Ghosts of Halloween Past:
A Legacy of Love and Traditions
written by: Kelly Malleck
“Someone’s burning leaves tonight,” Mom said as she parked her minivan in the alley adjacent to her parents’ house. She let out a big sigh and wiped a tear from her cheek. This was the first time she and Johnny had returned since Grandma Jean died last week. The doctor listed her cause of death as a broken heart. Grandpa Lou had passed away on the Fourth of July, and Grandma Jean had never been the same.
Johnny usually loved coming to his grandparents’ house, but now that Grandma and Grandpa were both gone, he didn’t want to go inside.
He lumbered onto the front porch and looked at the colorful decorations Grandma Jean had put up the week before. She’d hung up a life-size cardboard skeleton with moveable joints on the front door, just as she had every year since he could remember. He noticed two cardboard jack-o-lanterns with bright-eyed black cats on each living room window and a plug-in pumpkin on the table next to the door. He switched on the pumpkin, and it produced an eerie glow.
Mom put the key in the door and clicked open the lock. Johnny heard the heavy wooden door creak, and his heart raced. He couldn’t bear to go inside. The house just seemed so…dead.
It would be empty and quiet. No Halloween traditions with his grandparents. No hot apple cider warming on the stove, filling the house with its cinnamon aroma. No powdered sugar doughnuts stacked on the You Are Special Plate on the dining room table. And no slightly burned pumpkin-shaped pepperoni pizza warming in the oven to welcome him. Most importantly, no laughter and no noise. The silence was disorienting.
“I don’t want to go in,” Johnny said, “I’m going out back.”
Mom gave him a squeeze.
“Okay, honey. I won’t be long. I just want to water the plants, check the mail, and try to find the will.”
The sun would be setting early. Johnny trudged to the backyard and sat down under the large evergreen tree to spend some time alone.
The grandfather clock in the living room chimed four times.
***
“Grandpa Lou, I miss you so much,” Johnny whispered into the cool autumn breeze as he walked into the backyard. Even though Grandma Jean had passed away last week, Johnny longed for his Grandpa Lou.
He couldn’t believe his best buddy was gone.
It was just after Thanksgiving dinner last year, when the family was gathered over pumpkin pie and ice cream, that they learned about Grandpa Lou’s cancer. Pie and cancer. Johnny hadn’t eaten pumpkin pie since.
Johnny thought Grandpa Lou was the bravest man he knew. He had been a TOPGUN pilot in the Navy, and Johnny loved hearing the stories about the many times he’d almost lost his life. And now, with his courageous battle with cancer, Johnny loved him even more.
“Don’t you worry about me. I lived fast, and it just makes sense that I’ll die fast, too,” Grandpa said matter-of-factly.
Johnny and his mom started crying immediately.
“Oh, Daddy, we’ll pray, and maybe there will be a treatment that can help,” Mom offered hopefully.
She grabbed her napkin from the table and blew her nose loudly.
“Everyone just settle down,” Grandpa Lou said. “We’re all on limited time. Let’s just enjoy the time we have together. Jean, pass me another slice of pie and hold the ice cream.”
Grandma passed the pie, and Johnny curled up on Grandpa Lou’s lap, overcome by fear and sadness.
“I’m gonna miss you,” he sniffled, raising his arms to encircle his grandpa’s neck to draw him closer. He rested his head against Grandpa Lou’s chest, dampening his tee shirt with hot tears. “Who will share stories about TOPGUN with me?” Johnny asked.
Johnny loved hearing about Grandpa Lou’s TOPGUN team’s experiments with new maneuvers in dogfighting and air-to-air combat. He’d fall into his storytelling mode, and his eyes would get that faraway look like he was living in the moment again. It was a special time that they both enjoyed.
“I’ll miss you too, champ,” he said, wiping tears from Johnny’s face with his large, calloused hands. “But I’m alive today, and while I’m here, I’ll write some stories down, and we’ll make some videos so that you can always keep me close. No matter what happens. Pinky promise.”
He held out his hooked pinky finger.
“Pinky promise,” Johnny sputtered, almost inaudibly. He extended his little finger and the two clasped pinkies, squeezing them tight before releasing.
Grandpa Lou pressed his cheek onto the top of Johnny’s head. Silent teardrops slid down his wrinkled cheeks and dropped into his grandson’s golden curls.
***
Johhny went out to the giant evergreen tree in the spacious backyard and took a deep breath, filling his nostrils with the pine needles’ sweet and earthy scent. He flopped down on the soft bed of needles and lay on his back, still in his drab green maverick flight suit costume. He wanted more than anything to be a fighter pilot when he grew up.
The air was crisp and cool on Johnny’s cheeks. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a full-size Baby Ruth candy bar, chomping and savoring a big bite. Little crumbs of chocolate fell into the creases of his neck and melted with the warmth of his body. Johnny’s mom was strict about limiting sweets, but today was Halloween, and he’d been enjoying a steady stream of sugar all day long.
His fifth-grade class had a costume party. He and his classmates had shared spooky stories they’d written all month, and the students paraded around the room to “Monster Mash.” Mrs. Rogers was dressed like a black widow spider with a red hourglass on her back. She had given each student a disposable glove wrapped up like a hand that contained Smarties for fingers and two packs of Sour Patch Kids for the palm and tied it all together with an orange ribbon. She attached a little card that said, “Hands down, you’re my sweetest little monster.” Johnny smiled, then untied the ribbon and gobbled up the sweets.
With his belly full of sugar, Johnny let his mind wander back to Halloween last year. After trick-or-treating together, Grandpa Lou and Johnny poured out their loot to search for their favorite candies like rabid raccoons. Johnny always snagged the Baby Ruths, and Grandpa Lou grabbed all the bags of M&Ms.
Grandma Jean had a hot bath waiting for Johnny, and put his flannel pajamas on his bed. As he dressed, he admired the mounted shelves in his room that were full of model airplanes that he and Grandpa Lou had built together over the past few years, including an F-14 Tomcat, a P-51 Mustang, a Super Hornet, and his favorite – the Darkstar – their work in progress, which sat on the desk unfinished.
When he went to bed that night, he rested, fully content, knowing he’d become a pilot like Grandpa Lou. He thought about flying the Darkstar and reaching Mach 5 just before drifting off to sleep.
***
The grandfather clock chimed six times.
“Oh geez! I fell asleep,” Johnny said, bolting straight upright, disoriented and momentarily forgetting where he was.
As he looked up and saw the first stars beginning to twinkle in the indigo sky, he imagined his Grandpa Lou flying among them, guiding his plane through the heavens. Just then, a shooting star streaked across the sky, and Johnny made a wish.
“I wish to be a pilot just like you, Grandpa Lou.”
The shooting star paused briefly, then disappeared. Johnny felt a sense of peace, knowing his wish had been heard.
He dusted the pine needles off his maverick costume and collected his candy wrappers, shoving them deep into his pockets, then walked across the dark yard and onto the front porch. He turned the doorknob and pushed open the creaky wooden door.
When he did, he heard a soft sound coming from the kitchen. His mom was humming a familiar tune that Grandma Jean used to sing. On the stove, a pot of apple cider was warming, filling the house with the scent of cinnamon.
“I found Grandma Jean’s recipe for the cider and ordered us a pumpkin-shaped pizza, too,” his mom said with a smile.
He hugged his mom tight. She knew exactly what he needed – traditions. She poured them each a steaming mug of hot cider.
“I want to go upstairs for a minute. I’ll be right back,” Johnny said.
He climbed the steps two-by-two, walked into the bedroom, and flicked on the overhead light. He saw the unfinished Darkstar model on his desk and read a note next to it, written in Grandma Jean’s delicate handwriting: “Finish what you started, my brave pilot. We’re proud of you.”
Johnny’s heart swelled with love. He tucked the note into his pocket, grateful to have such loving grandparents, even if they were now gone.
He saw the headlights of the delivery driver’s car creep across his bedroom wall.
“Pizza’s here!” Mom called.
Johnny gathered the unfinished Darkstar, put it in its box to take home, and bounded down the stairs for dinner.
***
As Johnny and his mom sat at the table, the cider’s warmth and the pizza’s aroma made the house feel like Grandma Jean and Grandpa Lou were there with them, sharing in the Halloween traditions. Johnny took a bite of pizza and smiled. It was slightly burnt—just like Grandma Jean’s had always been.
His mom raised her mug of steaming cider and proposed a toast.
“Here’s to carrying on family traditions.”
They clinked their mugs, and each took a sip to seal the deal. They both felt better than when they’d arrived.
After dinner, Johnny and his mom cleaned up, locked the house, and piled into the minivan. They drove home silently, and Johnny thought about the note from Grandma Jean and the unfinished Darkstar model that was now safely packed in its box. Things would be different with his grandparents gone, but their memories would be kept alive within him.
When he climbed into bed that night, Johnny rolled over and looked out the window at the starry sky, feeling sure Grandpa Lou was watching over him. He was grateful they were still together on Halloween, if only in spirit.
He realized that their love had left a legacy even though his grandparents were gone. Everything would be different, including Halloween, but he felt at peace knowing their traditions would live on. And with that, he drifted to sleep, dreaming of flying through the heavens, just like Grandpa Lou.
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