Too Old For Trick or Treating?

(Not according to Dusty)

Written By: LJ


“Deck the halls with orange and black, fa la la la la la la la la
Take along your goody sack, fa la la la la la la la la
Don we now our strange apparel, fa la la la la la la
Troll the ancient Halloween carol, fa la la la la la la la la.”

Skyy was singing merrily to himself as he carved out the last pumpkin. He didn’t know Dennis was behind him until he felt the big man’s arms circling his waist.

“Having fun, sweetie?” Dennis asked, nuzzling the smaller man’s neck.

“Yabetcha! What do you think of this one, Den? It’s not too scary, is it?” Skyy turned to wrap his arms around the other man but found his hands captured by bigger ones.

“It’s perfect, Sport, but I’d really appreciate you washing your hands before hugging me. They are covered in bits of pumpkin.” Dennis laughed as he steered the younger man towards the kitchen sink.

“Den, I need four more pumpkins,” Skyy informed his partner, drying his hands with a paper towel.

“Four more! Skyy, we acquired two just before Thanksgiving weekend and you got six more a couple of nights ago at the U-pick Pumpkin Patch. Don’t you think that’s enough?”

“We have a large veranda, Den; you don’t want it to look only half-done, do you? There isn’t a pumpkin quota, is there?” Skyy’s asked, his impish grim in place.

“All right, being as there’s no quota, I’ll buy four more tomorrow when I do the errands. However, you’ll have to come along to pick them out.” Dennis faked a groan as the younger man threw himself into his arms. “Not so rough, young fella.”

“Thanks, Den; the place is going to look great! Just wait and see,” Skyy said before grabbing up the finished jack-o-lantern and heading towards the front of the house. “It’s even worth going grocery shopping with you.”

Following the other man down the hall, Dennis reminded him. “Better get the table clean off, Sport. Dusty will be home shortly and he’ll be hungry. I’ll be down as soon as I get out of this suit, all right?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Boy, this Chili sure hits the spot, Buddy, and the old house is really starting to look good with all the stuff you’ve got around. You must have done a lot of decorating when you were younger, right?” Dusty asked as he buttered a fresh roll.

“No, I never did it before living here.”

“How come, Sport?”

Skyy shrugged his shoulders before responding. “I don’t know. I just didn’t.”

“Did your father and Earl do it all?” Dusty asked.

“Nobody did anything. I guess it wasn’t allowed.”

“Skyy, did you ever go trick or treating?” Dennis wondered what new information they were going to get about his youngest partner’s past.

“I almost went once. My mom made me a ghost costume out of an old sheet when I was about five years old. She was going to take me around the neighbourhood but he came home early and wouldn’t let us,” Skyy explained matter-of-factly. “I always got treats though. Nonna and Meme used to make up little bags of candy and slip them to me when I left for school. He never knew about it.”

Dennis and Dusty exchanged glances while Skyy nonchalantly spooned chili into his mouth. A look of uncertainty crossed his face when he picked up on his partners’ quiet exchange.

“Whaaat?” he questioned.

“Hmm, nothing, Sport. Finish your supper, please,” Dennis said gently.

“Hey, Buddy. How come you didn’t leave any pumpkins for me to carve?” Dusty asked, hoping to change the subject.

“I thought you said you didn’t like the feel of pumpkin guts on your hands.” Skyy lightly teased his fellow-Brat. “Don’t worry though, ‘cause we’re getting four more in the morning and you can cut them out, okay?”

“On second thought, I’ll just watch you doing it,” Dusty muttered over his partners’ unrestrained laughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Your house is looking very festive, Dennis,” Dominic commented as he shut the front door. “Who’s the decorator?”

“Skyy is responsible for all of it,” was the proud response. “Dusty and I were more than happy to sit back and let him do his own thing. The place never looked this good for previous Halloween seasons and he was a joy to watch, Dom; his enthusiasm and his excitement over little details neither of us would have bothered with.”

“My Brats felt they had done more than enough just carving out one lone pumpkin and the thing turned out as ugly as sin.” Dominic laughed as he visualized the positively, hideous-looking jack-o-lantern sitting on his front doorstep.

“Have you or your partners been to see the Haunted Mansion set up at the Water Towers, Dom?”

“I haven’t been myself. Slade went with a friend but you couldn’t pay Jayden to go through it. He’d have nightmares for days.”

“The three of us took it in this afternoon. The boys loved it and went through a second time while I finished up some errands. And neither of them better have trouble sleeping because of it or else.” Dennis chuckled, remembering how hard it had been holding back two bouncing Brats who wanted to go through it a third time.

“Dashing through the streets
Meeting goblins as we go
Wearing contour sheets
Wishing it would snow.” Skyy sang as he slid down the banister and bounced into the living room.

“Hi ya, Dominic.” Skyy ran over to get a hug from their guest. “Come to keep Den company while the other guys are out on the town?”

“That’s the plan. There was no sense in staying home alone once Dusty picked up Slade and Jayden. Will you be joining us? We’re going to be watching a movie.”

“Are you kidding? I can’t think of anything more boring than hanging around with two old men on a Saturday night.” Skyy grinned cheekily at his partner. “I just came down to get a snack before playing with our X-box. I want to take advantage of having it all to myself for a change,” he explained as he headed into the kitchen.

“That must have been a new rendition of Jingle Bells he was singing. I’ve certainly never heard it before,” Dominic remarked with a snicker.

“He has a whole repertoire of what he calls Halloween Carols. Dusty says Skyy found them on the Internet. The two of them have been driving me nuts by singing them for days now.” Dennis didn’t really seem too put out by his Brats’ choice in music, that is if his amused expression was anything to go by.

Both men laughed uproariously as Skyy passed by on his way upstairs singing around a mouthful of sandwich. “On the first day of Halloween my true love gave to me, a screech-owl in a dead tree.”

“He doesn’t mind not being included when the other three get together?” Dominic asked.

“Not at all; he’s not old enough to get in the clubs and he doesn’t drink anyway. He was invited to go out with a couple of his fellow students but wasn’t interested. After putting in a full day he’s quite satisfied just having some quiet time to himself.”

“I hope you haven’t already seen this. I picked it up on my way over,” Dominic said, putting the disc into the DVD player.

Almost two hours later Dennis heard the shower running just as the credits flashed on the TV screen. Not long after, Skyy came into the family room and curled up on Dennis’ lap.

“Tired of your games, Sport?” Dennis softly asked, wrapping his arms tightly around his young partner. He got a nod and a yawn in response to his question. “Your hair is damp and your nightshirt is sticking to you because you didn’t dry off properly. Get upstairs and try doing it right.”

“Don’t want to,” Skyy pouted as he nestled in closer and yawned again.

Dennis didn’t have the heart to force the issue so he grabbed a throw from the couch and wrapped it around the smaller man. It was almost eleven o’clock and he knew his Brat would be asleep within minutes. Planting a tender kiss on Skyy’s head, Dennis commented. “You smell so good, little one. Just like fairy dust and sunshine.” He heard a small giggle followed by a soft snore. ‘One Brat down, one to go,’ he thought contentedly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How many kids do you think will be coming around tonight, Den?” Skyy asked, putting candy and bubble gum from the piles in front of him into small individual bags.

“We’ve averaged between ninety and a hundred or so over the last two years. We certainly weren’t prepared for so many the first Halloween after we moved here and I still don’t know where they all come from. Last year we made sure to get enough treats in and it looks like we have plenty for tonight,” Dennis answered, dropping a sucker into each bag as it was passed to him.

“I still say that most the kids come from the country side. Their parents drop them off at the edge of town, arrange a meeting place and pick them up a couple of hours later,” Dusty insisted as he stapled each of the filled candy bags to a small bag of chips. “How did your visit at the tenement go this morning, Buddy? Have you met the new neighbour yet?”

“Yeah and we had a great time. Nonna and Meme had a treat bag for each of us and I helped them set up a couple of pumpkin dummies,” Skyy said, popping an extra piece of candy into his mouth. “The man who moved into Earl’s old apartment is Swahili and his name is Jabari Zaremba. He’s really friendly and is already teaching me how to speak his language. Neat, eh?”

“What can you say so far, Sport?” Dennis never stopped being amazed at Skyy’s love of learning new things. The young man had such a wide variety of interests.

“Not much. Mostly just numbers, days of the week, hello, goodbye…that kind of stuff. Guess what ‘nakupenda’ means!” Skyy looked fondly at his two partners.

“I have no idea, sweetheart.”

“Come on, Buddy, just tell us.”

“It means ‘I love you’,” Shyy explained and he handed the last bag to Dennis with a relieved sigh. “Finished; all one hundred and twenty of them.”

“I’ll just put all this by the door while you two clean up in here,” Dennis suggested, picking up the carton of packaged treats and walking towards the front of the house.

“What time did you get home last night, Dusty?” Skyy asked.

“About one o’clock this morning. Den wasn’t too happy about it but at least I phoned to let him know I was going to be late.”

“You must have been having one bang-up good time, man.”

“Yeah; we talked Jayden into going to see the Haunted Mansion. What a hoot!”

“How’d ya manage that?”

“Got him piss-eyed drunk.” Both Brats found this hilarious. “You should have seen him. You remember the headless horseman that jumps out at people just as they get near the end?” Seeing Skyy’s wide-eyed nod, Dusty continued, “Well, Jayden threw up all over the poor guy.”

The young men were laughing so hard, they didn’t hear the phone ringing, although they couldn’t help but hear Dennis’ stern voice as he entered the kitchen.

“Dustin Nathan Roberts! That was Dominic on the phone.”

Dusty sobered immediately, swallowing hard to try and get his stomach out of his throat. He was so busted!

“Into my study, young man!” Dennis punctuated his order with a well-place swat.

As Dusty trudged off down the hall with Dennis following behind him, Skyy darted for the family room where he turned the television on full blast.

“Sit down on the couch, Dustin,” Dennis ordered as he pulled the straight-back chair away from its’ place against the wall and set it in the middle of the room. “Care to tell me about your activities last night?”

“We all wanted to see the spook alley one more time, Den. The final tour was last night and Jayden wanted to go with us but was too scared so we bought him a few drinks. You know, to sorta build up his nerve.” Even Dusty realized how feeble this excuse was.

“False courage to do something he has never been able to handle well, something that actually made him ill. Dominic said Jayden was throwing up off and on all night. He also had repeated nightmares. Do you think that was a nice thing to do to a friend?” Dennis asked firmly, glaring at the Brat in front of him.

“No, it wasn’t,” Dusty answered dishearteningly, know full well where this conversation was leading.

“You are a kind-hearted man, Dusty, and I know you would never deliberately harm anyone. However, you are going to be soundly spanked for your participation in last night’s thoughtless act. Please stand up and drop your jeans and boxers,” Dennis instructed and waited patiently for his partner to comply.

In one swift motion, Dusty found himself face down over the older man’s lap. Before he could catch his breath, the first swat landed. Quick hard smacks peppered his backside, turning it a rosy red.

“I think we can both agree that you’ve earned this, young man,” Dennis stated as the swats continued to rain down across the entire surface of one rapidly heating bare-bottom. Dennis kept on spanking until he felt his Brat understood the gravity of the situation.

Dusty was sobbing and kicking wildly by the time the punishment ended. He felt strong arms lifting and turning him before those same strong arms tightly enfolded him. Then gentle hands wiped away his tears and caressed his face.

“I’m s-sorry, Den,” Dusty murmured, wiping a trembling hand across his tearstained cheeks. “I’ll apologize to Jayden. I never meant to make him sick.”

“I know, baby. It’s over now. It’s all right, Dusty love.” The softly spoken litany had the desired effect of calming the younger man. “You’ll also be apologizing to Dominic.” Dennis felt an affirmative nod to this directive as his partner snuggled against his chest.

Ten minutes later Dennis stood Dusty on his feet and helped him adjust his clothing. “We better let Skyy know all’s well so he can turn down the television before that darn noise gives us all a headache.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, little buddy. Instead of shelling out to the kids, how would you like to go trick or treating?” Dusty asked. “Everyone should have a chance to do it at least once. What do ya say?”

“Who will give out the treats here?”

“Dennis will,” Dusty assured him.

“I’d kinda like to try it but it’s a little late, isn’t it? I don’t even have a costume.”

“I thought of a really quick outfit to make. We can put something together with this piece of leather. It will only take a few minutes to get you ready. Come on, little guy; last chance!”

“Okay!” Skyy bounced in anticipation of a fun evening. “Is it okay with Dennis?”

“Ahhh, it’s going to be our little secret for now. We’ll tell him all about it after we get home. Don’t worry. He won’t be mad or anything. It’s just that he’ll probably say we’re too old to do it.”

“All right; works for me.” Skyy started giggling. “We’ll leave him a note. I mean, it IS the responsible thing to do, right?”

“Sometimes you crack me up, kid.” Dusty laughed along with his fellow conspirator.

Three hours later Dennis gave out treats to the last of the little ankle-bitters who had come calling. Then he blew out the few candles that remained burning in the pumpkins and closed the front door. He still had no idea where either of his partners had taken off to or what mischief they were getting in. He had phoned around to various family members and friends but no one had heard from his wayward Brats. He was putting an almost empty carton on the kitchen counter when he recognized the sound of Dusty’s truck pulling into their driveway.

“That was a blast, Dusty!” Skyy’s excited voice could be heard as he came through the side porch.

Dusty shut the door and both young men looked up to see a very unhappy Top glaring at them with hands on hips, feet apart and one eyebrow raised.

‘This does not look good!’ was the thought going through their minds.

“Ahhh, hi, Den. I took Skyy trick or treating.” Dusty figured the direct approach would work best.

Dennis looked at the youngest man, scanning him from head to toe. The article of clothing the younger man was wearing was grimy around the bottom from dragging along the ground. “Why is he wearing my old trench-coat? What is he suppose to be?”

“Well the coat is only to keep him warm; it’s not part of his costume,” Dusty informed his older partner before making a suggestion to Skyy. “Take it off, Buddy. Show Den what character you are.”

Dennis’ eyes opened wide as he took in the smaller man now wearing only a loincloth and a pair of deck shoes. He also noticed for the first time, that Skyy’s hair was no longer blond but a muddy, brown colour. In fact, all of him looked dirty. Getting over the initial shock, he asked, “Just who is he?”

“Mowgli!” Skyy answered happily. “You know, from The Jungle Book. And this is Bandar!” he explained, holding up Dusty’s stuffed monkey that usually resided on the pillows of their bed.

“You had him going from door to door in this cold weather, almost naked?” Dennis asked in astonishment. “He could end up with pneumonia. And just what is in his hair?”

“It’s just dirt from the garden, Den. He was too fair to be the jungle boy.”

“Helloooo! I’m here, too. You don’t have to talk to only Dusty,” Skyy complained at being left out of the conversation.

Giving his head a shake, Dennis took a moment to calm down. “I’m sorry, honey. I need a few minutes to absorb all this. But first things first! Let’s get you into a warm bath. You must be freezing.” Dennis steered the younger man into the hall and up the stairs, calling over his shoulder as he walked along. “You come up too, Dusty.”

Dennis filled the bathtub while Skyy removed his meager amount of clothing. The young man was more than willing to sink down in the warm water.

“Man, this feels good. You’re right, Den. I was really getting cold.” Glancing up at the other man, Skyy asked tentatively, “Are you mad at us?”

“No. But as soon as your cohort gets in here, I’m going to want some answers.”

“Move over, Buddy. I’m getting in too,” Dusty requested, undressing as he walked into the room.

“All right, boys; why the conspiracy?”

“I thought you’d say Skyy was too old and wouldn’t let us go out if you knew what we were doing,” Dusty explained. “Skyy left you a note.”

“Really! And just where is it?” Dennis was trying hard to maintain a firm and determined expression.

“I put it in the bottom of the big box underneath the candy. I figured you’d eventually find it.” Skyy gave him an engaging smile.

“Well being as the box still has candy in it; I didn’t get your message. I realize Skyy’s never had the opportunity to enjoy Halloween so had you talk to me, I would in all likelihood have let you go. However, I don’t appreciate the time I spent worrying about the two of you.”

“I’m sorry.” Two voices blended into one and duplicate looks of apology were turned up to him.

Dennis didn’t want to spoil their evening but he did want them to understand where he was coming from.

“You are both grounded for the next week,” he sternly informed his Brats. Seeing their crestfallen faces, he smiled and kindly added, “I also expect you both to write an essay about the fun you’ve had tonight and put it in your Project binders.”

The downcast looks vanished as smiles of understanding took their place.

Picking up the bottle of shampoo, Dennis handed it to Dusty and instructed, “You’re to wash out whatever it is that you put in our partner’s hair. Skyy, you get the dirt washed off the rest of you. Dusty, you are also responsible for cleaning out the tub. You’ve got fifteen minutes, boys!” he admonished as he left the room.

Dusty lathered up his fellow-Brat’s hair while the younger man started running a soapy washcloth over his arms and chest.

Clean and properly dried under Dusty’s watchful eye, Skyy slipped his nightshirt over his head. “I had a great time tonight, D. Thanks for taking me,” he whispered before reaching up to kiss his partner’s lips.

“At least you can say you’ve been there and done that; eh, little buddy,” Dusty pointed out as he bent over to rinse out the bathtub.

While his Brats were busy, Dennis had gone downstairs to finish tidying up. After locking up for the night and turning out the lights, he grabbed the sack Dusty had left by the kitchen door.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, Dusty and Skyy entered the bedroom to find their partner sitting in the middle of their bed.

“What have ya got there, Den?” Dusty asked, sitting down beside the other man.

“I always found the nicest part of trick or treating was going through our goody sacks when we got home. Rodney, Laura and I would always empty everything out on the living room floor and sort our treats into piles. Of course we also ate a fair bit of it before our parents took it from us.” Dennis laughed as he emptied the pillowcase he’d brought upstairs. “It’s interesting to see how the treats have changed over the years.”

“Sounds like fun,” Skyy commented eagerly, kneeling next to the pile of small, gaily wrapped packages.

“I thought you might like to repeat the tradition and see how much you collected your first time trick or treating.” Dennis watched the young men’s eyes light up as the idea sunk in and they realized his willingness to participate in their Halloween fun.

“Yeah,” Skyy agreed.

The three men spent several minutes sorting through and looking over the various goodies.

“Hey, these are my favourites! “ Dusty exclaimed, opening a packet of miniature chocolate chip cookies.

“Wow! There is sure some neat stuff here but we’ll never eat it all.” Skyy’s face took on a thoughtful expression. “Maybe we can donate it to the children’s ward in the hospital ‘cause the kids there missed out on this year’s Halloween. What do you think?” he asked, gathering up the treats and putting them back in the pillowcase.

“It’s your call, little buddy. It’s your stuff.” Dusty let his young partner know he fully supported the plan.

Dennis looked on with pride in his youngest Brat’s compassion and generosity. “I think it’s the best idea I’ve heard all night. We can drop it off in the morning, Sport.”

Taking one last look at the various treats, Skyy spied a Hersey’s ‘Kiss’ and pounced on it. Snapping it up, he carefully unwrapped it and gently popped it into Dennis’ mouth.

“Thanks, Den,” he softly said as he placed the pillowcase on the floor. “This has been the best Halloween ever but next year we’ll just stay home and shell out with you, all right?”

Straightening up, Dennis held his arms out to his partners. “Yabetcha!” he smiled as he used one of his Brat’s expressions. “But right now, let’s see if we can find another mutually satisfying activity,” he suggested, pulling them closer and looking lovingly into their smiling faces. His warm, brown eyes left no doubt as to how they would be spending the rest of the evening.

The End