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- 09/24/2022
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
ARROW - 96. Chapter 96
Mom and her girls had costumes for all of the kids. Mom said they even found a costume for the five youngest. I was interested in what those looked like. Carmella wanted to know more about this day.
“It was believed that the souls of the dead returned on Halloween. It was a custom that started by the Celts and called the festival of Samhain which was observed on November 1st. The people wore costumes to ward off ghosts and lit bonfires. Then the Church took on the task of replacing all of the pagan celebrations by substituting a religious holiday. The Pope designated November 1st as a time to honor all saints. I guess the people didn’t want to give up the Samhain celebrations so they incorporated some of those celebration into the celebration of honoring all saints. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve and later it became known as Halloween. Now the boys and girls dress up in costumes, go from house to house and they get a treat.”
“All of this because of a Pope declaring All Saints Day.”
“Yes, but if you think about it, many of our customs today came about from the Church incorporating what was consider pagan rites into our holidays. The Christmas tree was a custom that went back to the use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome. The tradition continued in Germany with the celebration of the winter solstice. Boiled eggs have been around for ages. But today they are colored and associated with Easter representing a new life.”
“So do the boys go from house to house?”
“No, we will have a party at the orphanage. Maybe you could come with Marcel and James. I think they are planning on treats for the children.” I saw the twinkle in her eyes.
Halloween would be on a Monday this year. Sunday morning, James headed to the orphanage with containers of peanut butter and cookies. With the help of the orphanage cooks, they were going to start making treats.
Carmella wanted to go with him, so I drove her over to the orphanage. James had his car loaded with cooking appliances and tubs of his peanut butter. He returned with Carmella about hour later. He had to help Marcel preparing for Sunday lunch.
When the club closed at 6, James and Carmella left for the orphanage. Now I was begin to wonder what they were doing.
“Marcel, what’s happening.” The kitchen staff were gone.
“Come with me, I’m heading over to the orphanage as well.”
“Wait, I need to get the boys.” I saw Colin and told him I was going to the orphanage. “Our cooking staff left us.”
Arriving at the orphanage, Pat was in her office. “What’s happening?”
“I’m not sure. Your cooking staff arrived, they went to the kitchen and I haven’t seen them.”
“Pat, what did you do for Halloween in the past?”
“Nothing. There was no way for we could take the kids door to door. We didn’t have any money for costumes and what little money we had, we made treats for the children.”
“Surely the children in school knew about Halloween. Didn’t they ask questions?”
I noticed Pat rubbing her eyes. “Armand, we do what we can.”
Mom and the girls arrived with packages. “Pat, these are the costumes for the children.” Mom didn’t notice me, “Mom, do you need help?”
“Armand, I didn’t see you. Where’s Colin?”
“I think he’s in the kitchen.”
“Pat, we’ll be back in the morning to help you dress the children. These are for you and Colin.” She handled me two packages.
I didn’t know what was happening in the kitchen, and truth be told, I didn’t want to know. I spent the time with the kids. We played games, Farmer in the Dell, that required some changes so we could get all of the kids into the game. The older boys watched and laughed. Now for the older boys we played musical chairs. The younger children wanted to play as well, so we took the chairs from the dining room, and made a big circle. Mom had a big cardboard pumpkin, we played pin the nose on the pumpkin.
I looked at the kids, they were having fun, even the older children.
I was sitting in a chair watching the older children helping the younger children. I was smiling on the outside but my inside wasn’t smiling. Pat came and asked me to hold a child who had a bottle. Before I could say no, the child was placed in my lap, I was handed a bottle. Mom saw me and smiled.
As I fed the child his bottle, he would look at me. I fell in love with his blue eyes. Pat came to check, “Pat, how old is he?”
“She is 11 months old.”
“How did she ended up here?” She looked at me, tears in her eyes, “Abandoned”
I couldn’t believe what she said. How can anyone abandon a baby. I knew I had tears running down my cheek as I looked at this child.
Pat came back and placed a towel over my shoulder, the bottle was empty, she placed the child on my shoulder, “Lightly pat her back. She needs to burp.” I know Pat saw my tears, but I didn’t care. The word abandon kept going through my mind.
“She is asleep. I’ll put her to bed.”
“No, show me where she sleeps, I’ll put her to bed.” I followed Pat to a room at the end of a corridor. Opening the door, there were four cribs. Following Pat, I laid the child in her bed. I pulled a cover over her, and stood there, watching her sleep.
Pat tugged my arm, pulling me back to reality. I went back to my chair, but my mind never left, abandon.
Colin came and said they had a late snack for the children. Pat wasn’t sure that was a good idea but Colin whispered something to her, she smiled and told the children they needed to take the chairs back to the dining room.
Opening the door, there on the table were four of the largest pumpkins I had ever seen. With the chairs in place, they were told to sit down and close their eyes. James and Colin had small flashlights, they removed the top of the pumpkins, dropped the lights in and told the kids to open their eyes.
The older boys started to clap, then James and Colin came out with small cups of colored milk. I wonder how they were able to have orange milk knowing James insistence on only natural foods.
That evening at home I asked Colin how did they make the orange dye they used in the milk. He said that James took orange juice and concentrated it to a syrup. A few drops was all it took. Now I was wondering where James had learned that.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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