Miss Sparrow stood at the kitchen sink, suds sliding from her hands back into the tepid water as she pondered her age. At sixty two she defiantly wasn't young anymore, but she didn't feel particularly old, except when she looked at the liver spots slowly taking over her hands. For almost thirty years she had cared for first her father and then her mother, watching as age slowly took them both. Now she found herself alone in the large house outside of the town limits, living on a pension, not sure what to do next with her life.

Outside a dry wind blew across the sun scorched earth, the weather having been so unseasonably warm that a complete fire ban had been bought forward. She was just about to settle down to watch a crime show on the television when a glow in the living room caught her eye. The thought of a bush fire jumped first into her mind and she quickly went to the window. The front yard was alive with jack o lanterns. Their grins reflected in the windows, throwing shadows around the living room. For a full minute Miss Sparrow thought she might be having a turn, her heart pounded as the shock to her system hijacked her brain.

Finally when she managed a deep breath and her mind gained control, she realized that it was Halloween. Scolding herself for recognizing such a telling icon, she peered into the haze attempting to see who was responsible for the strange event. A couple of children skipped around the yard lighting more of the lanterns as slowly they lit the entire yard. A sudden joy filled the old woman as she stood smiling at their youthful spirits before her and an idea formed. Somewhere in the back of her wardrobe was a black witches hat, the dress long since discarded but the hat remained. Quickly she changed into the dress she had worn for both her parents funerals and sat the hat atop her head.

The children still worked in the front yard when she arrived at the front door. Halloween was rarely celebrated in Australia and such she had no sweets to hand out, only biscuits baked days earlier. Standing under the cover of the small porch she watched the children gather at the fence next to the trolley they had been using to transport the jack o lanterns in. Each was dressed in a different costume, from the angelic to the ghostly and with painted faces they stared back at her. A shiver ran down her spine but the hot wind carried it away quickly. She wanted so badly to relive her youth as she stood there in the witches hat from a long ago dress party. The signs were there but she overlooked them in her eagerness.

Sitting among the lanterns on the path was a scare crow, only it stood up suddenly pointing a candy pumpkin on a stick in her direction. The wind whipped around the things jumpsuit exposing the human shape beneath as its sack for a head stay perfectly round. Beady eyes gleamed at her, making the shiver return before the thing started to dance. Leaping and spinning in the wind it danced over fallen logs and around the pumpkins, beckoning the others to join him until the yard was a playground for youth. While he danced he sung a poem gaily.

"I'm a master of fright, and a demon of light, and I'll scare you right out of your pants. To a guy in Kentucky, I'm Mister Unlucky. And I'm known though out England and France."

Bowing low he beckoned her to join them as they whooped and hollered. Holding her hat she joined them in the front yard, smiling as they ran around her like fauns frolicking in a fairy tale.

All at once the rain started, large drops beating down like a million tiny fists pounding the earth and turning the dirt to mud. Running up the steps she turned to call out to the children but found them right behind her taking shelter from the downpour under her porch. Even being as close as she was to shelter, Miss Sparrow found herself quite wet and judging by the water that dripped from her impromptu guests, they were also. With only a small thought to her own safety she opened her door to them ushering them inside, the last to enter was the scarecrow man in the orange jumpsuit, his emotionless face hiding his malevolent intent.