By Shirley Hailstock
Since October is the month for gremlins, goblins and things that go bump in the night, I thought I'd avoid the telling of the origins of the holiday and do something fun. There will be a few things that Halloween wouldn't be the same without.
So let's look through the glass.
Since October is the month for gremlins, goblins and things that go bump in the night, I thought I'd avoid the telling of the origins of the holiday and do something fun. There will be a few things that Halloween wouldn't be the same without.
So let's look through the glass.
Through the Looking Glass (Backward)
“What is this place?” Mary Alice wondered. She walked toward the wall that looked
transparent. It should be solid, but she
could see through it. Something was on
the other side. Poking her head through
the glass, she checked her arms and neck for cuts. Unharmed, all she found was a warm rush of
air. Her skin, on the side through the
glass, tingled, but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. In fact, it was very pleasant.
Climbing further into the room, she looked around
cautiously. “Why, it’s backwards,” she
said astonished. “The dresser should be
over there by the window.”
Mary Alice whirled around, clasping her hand over her
mouth. The window was wrong too. For an instant, she waited for things to move
back into place. Even though she willed
it, the furniture remained stationary.
Why should that surprise her, she thought? She’d just climbed through a mirror. Turning toward the huge gilt-framed structure,
it was much larger than her own mirror, monstrous in fact.
“Who are you? And
how did you get in here?”
Mary Alice whipped around.
She'd heard no one. Yet there was
a tall man across from her. She
staggered away from him. Blocking the
doorway, even thought it was in the wrong place, it was her only avenue of
escape — except the mirror.
“Well?” he asked again.
“My...my name is Mary Alice.” She gripped the post on the side of the
mirror. It moved reflecting sunlight in
the man’s face. His hand went up,
shading his eyes. Eyes that were as blue
as summer grass.
“How did you get in here?” he asked again. This time annoyance was clear in his voice. "I was in the other room and you didn't
pass me."
“I came through there.”
She pointed toward the mirror.
His gaze followed the line of her fingertip.
Mary Alice looked too, only to be surprised that the world
she expected – her world – was gone. The
wall was solid, broken only by the large mirror hanging on it. Her startled reflection stared back at her.
“You couldn’t have come through that. It’s a mirror, not a portal.”
He moved into the room, stopping at the window. Fear held her in place until she looked
beyond in and out into the world. Mary
Alice’s jaw dropped. Forgetting her
fear, she approached the open glass.
With her hands on the wooden sill she leaned out. Why the sky was blue and the grass was green. Somehow the colors had been reversed. And they were in the wrong place.
“My," she said.
"This is certainly an upside-down world.”
I hope you enjoyed it and that your own Halloween will be filled with fun, carved pumpkins and lots of candy. We've already made pumpkin muffins and I'm thinking there are candied apples in my future.
As always...Keep reading.
What a clever story, Shirley...loved it! Funny, this is often how I feel on Monday morning. Yum...I loved candied apples!
ReplyDeleteJill, I feel like that at times too. Like do I really have to get up? It's still dark.
DeleteGood Morning, Shirley! I loved the story, too. My world often feels upside down to me, so I relate completely. I had pumpkin bread at a friend's the other day, and another gave me a flat of apples. I've made apple crisp over and over. But I do like the sound of a caramel apple with sweet junk all over it. Yum!
ReplyDeleteI want some Apple Crisp. I got on the scale this morning, after the New Jersey Conference last weekend and I'm 5 pounds heavier. It's back to the exercise routine and no apple crisp.
DeleteFun way to start the day, Shirley. I'm decorated for Halloween except I don't put out my pumpkin luminaria until Halloween night. I haven't made caramel apples in years, but now you've started me being hungry for them.
ReplyDeleteI make those apples every year for the family. My kids love them. As do I.
DeleteWe should make sure you write our April Fool's Day post, Shirley!
ReplyDeleteI glanced at this before going to bed last night and suddenly started thinking about other holiday posts. Thanksgiving was one and the hijinks of April Fools Day was another. Then I fell asleep.
DeleteCute story, Shirley. I haven't started thinking about Halloween yet!
ReplyDeleteIt's almost Halloween. When are you planning to think about it? My daughter told me last night she wanted to dress up. Her school is having a party and they don't always dress for it. I have to complete something by October 23rd. Then I'll make a costume for her. She's so thin, that nothing you buy will fit. And I hate those thin costumes that tear before the night it over.
DeleteShirley! I loved this story. As with your books, your writing is magical. Great post!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Catherine. This is my first magical compliment.
DeleteNOooo! You can't stop there!!! I love Halloween, but probably not as much as my daughter who has managed to move over twenty times and take all ten of her Halloween costumes with her!
ReplyDeleteI still have all my daughter's costumes. I made them, so I feel attached to them.
DeleteI love this story. Your writing is amazing. Great post!!!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are amazing for liking it.
DeleteYou guys are amazing for liking it.
DeleteBut, seriously, folks, as I stand-up
ReplyDeletehere on this Great Stage of our lifelong demise
(only 66ish feet across and 1-outta-1 croaks),
what's the MOST important objective in your
finite existence, dear? I certainly know what mine is:
Hope2God this provides some knowledge
on your everlasting, spiritual journey;
I may see you again Upstairs... maybe not...
depending on how well WE mortals have fulfilled
our voyage to the Great Beyond by 1) loving God
and 2) loving our neighbor to the best of our ability.
Why else does a moth fly FROM the night
than to a bold, attractive candle Light??
Don’t let His extravagant Brilliance be extinguished.
You’re creative, yes?
Then, fly-away with U.S. to the antidote…
Whether you obtain morality4mortality to wiseabove
or just glean tantalizing specimens for thy next best seller,
you shall find in our blogs a lotta (subliminal) moxie
which has taken this sinfull mortal yeeeeers to compile!
I lay it ALL out for you, dear, with All-Star-Oxygems:
Wouldn’t ya love an endless eternity
of aplomBombs falling on thy indelible cranium?
An XtraXcitinXpose with no zooillogical-expiration-date?
An IQ much higher than K2 all-go-rhythm?
An extraordinarily, anti-establishment-victory
with both sardonic, satirical wit Who’s savvy
and avant-guarde-humility??
Here’s what the exquisite, prolific GODy sed
(with a most-excellent-detector of bull§ht):
“Faith, hope, and love,
the greatest of these is love –
jump into faith…
and you’ll VitSee with love”
Doesn’t matter if you don’t believe (what I write);
God believes in you.
Meet me Upstairs, girl, where the Son never goes down
from a super-passionate, lucrative iconoclasm where you’ll find
nonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsX…
of deluxe-HTTP [<- pi] opportunities for excitement BTW.
Do it. Do the deed, dude. Sign into the Big-Zaftig-House.
PS “It is impossible that anyone should NOT receive all that they have believed and hoped to obtain; it gives Me great pleasure when they hope great things from Me and I will always give them more than they expect”
-our Lord Jesus to Saint Gertrude
But, seriously, folks, as I stand-up
ReplyDeletehere on this Great Stage of our lifelong demise
(only 66ish feet across and 1-outta-1 croaks),
what's the MOST important objective in your
finite existence, dear? I certainly know what mine is:
Hope2God this provides some knowledge
on your everlasting, spiritual journey;
I may see you again Upstairs... maybe not...
depending on how well WE mortals have fulfilled
our voyage to the Great Beyond by 1) loving God
and 2) loving our neighbor to the best of our ability.
Why else does a moth fly FROM the night
than to a bold, attractive candle Light??
Don’t let His extravagant Brilliance be extinguished.
You’re creative, yes?
Then, fly-away with U.S. to the antidote…
Whether you obtain morality4mortality to wiseabove
or just glean tantalizing specimens for thy next best seller,
you shall find in our blogs a lotta (subliminal) moxie
which has taken this sinfull mortal yeeeeers to compile!
I lay it ALL out for you, dear, with All-Star-Oxygems:
Wouldn’t ya love an endless eternity
of aplomBombs falling on thy indelible cranium?
An XtraXcitinXpose with no zooillogical-expiration-date?
An IQ much higher than K2 all-go-rhythm?
An extraordinarily, anti-establishment-victory
with both sardonic, satirical wit Who’s savvy
and avant-guarde-humility??
Here’s what the exquisite, prolific GODy sed
(with a most-excellent-detector of bull§ht):
“Faith, hope, and love,
the greatest of these is love –
jump into faith…
and you’ll VitSee with love”
Doesn’t matter if you don’t believe (what I write);
God believes in you.
Meet me Upstairs, girl, where the Son never goes down
from a super-passionate, lucrative iconoclasm where you’ll find
nonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsX…
of deluxe-HTTP [<- pi] opportunities for excitement BTW.
Do it. Do the deed, dude. Sign into the Big-Zaftig-House.
PS “It is impossible that anyone should NOT receive all that they have believed and hoped to obtain; it gives Me great pleasure when they hope great things from Me and I will always give them more than they expect”
-our Lord Jesus to Saint Gertrude
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteI was at the New Jersey Romance Writers conference all weekend. I scheduled this a week ago. I'll read and reply to the comments tomorrow. As always conferences are amazing and exhausting. Since I'm president of NJRW I had a lot more to do and I need to sleep. Maybe for a week or so.