Halloween Wishes

"October!" my mom yelled. "Get your brothers ready and take them trick or treating!" I groaned. "You promised." she reminded me. "I will." I said. It was not enough to be named October, after my mom's favorite month in the year, I had to take my younger brothers begging for candy this year. Yes, I was even born in October. On Halloween. Unbelievable. I am still surprised that my mom did not name me Halloween. I guess I should count my blessings. I have just turned twelve. Everything is now boring. I looked at my grinning brothers. Oh, they are so cute and they are really not that bad. Most of the time. No, they are not named November and June, though I thought that would have been funny. They are Tom and Joe. Little Joe is named after my dad. He is six. Tom, the November child, is named after one of my uncles and was born in November. He is eight. I have dubbed him "Tom Turkey" in honor of Thanksgiving. Only when he annoys me. We are called the holiday kids at school, sometimes. Joe June, Tom Turkey and October. They just tagged Joe because of me. I know it. I remind mom of her error in naming me all of the time. She rolls her eyes and says "October is a lovely name." I disagree. I tell her she could have named me Autumn. She just sighs. "But, October is unique." she says. Please.

I have now finished decorating my brothers for trick or treating. It was not hard. They both wanted to be the Hulk this year. Go figure. They are now very glowing in the dark, bright green and dressed in black pants. Tattered at the bottom, of course. Hulk twins. How original. Neither one would give, both just had to be the hulk. Did I mention that they can be stubborn? I hand them each a Halloween orange trick or treat bag and we head off. I am not dressed up this year. I am almost a teenager. I have dignity. I am too bored. I escort Joe and Tom around the neighborhood. Door to door and house to house. I have already grown tired of the "You boys are so cute!" being said at almost every house. We see orange pumpkins, black cats, ghosts, zombies, super heroes, princesses, ballerinas and skeletons. All cute. We wave. They wave. Happy Halloweens abound up and down the street. We have a long street and have visited about twenty homes by now. We reached the last house on the street. A cute white cottage type home. A small glowing orange pumpkin sits on their front porch. I don't know these folks, but what the heck. They probably have candy. We ring the bell and wait. And wait. And wait some more.

I decided that they are not home. We turn around and then notice that the glowing pumpkin has some small black writing on it. It read "Rub me and make one wish." I started laughing. I said "They must be out of candy this year." Joe being Joe, fearless and never thinks before doing anything, well, he immediately reached his little hand out and rubbed it. "I want an orange dog!" he yells. Tom and I started laughing so hard we almost fell off of the porch. Then, we heard a bark. There was the brightest orange dog I have ever seen coming up the steps and onto the porch with us. A poodle. Well, Tom and I stopped laughing. We stared. Joe did not bat an eye. He reached out and grabbed the dog. "Orangy!" he screamed. "He looks just like I imagined him in my dreams." I was speechless. Tom had recovered a bit and said "Someone is playing a prank on us. A trick." I nodded. I still could not talk. Tom knocked on the door hard and yelled "Hey, if this is your orange dog out here, you better come and get him or my brother is going to take him home with him!" No answer. Tom looked at me. I shrugged. Words failed me. Something that rarely happens. "We have to try it again, October." Tom said. I shook my head. Suddenly, Tom reached out and rubbed the pumpkin. "I wish that this bag of candy would never be empty." he said calmly. He looked at me. Then, he dumped the candy in his trick or treat bag out all over the porch. He sat it down and waited. I heard a strange rustling sound. Tom picked the bag up and looked into it. He went ghostly pale white. He showed it to me. I looked into the bag. It was half filled again. I let out a small scream and backed up. Tom let out a huge "Woohoo!" and started dancing all over the porch. The orange dog joined in, barking, howling and yapping.

Orangy was very vocal. And licking Joe all over his face. Aww, puppy love, so sweet. I started smiling. Then, I again realized that this could not be happening. But, it had. "You have to make a wish, October." Tom said. I shook my head no. "Yes. Do it. Don't be scared." "I am not scared." I retorted. "I just can't think of anything to wish for." I said. Tom looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "We have to be home in ten minutes. Make a wish. Do it now. You have to!" I nodded. I stepped up to the small pumpkin and gently rubbed. "Let me always be happy and have happiness." I whispered. Tom groaned. "October, you could have at least wished for money." Tom stated. "Well, why didn't you?" I asked him. "I didn't think of it at the time. I was wanting lots of candy." I laughed. "Well, I want to be happy, so that is what I thought of." "Did you get your wish, too?" Tom asked me. "I think so." I said. We all turned and left the porch, and headed back down the street to our house. Orangy was yapping happily all of the way. Joe had the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face.

We walked in the door of our house and of course, the first thing mom says is "Where did you get that dog from?" That question was immediately followed by another one. "Is that dog really orange?" Tom and I started laughing so hard, we couldn't stop for a few minutes. Little Joe informed our mom. Yes, he told her what had happened. "Sure, you all got your Halloween wishes. I really believe that one. Now, tell me the truth." "We did!" I said. "Not you, too, October?" she asked me. Tom tried again. Mom refused to believe in any Halloween miracle, even with the orange poodle staring her dead in the face. "You will put up posters and find that poor dog's owners!" she shouted. We all giggled. So, we did and you know what? Well, you know. Orangy is a permanent part of the Holiday family. Formerly known as the Jones family. Mom never figured out where Orangy came from, even though we told her. She also never figured out why Tom always had candy. She stopped asking because we always gave her the same answer.

Well, did my wish work? I think it did. I stopped minding being named October. Why sweat the small stuff? I also stopped being bored. Life is fun. Isn't that interesting? I thought so. Do I wish that I would have wished for money? No. I think if I had the same chance again, I would make the same wish. I think happiness is most important. I do feel bad sometimes that I did not think to wish for happiness for all. But, I think I knew, deep down, it was a personal kind of wish granting. I wouldn't want to push my luck. I can live with being happy. Forever. Happy Halloween!