The Fairy Princess

She looked up at her mom, sheer excitement in her eyes and her little fists ready to pump the air in excitement.  

“Is it time, Mommy? Is it time to go twickertweating?”

Her mom chuckled. “Not yet, honey. You have two more days.”

“Awwwww…man!” She slumped her shoulders, frowning hard and looked down toward her feet.

“But….” her mom said, squatting down to her height. “If you want to wear your costume while you eat dinner, I think that would be alright.”

“Yay!!!” the precious little girl yelled, jumping up and down, her fairy wings flapping around on her back. Her sparkly, plastic tiara plopped down over her left eye, causing her to erupt into giggles. Smiling, with a full set of itty bitty pearly whites gleaming back at her mom, she wrapped her arms around her momma’s neck in a tight hug. Then she ran off to tell her doll what she was getting to do. 

Her mom stood up, smiling after her, small tears forming in her eyes as she tried to implant every detail in her memory. She knew she was going to blink and this nugget size piece of her soul would be grown and spreading her wings out in the world. 

*********

“It’s time to go?” her face lit up with so much eager excitement her mom started jumping up and down with her. 

“Now remember the rules.” she instructed.

“Don’t run off. Look both ways on the road. And be polite.”

“Yes ma’am!” Her mom said with a smile. The little girl giggled. And off they went, her wings bouncing as she skipped up the walk to the next door neighbors house. The sweet sound of her voice as she said trick or treat was a treat all in itself. The neighbor told her she made a beautiful princess fairy and gave her an extra *wink-wink* piece of candy for being so polite. 

 “I got two pieces, Mommy!!” she yelled as she came running back down the sidewalk to her. Her exaggerated surprise on her face made her mom giggle. 

“Well, that was so nice of her!”

“Yep!” she giggled and skipped off again to the next neighbor. 

***********

Along the way she ran into some of her friends who were also canvasing the same streets. They immediately all began talking at once telling each other what candy they got and looking into each other’s plastic pumpkins to see who had the most chocolate. They giggled over each other’s costumes. One was a pirate, one a green blob (he proudly proclaimed himself snot which got both “Ewwwwww” and a new eruption of giggles). Another of her friends, the little girl from across the street was a unicorn. One was a cop dog character from his favorite cartoon, while another was a vet and actually had her cat with her in a pet stroller. That got a lot of giggles from the kids. 

“A lord, this is going to be a nightmare, all this sugar!” One of the girl’s mom said, only half jokingly. 

“Oh, I know.” Another said. “She’s not going to be in bed before midnight, I’m sure.”

“Yep, he’s already asked me if he can sleep in his costume and then wear it to Nana’s house for dinner tomorrow. Of course I said yes. What? “She said to the surprised looks from the other mothers. “Less laundry for me to do…” She shrugged. 

The mom’s all laughed as they looked at their children. It was obvious, even with the impending hassle of the long night ahead that they loved their little monsters. 

It was Halloween and a Friday. 

They would survive. 

Hopefully.

********

Later that night, as they divvied up the spoils of candy, the little girl yawned. 

“That was so fun, Momma. When can we do it again?”

“Well, honey, Halloween will happen again in a year.”

“A year!”

“Yes, baby, it’s like Thanksgiving and Christmas and your birthday. It has its own special day each year. That’s part of what makes it exciting. If it happened every day you would get bored of it.”

“I could never get bored of Halloween!” she rolled her eyes for emphasis as a giant yawn crept up. 

“Can I dress up as a unicorn next year? My friend across the street was a unicorn and it was pretty, Mommy.”

“I like that idea for a costume. We will see what I can find then, okay?”

“Okay.” and then quietly she said, “I love you, Mommy.”

“Aww, honey, I love you too. Very much!” she reached for her and gave her a snuggly squeeze. 

Smiling at her little ray of sunshine, she said, “Why don’t you finish that piece of candy and then go brush your teeth. I’m going to put the candy into some bowls, one for hard candy and one for chocolate. You can have one out of each when you get home from daycare tomorrow, okay?”

“Ok, mommy…” She swallowed the last bite of candy and padded down the hall to the bathroom. 

With the candy tucked away on the top shelf of the pantry, she lay down beside her sleepy fairy princess on the bed, book in hand. 

The little girl was so tired that she only made it through half of Room on the Broom before her breathing slowed and a gentle snore began. Her momma kissed her head, tucked her in. She hung her fairy costume in her closet, placing the tiara in the center of her dresser top. 

Quietly she made her way back to the pantry. 

With the bowl of chocolate and a glass of milk in hand, she headed for the living room. She had earned it with all that walking. Flopping on the couch she turned on Netflix and selected a scary movie from her list. Goosebumps popped out on her arms and legs as she prepared herself to be deliciously scared. Yes, she would be sleeping with the lights on tonight but that was okay. It was Halloween after all.