The Haunted Halloween Walk, football, fall clean-ups, and
the Halloween party at Sheldon’s Pub may be the top stories for everyone else
in town tonight, but for Rowen and me; having a sleepover with Michael and Tim
is at the number one spot on our list!
Okay, we were all babysitting while Mom and Dad were at the pub party,
and Michael and Tim are now in guest rooms on the second floor – directly below
us – but we’ve had another really awesome day; and watching Halloween movies in
the lounge tonight with Michael and Tim was at least as much fun as the Haunted
Walk was earlier.
I should cover the news from the rest of the day too, but
writing about another fall clean-up day around the yard and house doesn’t
interest me in the slightest right now.
We had a standard start to our Saturday morning; and then we worked our
butts off until stopping at a bit after four o’clock to hit the showers, get
ready for our play evening, and have dinner.
That’ll do for the boring part of the update, so let’s move on to the
good stuff!
We had enough people with us tonight to fill an entire group
for the walk; an early time slot because of the toddlers in our group; and
Miranda as our guide, thanks in part to having Michael with us. There’s more going on around the Haunted
Halloween Walk every year, and the charity booths now fill up nearly every
space on both sides of Witch Falls Road from Quarry Road to about half-way
between Blossom Ave and Station Street.
The games, treats, souvenirs, and food are all themed; and if there was
a midway, it would practically be a one-night, spooky version of the fall
festival.
Michael, Tim, and Rowen had met up with us at our house so
that they could drop off overnight bags.
The news of the babysitting ‘job’ and overnight stay had been announced
to us by our parents earlier in the day, and while a kid-free night for a
handful of Mom and Dad’s friends was the reason we have five kid and teen
guests tonight; I’m sure that most of our parents know that four of us really
loved that surprise announcement. Aunt
Leanne and Uncle Adam met us here too, and while I would have loved to babysit
Zack too; Grandma and Grandpa tag-teamed that job with Uncle Adam’s parents
tonight. They had the first shift while
Christine and Andrew were busy with the Haunted Halloween Walk; and Zack’s
Grandma and Grandpa Carrington took over after Aunt Leanne nursed him between
our play time and going to the party at the pub with Mom, Dad, and the rest of
their friends.
Since I’ve been thinking about writing my journals for
distant future readers, I’m going to take a minute to mention some of the
details of the Haunted Walk. The
Marianne Palmer story always has top billing for obvious reasons; but the other
skits are part of our town heritage too – even though all of the details of
those incidents are not included in the skits because the ‘magic’ history of Witch Falls
has been intentionally hidden.
There are a total of four main skits and stories told during
the walk. The first, acted out on Palmer Street
between Witch Falls Road
and the river, tells the story of the River Raiders bank robbery attempt of
1882. Miranda will always be my favorite
guide for the walk; and she does a masterful job of setting her groups up for
each scene. While parts of bank robbery
story are fictional to cover up some of the things that happened that would
have normally been impossible; the skit is very realistic, and you can’t help
but cheer for the ‘townsfolk’ when they repel the band of despicable thieves.
The Old Mill Murders of 1790 is the second story and stop
along the walk. This dark little tale is
toned down for family viewing, and while the murders did in fact actually
happen; only the adult Magi in town know that those deaths were actually at the
hands of a Dark Magi who had found our town after sensing a particularly strong
Magi birth. Though it cost the lives of
those men and women, the Dark Magi was eventually subdued and taken
prisoner. The Magi back then kept him
imprisoned, and constantly shielded from using his power on anyone until he
caused his own death in a power overload while trying to escape from those
shields around him.
Another Dark Magi confrontation happened in 1864, and is the
basis for the Stagecoach Shoot-out skit that is the last stop on the walk
before the Marianne Palmer grand finale.
The story told on the walk is about a stagecoach that is chased into
town by a group of outlaws; and how the townsfolk helped to save the
passengers, mail, and money; drive off the outlaw gang; and mortally wound
their leader. There was a stagecoach,
and a gang of men chasing it on horseback; but they were all bad guys led by a
Dark Magi who had stumbled across them somehow.
The Magi records of that incident don’t mention how he found them, so they
either never found out how; or didn’t write down that detail. In the real story, we know that the Dark Magi
was fatally wounded – just as the outlaw leader was in the ‘official’ story. We also know that there were a significant
number of non-Magi living in Witch
Falls by then; and that
shoot-out was very real too – even though Magi powers were being brought to
bear too.
The Dark Magi died of his gunshot wound, and while there
were differing reports about the incident; I tend to agree with one Magi who
suggested that the Dark Magi may have been accidentally shot by one of his own
men or a ricochet because he’d been shielding himself and some of his men from
the bullets being shot at them from the men attempting to defend Witch
Falls. For those of you who might be
wondering why the Magi of the Light didn’t heal him; remember that there were
no Magi Masters left in Witch Falls after 1707, and since there was no record
of an attempt being made to do that; there probably weren’t any Magi there with
the Healing gift at the time. Uncle
Adam’s gift, after all, was extremely rare among the Witch Falls
Magi.
Returning to the present, I love the Haunted Halloween Walk,
and this year was the best so far thanks to sharing it with Michael. I highly recommend going on the walk with
someone you can cuddle with while sharing the spooky fun! Playing games after the walk; winning some
prizes for Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden; and picking up some favorite
Halloween treats was great too. We spent
nearly two hours playing with our family and friends before heading home
again. Mom and Dad were set free to get
ready for their date while their babysitters took the four toddlers up to the
lounge after stopping on the second floor to get them changed into their
pajamas.
We were settled in on the sectional sofa and watching Garfield’s Halloween
Adventure by the time Mom and Dad stopped in for some goodnight hugs and kisses
before heading out. Ethan, Ehlana, and
their best friends had a specific bedtime that we dutifully let them stay up
past like any really good babysitters do, but Naomi and the twins were happy to
let us take them to bed and tuck them in after Aiden fell asleep and we’d
finished watching the end of ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.’
That still left Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I with lots of time
to watch two more movies while cuddling in the lounge before Mom and Dad got
home again. As usual, it took Tim and
Rowen and while to settle in for some quality cuddling, and they didn’t share
any kisses while Michael and I were in the room with them; but we gave them
several alone time opportunities that Rowen assured me they took full advantage
of while Michael and I went to check on the kids, go for washroom breaks, or
make a trip to the kitchen or pantry to get something we didn’t actually need
since my cupboards and fridge in the lounge were fully stocked.
Rowen and I let the boys pick both movies, and we honestly
didn’t really care what we watched. It
was the cuddles, kisses, and quiet chat time that we loved the most; so the
entertainment was mostly just noise. Tim
also needed to check college football scores a couple of times too, but at
least he didn’t make the mistake of choosing to do that any of the times while
he and Rowen were alone.
Speaking of that, he and Michael have been pretty good about
college football around Rowen and me so far.
They keep up with it as much as any other football fanatics in town, and
will probably get more into it once we get to the championship and bowl games;
but Rowen thinks they might just be trying to ease us into that part of their
lives. I don’t think that Michael’s
worried that I’ll be scared off, but I’m okay with less football whatever the
motivation might be for not watching games all day and night on the weekends.
Dad had volunteered to be one of the designated drivers
tonight – part of the service for the couples who were getting kid-free nights
– so he and Mom didn’t get home until one-thirty. They came upstairs to say goodnight to us and
suggest that we head to bed too; but didn’t stay to enforce the
recommendation. Michael and I gave Rowen
and Tim their last alone time opportunity then while we took the snack dishes
and our glasses downstairs to wash them up – and take care of our own goodnight
kisses.
Michael and Tim were in their rooms on the second floor by
two o’clock; and Rowen and I were changed and tucked into bed with Mandy by a
quarter-past after taking turns in the bathroom. We’ve needed some girl chat time that
included some joking about sneaking down to the boys’ rooms that neither of us
would really do no matter how much we might each wish we could. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we’d
never ever do that – we’re just not ready for anything like that yet; and I
seriously doubt any first attempt will happen on a night when there are four
toddlers across the hall from Michael’s and Tim’s rooms and my parents are in
the room next to my boyfriend’s.
When you read this some day in the future, Dad, let me know
whether you had Michael in that room on purpose. I have no intention of asking that question;
since I’m very happy that we got to babysit tonight instead of having Alicia
and Erin here; and I don’t think that you’re really worried about Michael and
me at all – whether we’re alone in the middle of an afternoon or sleeping in
the same house in the middle of the night.
Getting to sleep may take a while longer, but that’s about
all I have for tonight – even though I feel like there should be so much more
to write about to record all of these happy feelings for posterity. We’re only going to have time for a lengthy
nap at this point before needing to get up again, though; so it’s past-time
that we at least started making the attempt to sleep. Just helping Mom and Dad with getting four toddlers
through breakfast and ready for church is going to make for a busy morning, and
while we don’t have anything specific planned for tomorrow; I don’t want to be
too tired to help out at the Inn during the buffets – or for any play time that
Michael and I might manage to have during his afternoon break or after we’re
done at the Inn for the night.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
