Helping Mr. I. M.
By Audrey W.
Roy opened the door and greeted his
partner, an orange plastic pumpkin with a handle in his grasp. "You ready to
go?"
"Where're the kids?" Johnny asked, peering behind Roy.
"Jennifer's staying with Jo's sister Eileen and her family, so she's going with
them. Chris is upstairs with the measles. Joanne's with him now."
"The measles?"
"Yep. They showed up this afternoon."
"Oh man. Tough break."
"Yes, it is. That's why we're gonna go around for him."
Johnny looked at his friend with surprise. "We are?"
"Uh huh."
Gage held up his hands in defense. "Now wait a minute, Roy. I may be younger
than you, but I'll never pass for your kid."
"No, not you AS my kid. He's gonna be between us."
"Huh?"
Roy held up a finger indicating for Johnny to wait. The dark-haired paramedic
stood on the porch, safe from any measle germs, and waited, not sure he wanted
to know what was up.
Soon the older man returned with a long piece of heavy thread and slid it
between the plastic handle and main part of the plastic pumpkin. He handed one
end of the thread to Johnny, while he took the other. The pumpkin hung between
them as if suspended in air.
"Okay, now what?" Johnny asked.
"We go house to house with 'Chris' as the Invisible Man."
"The Invisible. . .Roy, are you NUTS? No one's gonna buy this."
"Maybe not. But if that doesn't work, there's always the truth."
Gage sighed. He motioned with his head for Roy to follow as he stepped off the
porch, the thread still in his hands.
"The things we do for friends."
****
An hour and a half later, Johnny and Roy
returned, both beaming. Neither could wait for Chris to see all the candy they'd
gotten him.
When they stepped on the porch, Joanne was there to greet them.
"So, how'd it go?"
"Great!" Johnny answered before Roy could. The senior paramedic shot him a look
that said, 'excuse me?', then smiled and looked at his wife as Johnny just
shrugged.
"He's right, Jo. People loved the Invisible Man idea."
"Yeah, Chris ought to not go trick-or-treating more often," Johnny added.
"Well, I'm not sure you'll get him to stay home next year," Joanne said, "but
this will sure make him happy."
"Thanks for the help." Roy waved to Johnny as he started down the walk. Suddenly
the younger man stopped. "Hey, Roy?"
"Yeah?" Roy could see the question on his partner's face. After all, they HAD
done a lot of walking. He tossed a couple of Payday candy bars to Gage. "I don't
think Chris'll miss 'em."
Johnny caught the bars and nodded. "Thanks. See you tomorrow."
"Night."
The door closed behind Roy and Johnny got into his Land Rover. Driving away, the
younger man thought back to their night of trick-or-treating. He'd never forget
some of the expressions he saw when they said Chris was dressed as the Invisible
Man.
The end... :o)
Thanks to Lizabeth T. for the inspiration!
And thanks to the others for saying, "Sure, post it." I had fun. :o)
*Click on the picture to send feedback to Audrey
