“John will you put away the food for me, I got to go to another store to find black icing!” His mother didn’t wait for an an answer, just depositing the many shopping bags hanging from her arms in the kitchen before walking right back out the door.
The kitchen was full of bags. Halloween decorations poking out of most, but a couple on the counter were stuffed with food, the edges of the bags ripping. Skylar had followed John, peeking into the bags and marveling at the sparkly, bright things and the amount of food piled up.
"What is all this for?" The plastic bag crinkled as Skylar picked up a set of window clings, orange and yellow gel jack o'lanterns making faces at them. "I thought we were going for scary for the Haunted House. And these are too cute."
"We are. But this is for the elementary school, where things can get spooky at best, because the party is for small children."
"Oh." Skylar put the window clings back. "And these grapes are supposed to remind them to eat healthy?"
"Not exactly. Those are going to be eyeballs." As Skylar's mouth popped open and a protest started to gurgle up, John held up his hands. "Pretend eyeballs."
"How does this," Skylar plucked a slightly brown squishy grape from the stem and held it up, "in any way shape or form resemble an eyeball?"
“In the dark with the skin peeled and in a bowl with other peeled grapes and the only sense you are using is touch.” John closed the grape container, carefully holding the sides of the bag as he slid everything into the fridge.
“I suppose…” Skylar squinted at the grape in their hand. “But older people wouldn’t be fooled so easily would they?” John chuckled. “I can loose eyeballs.”
The chuckle immediately died followed by a strangled, “What?”
“I’ll grow a bunch of eyes and then leave them around the haunted house.” Skylar gestured with their arms. “And we can even set up those buckets above doorways, but with eyeballs instead.”
“Uhh…” John shut the fridge and rubbed his face. “One, gross. Two, gross. And three… is that… healthy?”
“As long as I reabsorb the eyes afterward there should be no long lasting ill affects on my health.” Skylar squished the grape between their fingers, sticky clear juice running down their skin. John covered his mouth as his stomach twisted.
“Let’s… stick a pin in that idea.”
“That could be…” Skylar pursed their lips as they dropped the fruit into the trash. “You mean the idiom don’t you?” He nodded.
Word count: 436
