Rich Re:grets

Chapter 3.3: Operation Bonbon

(OCTOBER 2010)

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RICH MUTATIO

By the time the moon had risen, the streets were packed with trick-or-treaters. The rich neighbourhood became a hotspot so it was good we started off here first.

On the way to the next neighbourhood, we bumped into Carrie dressed as Sailor Moon and her younger siblings. Our paths matched up for a few blocks so we ended up walking together.

"Your gang costume this year is the best so far," Carrie complimented.

"Don't you mean g-Aang?" Charlie laughed.

None of us gave a single giggle; we just shook our heads in disappointment. Except Carrie who was laughing hysterically with him.

Carrie read our map. "Why don't you cut through the forest instead of taking the long way around?"

"We're trying to hit as many houses as possible. Plus that place is a bit scary during the night."

We went to a good number of houses together. There was one with a bowl full of candy that said "Please only take one" so we did the only reasonable thing and took everything. We might have also wasted our time waiting at a house that had its lights off. A car was parked in the driveway so the homeowner was there; they probably didn't like the idea of trick-or-treating.

Carrie and her siblings split from us once we reached the plaza.

"Charlie," she said, "you look really good as Aang."

"Thanks."

The quality of candy dropped once we reached the next neighbourhood. But that didn't matter. Candy was candy and we could simply throw away the ones we didn't like.

One house was decorated as a convincing graveyard. Even though we were in the average neighbourhood, this house took the number one spot in terms of decorations.

When we walked towards the house, a man wearing a potato sack popped up from behind one of the graves and slashed a chainsaw at Mallory. Bond pulled her back just in time. We made our way to the house's porch where we stood our ground.

Mallory and Zoey frantically rang the doorbell while Bond, Charlie, and I waved the man off with our boomerang, staff, and dual swords respectively. Conan picked up a flower pot and threatened to throw it.

The man cackled as he took off the potato sack. "Calm down, big guy. Don't throw the pot or the wife'll get mad."

Conan placed the pot back. "You can't be doing that with a real chainsaw."

"Who said this was real?"

The man let us play around with the prop chainsaw. Someone in shock would definitely think this was real.

The man's wife gave us goodie bags and we continued down our path.

More kids started to come out as the night went on. There was even a lineup at one house that reached the street.

"Let's skip this one. It's not worth it," Bond suggested.

We crossed paths with a group of teens throwing rolls of toilet paper over houses and another group throwing eggs.

It took a while, but after an hour or two of going from house to house, we reached the halfway point; the school.

Mallory and Charlie dropped to the ground, protesting.