Chapter Twenty-two
Alex had never really thought about Halloween before, other than that it was a bizarre thing to make a fuss about, but this evening he thought he might change his mind.
Half-term had swooshed by and it had been lovely having Ellie at home.
The week was made up of lie-ins and late nights, littering all the nearby villages with flyers for Sylvie’s new classes and then going on autumn walks with Sylvie and Sam in the woods, crunching on leaves and searching for conkers, before returning home and having experiments, seeping them in vinegar and cooking them for hours in the Aga.
In the evenings Sylvie and he had been cooking for the kids, having epic conker battles (which Alex was astounded to learn they weren’t allowed to do in the playground these days), taking turns to read to them and curling up and having movie nights.
He knew that she had still been desperately looking for an affordable place for her and Sam.
It was not proving fruitful. However, he had just had a phone call that he hoped might make all the difference.
She and Sam were due any minute and he was fascinated to know what surprises she had up her sleeve.
They had been discussing going to Roscarrock to buy Halloween costumes earlier in the week and she had said that she would take care of it all, but it was nearly the eleventh hour and Ellie was getting antsy.
‘Are they here yet?’ Ellie came running into the kitchen, just in case she had missed them in the three whole minutes it had taken her to nip to the loo. She was twirling one of her plaits around her finger and looking at him with a scrunched-up face.
‘You know Sylvie will be here soon, she’d never dream of letting you down. What sort of costume do you think she’ll bring?’ Not only was his best friend perfect in all that she did, she had taught him to master the art of distraction.
‘Ooh, oh, um… I want to be a cat… no, no, I think I’m going to be a ghost, oh, or a vampire like Mona, ooh, oh no, I know, I want to be a witch like Meg and Mog, oh, and like Sabrina, and Room on the Broom.’
‘OK, well, I don’t know what she’s got in mind for you, but let’s hope it’s either witch, cat or vampire then.’
‘Hey, hey, hey.’ The latch clicked and Sylvie and Sam came through the door. Alex looked at her, her arms full of green and black and purple fabric and a great big wicker basket on her arm, and felt his heart swell. ‘Happy Halloween.’
‘Happy Halloween.’ Ellie ran to their guest. ‘What am I? What am I?’
‘Weeelll, you’re always a pickle but tonight, Elechi Ada McKenzie, you are going to be the witchiest witch of them all!’ She pulled the fabric off her arm and it opened out to be the most detailed witch costume Alex had ever seen.
‘Oh, oh, oh, oh. I looove it!’ Ellie looked like she was going to hyperventilate as she pulled the dress from Sylvie’s arms and held it against her.
‘Look, Dad, I’m going to be the witchiest witch.
And it’s got pockets!’ And it did – she had different-coloured pockets with outsized stitches all over the skirt.
‘You certainly are.’ Alex grinned down at her and then mouthed, ‘Thank you,’ over Ellie’s head.
‘Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sylvie.’ Ellie was still quite breathless, her brown eyes shining with joy.
‘They’re for putting your charms and spell stuff in. We’ve got snails and frogs and all sorts, just pretend ones though, and there’s more,’ Sam said, a proud grin on his face. ‘Mum’s made you a hat, and a wand and even, you’re not going to guess…’
‘What? What? What?’
‘She made you real witch’s warts, look!’ Sam leant into his mum’s basket, rummaging so hard that she nearly lost her footing.
‘Easy there, big guy. Here they are.’ Sylvie triumphantly pulled out some prosthetic warts from the crevice of the basket.
‘You learn a lot in the theatre – it’s not all pink and white tutus, you know.
Now you go and slip that dress on, although it should fit, and when you come back downstairs, and only after you’ve eaten some vegetable soup, then we can do your make-up and then we can go… ’
‘Trick ’n’ treating,’ the children screeched in unison.
‘Uh-huh.’
‘What’s Sam going to be?
‘I’m going to be an evil vampire, mmwhahahaha,’ said Sam in a very evil vampire voice. ‘Mine is in here. I’ve got a proper swishy cloak and fangs and Mum’s going to draw blood running down my face and everything.’
‘Ha, you’re going look so scary.’ Ellie giggled.
‘He is. Now you two little ghouls go and get changed while we heat this soup up. Is that also in your magic Halloween basket?’ Alex couldn’t believe what Sylvie had achieved in a few short days; if nothing else that basket was like Mary Poppins’s bag and Sylvie herself very definitely had magical properties.
‘It is indeed. Veg before candy, them’s the rules.’
If Alex thought he had been finished off by pockets then he was mistaken; his heart continued to melt many times as the evening progressed.
The first time was after the children had noisily slurped their soup and Sylvie painted their little upturned faces, adding warts and blood as desired, Alex wordlessly changing the water time and time again as it became a green-brown murk.
Watching them all in his kitchen he was overwhelmed with a sudden feeling of warmth, of satisfaction with life.
And then, he realized, this was what family felt like.