Batman and...Jake?

“But Aunt Tabitha, I was Batman last year,” Nicholas Bradshaw’s seven-year-old face was scrunched up in clear disappointment at the black and yellow costume neatly laid out on his bed.

“I know Nicky,” Tabitha Michaels’s shoulders slumped with her spirit as she sighed and sat beside the costume on her nephew’s poorly made-up Mario sheets. “But…” She made the fatal mistake of looking into Nicky’s eyes. The hazel ones that matched, or used to match, her sister’s. She pulled the boy close to her, gathering him up into her arms and setting him on her knees. Tabitha pressed her cheek on the top of Nicky’s mess of dark blond hair and inhaled deeply before continuing, “but it’s been a tough year and this is all I could do. I’m sorry.”

She was sorry. Sorry for everything. For the fact that he had to spend Halloween with her in a new neighborhood in a new city. That he had lost his parent’s only a few months ago and that he was stuck with her, who was not nearly as put together as her sister and her sister’s husband had been. Sorry that she couldn’t even get him a new costume to go trick-or-treating.

“Mom and dad used to dress up too.” The quiet voice was barely loud enough to be heard over Tabitha’s thoughts.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I don’t have a costume on hand, but I think I can manage something.” Tabitha scooted Nicky off of her lap and went to the door, turning around before making her departure. “Go ahead and get changed and we’ll meet up in the living room.”

Ten minutes later and Batman was looking very confused.

“What are you?"

“Not what dear Bruce, but who,” Tabitha corrected, grabbing her keys from the entryway table, and handing Nicky a plastic orange pumpkin bucket.

“Well who are you?” The young superhero rolled his eyes and took the pumpkin bucket before opening the front door.

“I’m Jake, from State Farm,” Tabitha was rather pleased with herself for coming up with the costume on such short notice. It was between Jake from State Farm, or a lumberjack without an ax.

“Who?” Nicky’s head tilted and eyes squint as he wracked his brain.

“Jake from State Farm! You know, ‘Like a good neighbor State Farm is there’.” Tabitha tried her best to sing the jingle but her poor nephew looked as lost as before. “Never mind. Do you want to stand on the front porch all night or go get candy?”

“Candy!” There was no hesitation as Nicky did a 180 and started walking off towards the next house in search of sugar.

“That’s wat I thought,” Tabitha laughed to herself as she pulled her front door shut and followed her nephew, keeping an eye on him from a short distance.

They steadily got into a routine making their way up the street. Nicky would go knock on a door while Tabitha stood at the end of the walkway, making sure she could see Nicky without having to go up with him because, as he had lectured her earlier that afternoon, he was “mature enough” to go by himself.

While the night may have started a little rough, it had turned into a great evening.

Nicky had managed to fill his bucket up three times within an hour (Tabitha deciding to grab a trash bag after unloading the first full bucket back at their house). One house he went to was giving away king-sized candy bars, and he got to pick his favorite (Kit-Kats). He was even feeling so generous at one point that he shared a fun sized bag of peanut M&M’s with Tabitha, who had been sneaking a few things from the overstuffed trash bag while Nicky wasn’t looking. However, the best part of the night was when Nicky ran into some of the kids from his school, and they all fawned over his cool Batman costume, making Nicky beam with pride.

But it was starting to get late, and there were only a few houses left.

The house they arrived at next had a few decorations scattered about. Cobwebs in trees, and small pumpkins lining the driveway. They even had a cute scarecrow with a pumpkin head sitting on the rocking chair on the porch.

Nicky strode up with confidence to the house, full attention on the door as he eagerly awaited the chance to chant “trick-or-treat” for the hundredth time that night. However, right as the door opened and Nicky began to get the words out, the scarecrow beside him jumped up and yelled “boo!”

Nicky’s terrified scream sounded throughout the neighborhood, and the poor kid was so scared he dropped his bucket of candy before taking off.

“NICKY!” Tabitha was immediately chasing after him, desperate not too lose sight of him in the darkening night and thickening crowds.

Thankfully, the boy stopped a few houses down, suddenly dropping to sit at the edge of the sidewalk and burrowing his head into his knees. Tabitha took a few calming breaths, her body more worked up over the fear of losing Nicky than the short sprint.

“Nicky, are you okay?”

The boy shook his head in a negative. “I want to go home.”

The words were muffled, but Tabitha heard them clearly. She looked down at the road beneath her bent legs and fiddled with her chipped fingernails. “I know you do Nicky. I know this move hasn’t been easy but—”

“No!” Nicky’s head shot up, his eyes meeting Tabitha’s straight on. “I want to go to our home.”

“Oh,” Tabitha was speechless for a moment. Her heart squeezing in a way that it had never done. It wasn’t from pain, guilt, or sorrow. It was an expectant joy. “Well then, let’s go home.”

She stood up, offering Nicky her hand that wasn’t holding a trash bag full of candy. Nicky used it to get up, but once he was on his feet his grip simply tightened on hers. The slight stickiness from the occasion candy only making their bond stronger and Tabitha returned the grip and looked down at her nephew.

“Do you want to go back to get the candy that you dropped? I’m sure that they still have it.”

Nicky thought for a moment before shaking his head. “I think I’ll have enough. Let’s go home.”

“Yeah,” Tabitha smiled, “Let’s go home”