Egg Mother and Ugly

                                      Egg Mother and Ugly

Christine felt the excitement begin about the first of September.  All year she waits for her favorite Holiday!  October 1st, traffic begins to pick up on the street in front of the house, with neighbors passing, wondering what this year will bring.
Boy has caught the excitement, even though he tries to pretend he is too old for scary fun.  With hands in pockets he casually walks through the kitchen as items are brought from the attic.....and he yawns before leaving the room.

Up go the decorations, sound effects, black lights, and all the characters that dance or talk.  A lifelong collection of laughter has been saved for this one month.  She works through the evening and finishes the house.  Tomorrow is the best part!  She will do the porch.

She jumps out of bed early, awakens Boy and prepares breakfast.  He can sense that she is rushing and he feels pressure to preare for school early.  What's up Mother?
She just winks at him and clears away the dishes.  He waves good bye as he leaves on the bus, and she swiftly goes to work.

Out of the closet comes her new surprise for the year.  A howling wolf that moves and lights up along with his growls and howls.  Cobwebs are arranged above him in the porch corner,
Every year, the same character has been in the corner of the porch, but today, all is new and she thinks of how excited Boy will be.  She smiles because she knows he will try to hide his feelings behind a wonderful forced dignity.

As she goes in to drink a cup of tea and prepare for the day,  she passes last years Ugly, sprawled in a chair, unwanted and alone.  An idea springs forth, and her smile widens.  Picking up Ugly, she carries him to her little red sports car and places him in the passenger seat.  She buckles the seat belt, and after gathering what she needs, she goes to her part time job at the school.  On her way to work, she laughed and laughed at the reaction of people in other cars.  Ugly is very large and, well, very ugly.  Beneath his hat his eyes bulge and his teeth are large and uneven.  His skin is gray and green with straggly black hair around his neck and shoulders.  He wears a suit Christine bought for him at the thrift store many years ago when she created him for Halloween.

After school, the children saw her driving with Ugly and they pointed and laughed.  She drove to the Junior High to pick up boy and people at stop signs would point and laugh.  Christine would feign confusion and ask what?  Then she had another idea, and she whamed Ugly across the chest.  Three times she slapped him and each time the people watching would laugh harder.

Christine kept Ugly in her car until after Halloween and laughter spread through her town and the school.  Her love of Halloween was bringing fun to many others.  One day a police officer's car pulled up beside her.  The officer glanced over, saw Ugly and turned back again quickly.  He told his partner to look.  Christine did her performance of confusion over their interest, and then, beat on Ugly with heavy blows.  The policemen laughed so hard they had tears in their eyes.  Christine drove home happy that she brought laughter to them.  She knew that soon her favorite Holiday would pass and all of her treasures would once more be stored in the attic. 

Earlier when she began decorating, she had thought of throwing away Ugly because she had no place for him.  But Ugly was now treasured by her whole town, and she carefully put him away for next year.  Even  months later, I smile thinking of the fun she had and the joy she brought to so many others.  Boy was secretly very proud of his Mother.