The Invitation - A Halloween Story

There is no such thing as a totally unskilled lover. If a man listens to a woman and pays attention to her body and if a woman listens to a man and pays attention to his body, they will know what to do. Maddy and Gerry explored each other and slowly discovered each other and each other's needs.

She cried out slightly as Gerry broke through her hymen. When she called out, he stopped and held her gently for a few moments before again beginning to move within her. Soon Maddy's pain was forgotten as she pressed fervently against him, matching the tempo of his thrusts. Finally, she threw her head back against the pillow and groaned out a long "Aaaahhhh" as her body shook in the throes of passion.

She wound her arms and legs around Gerry and clung to him tightly. "If there is never a tomorrow," she said, trembling "we at least had tonight."

Then, as she relaxed back against the bed, she said softly, "My mother always said that if a woman is overcome with passion, it means that she has gotten pregnant." Her voice seemed much more firm as she added, "If I am pregnant, then no one-- not even Father-- can prevent us from getting married."

"Oh SHIT!" was the only thought in Gerry's head, but somehow he managed to say, "I don't think you're pregnant."

"But if I am," she asked, "will you still marry me?"

"Of course," he answered, and she pulled him down against her and buried her head into his neck. He was still on top of her when they both fell soundly asleep.

***

Gerry Maxwell woke with a start in his own bed. Something was buzzing loudly. The Dracula costume was strewn across the floor. The snap-in fangs were sitting on the small table beside the bed. Next to the fangs, his cellphone was vibrating noisily.

"Weird dream," he said aloud as he reached for his phone. It was his mother.

"The nursing home just called," she said. "Grandpa Gerald is asking for you." She paused before continuing. "They said the family should gather because he's dying." There was another long pause before she said, "He wants you to bring the costume."

"What?" Gerry blurted out. "Why?"

"He says you will understand when you get here," she answered. "But hurry. There might not be much time. He is the oldest person in the nursing home, you know. A person approaching one hundred and ten doesn't have much strength-- or time-- left."

Gerry quickly gathered up the Dracula outfit and carefully put it properly on its ancient wooden hanger. An hour later he was at the nursing home.

The family was all gathered in the room when Gerry arrived. As he entered the room, Grandpa Gerald said loudly, but with obvious effort. "That's the suit I am going to be buried in."

There was a buzz of questions and concern from the family members, but Gerald shushed them all and said, "I will explain my reasons to Gerry. He will make the final decision. You can argue with him after I am gone."

Everyone quieted down and Gerald continued more softly, "I need some time alone with my great-grandson."

There were murmured objections, but everyone left the room.

"Bring me the suit," he said, and Gerry laid the costume on his lap in the bed.

"There is no need to bury me in this," he said flatly. "I just needed to be sure that you brought it... and that the family would think they knew why I wanted the suit."

"This will explain everything," he added as he reached into the inside pocket of the coat-- a pocket that Gerry had not known was there.

When he withdrew his hand, he was holding an envelope. It was thick, ivory-colored stock and looked very old and very expensive. Written on the front in bold blue-black script was "Gerald Maxwell, Esquire."

He sat quietly for several moments, sliding the envelope through his fingers.

"A week before that party," Gerald said slowly, "her father threw me out of their house. He called me white trash and said that I would never be good enough to marry his daughter."

He slid the envelope back inside the jacket and then took a deep breath. "She came to me a week or so after the party," he continued, "and said that she was pregnant. She asked if I was still willing to marry her."

He smiled. "Of course I said, 'yes'. I never asked about the father of the child. I raised your grandfather as my own, even knowing that it was another man's child."

He looked intently at Gerry. "Then you were born," he said, "and you looked exactly like me. As you grew up, you were me as a small child."

He sighed. "I finally said something to her. I said that you looked enough like me to be my own flesh and blood, and I wished that our son had truly been mine."

Gerald looked down at the costume. "On one of the last days she was still with me, Maddy told me that when Bo Peep and Dracula made love on that Halloween night, it saved her life. While the party was going on in the mansion, her mother and father-- and their chauffeur, Jerome-- were sitting in the garage with the motor running.

I knew that.

What I never knew was that she was supposed to join them at midnight. But when Dracula walked into the party, she decided to do something wild and impulsive instead."

He patted the envelope through the fabric of the costume. "She told me that it was on that night that our son was conceived."

He once again pulled the envelope out of the coat. "The only problem is," he said with a slight shake of his head, "Dracula never went to that party."

Gerry felt himself sitting down... or did he just collapse into the chair.

"I was supposed to be there," Grandpa Gerald continued. "I was supposed to go to that party. I was supposed to make love to Maddy. I was supposed to get her pregnant. But I couldn't be there because my asshole of a boss had us all working very late on Halloween."

He slid the envelope back into the coat and said, "I found this invitation on the floor of my room when I got home just after midnight. When I wasn't there, Jerome had slipped it under my door."

He patted the coat once again and said sadly, "I was supposed to be at that party."

He then gave a very deep sigh and said calmly, "I was also supposed to die last night."

Gerry looked at him in shock, but Grandpa Gerald merely smiled back at his alarm.

"Last night, the angel of death visited me," he said softly. "He told me that before he took me, he had to correct an error in time."

His voice became even softer-- but still very clear-- as he said, "It seems that I was supposed to go to that party after all. I shouldn't have had to work late because my boss was supposed to die from a heart attack that afternoon. But death was so overwhelmed by the many suicides that sprang from the crash of '29 that he skipped a pickup for a natural death and my boss didn't have the heart attack until a day later."

He slowly exhaled and said, almost with a smile, "I die tonight... a day late, just like my boss."

His face became expressionless as he explained, "Death can't change the past. He can't go back and fix things when he has messed up. He can, however, take someone back in time to see their life as they approach the time of their death. He can even show a person what their life could have been if they had made different choices or if things had been different in their lives."

Pointing at Gerry, he said very slowly, "And, in extreme circumstances Death can take someone back in your place... even someone from that life that could have been."

He took a very deep breath before saying, "And when you combine all that with ... Halloween, what should have been can even replace what was."

Gerry felt as if a thousand buckets of ice water had suddenly been poured over his head.

Grandpa Gerald leaned forward slightly and whispered to his great-grandson. "Was it a grand party?"

"Did you dance with Bo Peep before you went up to the wedding chamber?" he asked as the color slowly drained from his face.

"Did you promise that you would marry her no matter what?" he murmured as he lay back against his pillow.

Finally, with his last breath, he said softly, "She was such a beautiful young woman. Thank you for saving her."

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END OF STORY

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