Coach S points at the candy bag. Im crying but might be smiling too cuz I can feel tears hanging on the edge a my teeth. Halloween is supposed to taste like sugar but this tastes like salt. Coach S reaches into the bag. I let him go ahead. Coach S and Robbie have what you call unfinished business but Robbies not currently present. I dont think hes coming either. So Ill be Robbie. Just for Coach S, just this once.

* * *

He dont even unwrap the Chocolate Creeper Peeper all the way. He chews it with half the wrapper on. His drool goes brown. He points at his chomping mouth and I might be grinning and I hand him a Strawberry Scary Jelly. His drool goes pink. Even though hes still gumming he points to his mouth again and I start to unwrap a Three Musketeer before he nabs it and pops it in. His drool goes red. I might be crying but Im for sure now definitely laughing and I realize I sound like all them child ghosts behind me howling in the night with throats like a thousand clocks.

* * *

See? Thats proof all this is happening way off in the future. These kids here are gonna die of old age long after the dozers finish dozing, and tonight their ghosts are just coming back to visit. They rush in fast around me and Coach S and also Robbie and Dag and Midge up in the window. I cant see no moving feet. Theyre fluttering ghost sheets and reaching ghost hands and wailing like theyre in pain but enjoying it too. They dont want candy. They want us. Theyre a fam bigger than any a us ever had, and they got space for us to join.

* * *

Sure, Ill join. Im not scared a pinch. This is the future. In the future Im no poopypants baby. Im a man. Trust me, things come out real good for all our asses. We survive that shit. We do. We have no choice.

* * *

Believe, yo.

Local Footballer Shows Promise

Freshman running back Robbie Glinton is the Gazette Athlete of the Week for his performance on November 18 at home versus Mount Vernon where he ran for 174 yards and scored 4 rushing touchdowns. “He has raw talent for fundamentals, a real enthusiasm for the sport, and responds well to coaching,” praised a smiling Coach Jim Sorley. “We expect great things from him in the future.”

Thanks to Richard Abate, Megan Abbott, Charles Ardai, Andrew Karre, Amanda Kraus, Paul Mann, Maryse Meijer, Javier Ramirez, Grant Rosenberg, Julia Smith, and Onur Tukel.