imagine that was true, but I walked into the hallway and looked into the mirror framed by quarter sawn oak, anyway. I had to admit it. She'd done an excellent job.

"It looks great," I said. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome. Now, are you ready to make some pizza?"

"I'd better be," I replied.

"That's the spirit. Did you make a sign for your trick-or-treaters for tonight?"

"No, I figured I'd just keep the porch light off. I don't think any kid in town goes door to door trick-or-treating anymore. Why should they? They get more goodies at the Blowout than they'd ever get walking through our neighborhood."

"You know, sometimes I kind of miss the old Halloween," she said.

"If you come to my door later, I'll find something I can give you."

"I might just take you up on that. I'll see you at the Slice."

"Okay. Maddy? Thanks for doing this."

She smiled brightly at me. "Are you kidding? You know me. I live for things like this."

"I know. And when you think about it, why not? You're really good at it."

"It's not just about wearing costumes," she explained as I locked the house behind us. "It's a chance to live outside our regular lives, you know?"

"I know you've always felt that way."

She looked hard at me. "You have, too."

"But not for a while," I said.

"Maybe again, though."

"Perhaps," I said.

We were walking to our cars when I spotted a vehicle driving erratically toward us. I wasn't sure who the driver was, but when it stopped in front of my place with two tires on my lawn, I easily recognized her.

It looked like one of our suspects was coming to pay us a visit.