Under the Arches

and she stared straight into the boys’ eyes. He began to look a little unnerved.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ continued Zeus. ‘She can’t feel a thing. Look…’

  He wrenched the axe again and this time Angelina let out her best scream, still staring directly at the boy.

  ‘Oh well, I guess I was wrong!’ shouted Zeus.

  Angelina stopped screaming, but the sound continued as the boy turned tail and fled into the house. They looked at one another in satisfaction. Then came the sound of a dog barking and they heard someone shout, ‘What the bloody hell’s going on out there?!’

  ‘Uh-oh!’ said Zeus glancing Angelina’s way. The barking was getting louder.

  ‘Leg it!’ she shouted, just as the huge form of a rottweiler appeared in the hallway.

  Together they sprinted down the steps and away up the road, afraid to look behind them in case the dog was right there. They did not stop until the house was out of sight and they were sure they were no longer being pursued. Then they collapsed into fits of laughter.

  ‘Superb! That was the best by far!’ said Angelina drying her eyes. ‘Let’s do it again.’

  They looked around. They were now on Oxhey Road and the houses stretched off for nearly half a mile into the darkness. There was plenty for them still to do. They found another house with its lights on inside and approached its front door. As they got near a security light came on outside so they quickly rang the bell before retreating into the shadows. There was quite a long delay before the door finally opened. A woman in her late fifties peered out.

  ‘Trick or treat,’ said Zeus stepping into the circle of light.

  The woman jumped, but quickly regained her composure and said abruptly, ‘We don’t participate in Hallowe’en,’ before slamming the door shut again.

  ‘Oh, well that’s the first one of those,’ said Angelina as Zeus looked at her and shrugged.

  ‘What do we do now?’

  ‘A trick I guess.’

  ‘What sort of trick?’

  ‘Dunno. Traditionally it’s leaves through the letterbox, eggs at the windows, that sort of thing.’

  ‘Hmm,’ said Zeus thoughtfully. Then he snapped his fingers. ‘Got it! Check out this trick.’

  He walked up to the front of the house and reached up and grabbed hold of the security light. There was a loud ‘click’, then all the lights in the house began flashing as though some kind of party was going on inside.

  ‘Wow! How did you do that?’ asked Angelina as Zeus scurried back to her.

  ‘I’m not really sure,’ he replied. ‘I just grabbed hold of it and thought ‘Let there be light!’.’

  Just at that moment a silhouette appeared at one of the upstairs windows.

  ‘We’d best be off,’ said Angelina, and they left the driveway and continued walking up the street. They knocked on a few more houses and met with reasonable success, such that by the time they crossed the narrow bridge over the railway lines and arrived in Watford Heath, the bucket was almost full.

  ‘There’s still time for a few more,’ said Zeus as they turned onto Oxhey Avenue and sized up the rows of houses that ran past the allotments.

  They approached a scruffy-looking house with a blue door, which looked as though it hadn’t seen a lick of paint for several decades. They knocked on the door.

  Immediately they heard the sound of a voice muttering indistinctly from inside. As it neared they began to make out some of what it was saying.

  ‘… tell you if it’s the same lot as called round last time they can piss right off. I’m not a bloody charity shop y’know. You give ‘em and inch and they take a whole bloody mile.’

  The door opened and revealed a balding middle-aged man in a dressing gown and slippers. He had a wispy beard that was trying desperately to look like a goatee and his robe bulged out at the midriff giving the impression that he was pregnant.

  ‘Trick or treat,’ said Zeus chirpily.

  The man looked at him sullenly.

  ‘Oh all right,’ he said. ‘I s’pose you can have some. Damn kids have been knocking on my door all bloody night trying to get more.’

  He disappeared for a moment and re-emerged carrying a bucket of his own, which he offered to Zeus.

  ‘Take some, but don’t be greedy,’ he said. ‘And your girlfriend can have some too if she likes, though she looks a bit young.’

  ‘Girlfriend?’ repeated Zeus. Then he looked at the contents of the bucket. It was less than half full, but contained a mixture of condoms and cigarettes.

  Zeus looked up at the man, who remained impassive.

  ‘Are you sure that’s a good thing to be doing?’ he asked.

  ‘What?’ the man shrugged.

  ‘I mean, aren’t you sending out the wrong message?’

  ‘No. The wrong message is all around us, on TV, in music, in the shops, everywhere. Kids nowadays don’t want bloody sweets on Hallowe’en, they want fags and drugs and whatever else they can lay their hands on.’

  ‘And you give it to them?’

  ‘It’s the least I can do.’

  ‘I don’t like him, he looks a bit creepy,’ whispered Angelina.

  Zeus held up his hand for a moment, then reached into the bucket and took a handful of the ‘treats’.

  ‘Right, now bugger off,’ said the man, and he shut the door in their faces.

  ‘That was a little disturbing,’ said Zeus staring at the closed door.

  ‘Urgh, I did not like him one bit,’ said Angelina. ‘Fancy giving that stuff to kids.’

  ‘I know. I think I’ll need to keep an eye on that one,’ said Zeus as they turned and left the shabby house behind them. ‘It’s getting on a bit now. Do you fancy doing one more before we finish?’

  ‘Yeah, it would be a shame to leave it on that note.’

  They wandered along for a while and eventually joined Pinner Road. They were now only a couple of hundred yards from the train station.

  ‘This one’ll do,’ said Angelina pointing to a house with pretty net curtains and flowers in the window.

  ‘OK, let’s make this a good one,’ said Zeus.

  He stepped onto the short path with Angelina tucked out of sight behind him and rang the doorbell. It gave a chiming sound like Big Ben striking the hour. Zeus sniggered.

  The chiming stopped but there was no sign of movement from behind the door. Zeus rang again. Still nothing. He looked at Angelina and shrugged.

  He reached up to give it a third ring, but just at that moment the door creaked open. The old woman who stood before them was so small that for a moment they didn’t realise that there was anyone there at all.

  ‘Trick or treat,’ said Zeus, uncertain about how menacing he should sound.

  ‘Eh?’ grunted the old woman.

  ‘Trick or treat,’ repeated Zeus.

  ‘Do speak up dear and don’t mumble,’ croaked the old woman.

  ‘Trick or… oh forget it. Angelina you have a go.’

  Zeus stepped to one side to reveal Angelina. The old woman froze, her mouth half open.

  ‘Trick or treat?’ said Angelina uncertainly.

  ‘Margaret?’ said the old woman.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Margaret?’ repeated the old woman, louder this time.

  ‘I… err… no.’

  ‘Margaret where have you been? Fifty years ago you ran out and never came back. But now you have. Come and give your mother a kiss.’

  With remarkable speed the old woman darted forwards with her arms outstretched and her crinkled lips puckered and waiting. Angelina gave a small scream and backed off into the street.

  ‘Come on Margaret dear, have you got a kiss for me?’

  Angelina looked at her, wide-eyed.

  ‘Time to go,’ said Zeus grabbing her hand and dragging her down the street at a half run. He did not stop until they were inside the station and within the safety of the tunnel that ran beneath the tracks.

  ‘That was quite possibly the scariest thing that
has ever happened to me,’ said Angelina panting.

  Zeus laughed. ‘I’ve absolutely no idea what all that was about,’ he said leaning against the wall. ‘Perhaps it is a good time for us to stop.’

  ‘How did we do?’ asked Angelina.

  Zeus took his mask off and peered into their bucket of goodies.

  ‘Pretty good,’ he said. ‘Plenty of sweets and stuff. I’m not so sure about the fags and condoms though.’

  ‘That man was really quite weird wasn’t he?’

  ‘Yeah, that was all a bit worrying. There are some dodgy people in this world, but mostly they are not so open and obvious about it.’

  They started walking again, heading on through the tunnel towards the rear of the station.

  ‘So, how was your first Hallowe’en?’ asked Angelina.

  ‘My only Hallowe’en, you mean. Very enjoyable, I have to say. It easily met my expectations. How about you?’

  ‘It’s been great,’ said Angelina smiling. ‘My mum used to come out with me when I was younger, but that stopped a long time ago. Tonight’s been really good fun.’

  ‘Excellent. Well you can take the spoils home for yourself,’ said Zeus. ‘Although there are a couple of items I’ll remove first.’

  ‘Fair enough, I don’t want them anyway.’

  They reached the rear entrance to the station and were about to leave when something caught hold of Zeus’ hair and yanked his head violently backwards.

  Angelina screamed as she turned to see him struggling in the arms of a hooded man. In the cold glow of the strip lights she saw the flash of a blade.

  ‘Quiet girl!’ hissed the man. He had an arm across Zeus’ throat and had pulled him back behind the solitary ticket machine that stood near the entrance.

  ‘Easy mate,’ choked Zeus, raising both his hands into the air.

  ‘Shut up!’ said the man. ‘Wallet and