There was a gentle, feather-light tap at the door, followed by giggles and whispers.
“I’ll get this one, the last lot were very nearly certain that the head you dangled at them was a little too real.”
The door opened silently and Marion lamented oiling the hinges the week prior,
The foyer was dimly lit with wax candles and there was nobody in sight.
“Good Hallowton Evening to you, young souls!” Marion hung down from the doorway, his four amber eyes glowing in candlelight.
The children, dressed in rags and face paint cheered and clapped with delight at the acrobatics on display
“Four eyes, four eyes!” A chubby child, dressed as a green pumpkin clapped his palms together and waggled his head. His hair had been dyed green, too, and tied up as though it were a stalk. It waggled joyfully along with his body.
“Oh my, aren’t you all just horrifying little wretches!” Marion leaned an arm beside the door, picking up a large bowl of sugary morsels and candied fruit and held it out to the children, his black lips spreading wide enough to make his soft, pliable cheeks glow a salmon-pink.
The children each took it in turn to select a few pieces from the near-overflowing bowl. They said their thanks and cheered when Marion swiftly somersaulted to his feet without spilling the bowl and headed back down the small garden path.
“Younglings!” Marion called out to them, long fingers resting inside his breast pocket. The children turned their heads and watched as Marion produced three gold coins, pinched between his fingers. Without another word, Marion flicked his fingers, sending the coins spinning, tumbling through the air, and landing one for one in the children’s buckets. The taller child, dressed as a cucumber, almost fell over with delight.
“Oii! Thanks mistah!” the Cucumber-child shrieked, pinching the coin so tightly between his finger and thumb that his fingertips went from green to white.
“Be sure to close the gate behind you- Happy Hallowton to you!”
He waved the children off as his gate clicked shut, the energetic chatter slowly drifted off down the path, somewhere behind the hedge and Marion closed his door.
“I think you’re having the most fun you’ve had in a long time.”
Elanore emerged from the parlour room, dunking a rather rudely shaped biscuit into a steaming cup of tea.
“I am, I think Knell enjoyed his turn too- but it’s only through sheer luck that he did not injure a child when he threw the treats out at them. I imagine I’ll be finding them in the hedge and the flowerbeds for weeks.”
