Seer (23 page)

“Going to start wearing that tee shirt I gave you?” I asked her.

“What?” She frowned. “Oh. No. Aubree knows I don’t mean anything.”

I glanced at Aubree but couldn’t tell if she was disappointed by that statement. I looked back to Dolores. “What will it cost?”

She turned her drawing back and frowned. “I don’t know.
If I do all of it? Maybe a couple of grand.” She sighed. “That’s too much. If I get rid of-”

“No,” I said. “Do it the way you want. A couple of grand is fine, although I’d prefer if we
can store it for next year. I was afraid you were going to say twenty.”

“Oh, no. Probably not even two grand, if I’m creative. I can cut corners.”

“No,” I said. “Do it the way you want.”

She smiled. “How would you feel about buying a couple of fog machines? They’re actually not very expensive.”

“Where would you put them?” Aubree asked.

“Here and here,”
Dolores pointed to her drawing.

Aubree studied the drawing,
then she took it and began walking around the yard, pointing out features and where they would be. She and Dolores discussed them, then Aubree said, “Get four. Flood the area closest to the house.”

“Four is a waste,” Dolores said. “They’re like a hundred bucks each.”

“Get them,” I said. “Do we have time? I can’t imagine you just run over to Home Depot.”

“You can get them online,” Dolores said.

“I’ll take care of that part,” Aubree said. “I’ll make sure they arrive in plenty of time to test them out and make sure we’re satisfied.”

“Get plenty of fog juice, too,” Dolores said. “Lots.” She turned to me. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. And got a kiss for it. It was a nice kiss, and Solange just smirked.

“All right,” Dolores said. “Now let’s talk about the inside.”

“You know, I’m going to be worthless for help. I can’t do any of this, and if you ask me to try, I’ll ruin it.”

“I’m not any better,” Solange said.

“We’ll handle everything,” Aubree said. “I’ll pay for everything and submit an invoice.”

“If they’re doing the work,” Solange said, “At least let me split the cost with you, Sidney.”

“We’ll see,” I said. “End of conversation.”

“For now,” she agreed.

Dolores and Aubree were both kids in a candy store, and over the next two weeks, my yard and house was transformed from lovely, welcoming home in suburbia to welcome but haunting — and presumably haunted — mini-mansion.

It was a little frightening, actually.

The Saturday before Halloween, Dolores and Aubree asked to demonstrate what they had done. I’d been watching it go up, but I didn’t realize some of the features. They made us go out to dinner while they prepared everything and called us when we could come back.

“Park down the street and pretend you’re a trick-or-treater,” Dolores told me.

So we did. Aubree and Dolores were wearing their fall coats, waiting for us.

When we arrived, I saw that my driveway was partially gated off by what appeared to be a crumbling gated entry. It was open widely enough for a small group to step through. We stopped and stared.
They had installed green and orange lights, giving everything a spooky glow, and I was knocked breathless. The fog machines were going, adding to the ambiance. I wouldn’t say the house looked exactly like the one from the TV show, but it gave a good impression of a run-down, haunted mansion.

“Oh my god,” I said finally. “It’s amazing!”

“You’re a trick-or-treater,” Dolores said. “Go ring the bell.”

With her arm around me, Solange and I stepped through the open gate. They had arranged things on my driveway so we had to take a winding path to the front door, and as soon as we
stepped through, the sound effects started.

There was a dead bush
in a shallow planter to our left, and I heard what sounded like a rabid dog growling at us. I jerked to the side, bumping into Solange. Behind me, Dolores giggled. A few steps later, we heard wolf howls from further off. From behind us, I heard the sound of a gate slamming closed, and I jumped, turning around, expecting to be locked in. Instead, all I saw was Dolores, grinning madly.

“You’re going to scare the crap out of the kids,” I said.

“We won’t use the scary stuff for the little ones,” she explained.

We turned the corner at the front of the garage, moving towards the front door. Suddenly something lunged at me and
, screaming, I spun towards it. I would have fallen if Solange hadn’t caught me. A ghost, five feet off the ground, dashed right through me, brushing me as it whipped past. Two more followed it, making loud, moaning sounds as they wafted past. I screamed a second time.

Dolores was beside herself with glee at my reactions. Solange was trying to play it cool, but she had jumped a little, too.

My put my hand to my chest, willing my pounding heart to stop. It wasn’t that the ghosts themselves were that scary, but they had caught me by surprise. I managed to calm down, but after that, I jumped at every little sound.

The sidewalk was blocked off, and we were forced to travel out into the yard. As soon as we got there, I heard the sounds of bats, and then a few almost dived at us, pulling up at the last second. I screamed again and waved at them, but I missed.

The path weaved around some of the other static features, the fog, sound effects, and lights continuing to give a spooky glow. As we approached the front steps, Dolores moved up next to me. Then there was an inhuman, primal scream from above us and a shape was hurtling out of the dark. I screamed again as it landed on two feet directly in front of me, and Solange pulled me away, pushing me behind her.

It was just Aubree, and instead of grabbing me, she grabbed a shrieking, giggling Dolores, bending her back and lowering her mouth to Dolores’ neck.

“Aubree!” Solange yelled.

Aubree kissed Dolores’ neck then helped her stand back up straight. Dolores was laughing madly.

I crowded behind Solange, waiting for my heart to slow down again.

“Damn it, Aubree,” I said. “You scared the crap out of me. How did you jump from up there?” She’d come down off the roof.

She turned around, and I saw she was wearing some sort of harness, attached to wires. Dolores stepped up and unhooked Aubree, and a moment later the wires lifted into the sky, disappearing in the dark.

“You can’t do that to the kids,” I said.

“I know, but I just couldn’t help it.” Aubree grinned.

“We were going to let her grab you,” said Dolores, “but she said Solange would freak out.”
She gestured to the door. “You haven’t finished.”

I crowded against
Solange’s side, pulling her arm around me and wrapping both of mine around her. We stepped up to the door. Nothing happened.

Dolores and Aubree were standing well back, and I just knew they had something good waiting.

“Go ahead,” Dolores said. “Ring the bell.”

“You ring it,” I said to Solange.

So she did.

The house screamed at us, a horrible scream, and when it ended, all around us, spider web
s dropped down, and countless spiders skittered down them.

I screamed again and banged against the house when I flinched away from everything.

After a brief moment, the webs lifted again, and I couldn’t even see where they went.

Dolores was chortling. “You’re the perfect victim, Sidney.” She high-fived Aubree, who seemed pleased, too. “There’s a different path to leave.” She gestured.

There weren’t any more shocking surprises as we made our way back out to the street. We followed a winding path past far tamer displays. Even by themselves they were spooky, but I didn’t scream again. Dolores and Aubree followed along behind us. We gathered in the street.

“Well?” Dolores said.

“It’s brilliant,” I said.

“Everything is on a remote,” she explained. “We’re going to have one of us manning the gate, maybe two of us, and we’ll escort people to make sure they behave and stuff. We can control which setting everything is. You got a ten. On a one, we don’t do any of the close stuff, and we can even turn all the sound effects off entirely if it’s a real little kid.”

“Basically for settings, we have off, low, medium, high, and scare the pants off Sidney.”

I laughed nervously. “It’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant.”

“We have a sound effect for when you open the door, too. It makes a creaking sound.”

“You went all out,” I said. “I can’t believe you got all this done.”

“It’s been some late nights building some of the sets,” Dolores explained. “The ghosts and bats were tricky, but the other effects weren’t bad. A speaker and a motion detector all tied to a computer.”

“That was all automatic?”

“Yep.”

I shook my head. “My heart is still pounding.”

Dolores hadn’t stopped grinning, but she stepped up and hugged me tightly.

Everything on my driveway was easily moved. Aubree and Dolores moved it all inside to the side, and Solange and Aubree retrieved their cars, parking them in my driveway. Then they put most of it back in place, setting the stage for next Friday.

The inside was decorated, too, but other than the creaking door, there weren’t any surprises. I thought they’d want to play cards, but instead we made a big nest in the middle of the living room, changed into pajamas, and watched horror movies until late, eventually sleeping right there in a slumber party pile on the floor.

* * * *

We all took the day off work, with Solange spending the night before at my house. Aubree and Dolores showed up together shortly before lunch. We made room for Aubree’s car in my garage, and I had picked up Solange, so she didn’t have a car. Aubree and Dolores made last minute touches to the decorations, and then we began baking.

“What time do the kids start arriving?” Solange asked.

“Sometimes as early as five,” I said. “We’ll have to get ready starting about three, I figure. It’s going to take time.”

We baked right up until the last minute,
then put bread in the oven when it was time to get ready.

We all wore period costumes. Solange and Aubree wore similar but different gowns in red and black with a lot of lace and long, full skirts
. I’d tried to get Solange to agree to 18th century French fashion, but she refused. “Do you know what they wore? No. Pick a different era.” We settled on Victorian era, leaving all four of us in corsets. Solange and Aubree were dressed as members of the upper classes; Dolores and I were dressed somewhat more simply, but I still thought it was elegant.

It was in our makeup and hairstyle that we different the most. Dolores and I did makeup for both Solange and Aubree, giving them a
stark, white look with dark eyes and bright, red lips. We added a line of “blood” from the corner of their mouths. We did their nails in the same shade of red as their lips.

They even both wore white powdered wigs.

“I want to see the fangs,” I told Solange. “I have two pair of plastic fangs, and I’m not afraid to make you each wear them.”

“You’re going to have to trust us,” she said. “I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

“Fine,” I said. “But I better see some fang before the first kid gets here.”

In turn, Dolores let them do our makeup. We were each given a wan appearance, and the “blood” from the corners of their mouths
were given matching wounds on our necks.

On top of everything, for when we went outside, we had long, flowing cloaks.

I decided we all looked fantastic.

Aubree, Dolores and I really got into it. I thought perhaps Solange was feeling more reserved and perhaps a little embarrassed, but she let us have our fun.
Aubree and Solange did indeed have inserted fangs, and they looked amazing. I could have sworn they were real. Solange had a difficult time speaking around them, but she an had insert that looked a lot like a dental retainer. It completed the look.

The first little kids arrived at 5:30. Aubree and Dolores were already outside, manning the gate. They took turns escorting small groups of children — and frequently their parents — to the front door.

“Oh wow, Sidney,” said one of my neighbors when I answered the door. “Is that you?”

“Hello, Madam,” I greeted her with a smile.

“Trick-or-treat!” said the cutest little five-year-old girl you could ever imagine.

“Well, if it isn’t
Mulan!” I said. I gave her the treat.

The girl thanked me, then her mother
said, “They told me at the gate to come back later, without Mulan here.” She looked at me shyly. “They told me to make sure I go to the bathroom first so I don’t soil myself.”

I laughed. “Good advice.”

We didn’t scare the little kids, but I got my share of teenagers at Halloween, and I heard a lot of screams throughout the evening, male and female alike. Some of the kids tried to play it cool, but I was pretty sure we startled some of them, too.