⮞ FOR : @biovaliant
Sonorous peels of laughter interspersed with shrieks of delighted horror ring throughout the neighborhood, defiant against the thick collapse of the humid fall night that seems intent to muffle them. Sunset streaks the road with umber and burnishes the houses in vibrant autumnal light, the encroaching darkness revealing in halting increments the luminous decorations festooning nearby porches ------ sinister and playful facades carved into pumpkins are lit from within, ruby eyes of plastic skeletons twinkling alongside artful arrays of silhouetted bats, and neon signs limn gauzy ghosts.
The evening, begun sunny midafternoon for the younger children, passes in a march of miniature vigilantes and ninjas, soldiers and sailors, doctors and nurses, cowboys and pirates, fairies and princesses, witches and zombies, and a spider so creative Jill has shuddered to behold it scurrying to their candy bowl. Claire had met every one with feigned fright dissolving into exuberant smiles and animated compliments elicited by giggling squeals, Scruffy and Aly lavishing their own wet and wagging enthusiasm on the trick-or-treaters, stolid against the many molded props and treat bags haphazardly struck against their fur.
Their sugary stores had been emptied and refilled many times over as the shadows emanating from front doors and street lamps lengthened and the hordes of the hungry aged before their eyes. They became gangs of unbothered teens not-to-inconspicuously packing rolls of toilet paper and what Jill hopes is silly string and tiny water balloons rather than spray paint and eggs. She and Claire exchange skeptical glances as the latest leave, the dogs lounging on the lawn with tongues lolling, their zeal waned with the depleting interest of their visitors.
Still Claire does not seem inclined to retire.
“Beer?” The offer comes with a departing pat to her wife’s knee as Jill leverages herself from her own chair, filching from the bowl on the low table between them a gummy bear she immediately pops in her mouth, skillfully dodging the retaliatory smack aimed her way as she retreats inside.
If the offer would have directed her to the kitchen, she deviates markedly from that course, shimmying out of her current costume as she goes once she’s certain Claire isn’t going to follow her in. In their bedroom, it’s replaced with something far less family friendly.
Red mini dress cut to reveal the mere handspan of thigh it conceals, the crimson bisected on each side by black vertical stripes to her shoulders, short sleeves and superfluous collar cuffed in the same checkered black and white belting her waist, the skimpy flag girl uniform she’d been so coyly shown is completed with fishnets rolled up her legs and black heels.
A swipe of deep red lipstick and patient observation out the peep hole of the backs of their latest guests as they saunter to the curb, and she’s sidling out the front door to wrap her arms around Claire’s waist. If the breasts pressed purposefully against her slender back cast doubt on the promise of alcohol being fulfilled, it’s soundly dashed by the caress of her nibbling lips against her lover’s bare shoulder and the sultry murmur bestowed against her collarbone, “Ready to ride, Speed Racer?”












