Adapted From Fanciful Friends - December 31 Halloween

December 31

8 p.m.

Outfits drape over the bed and the floor in the room.  The party at Ally and Don’s is tonight.  The Mean Girls are back.  Attending is scarier than facing a pack of werewolves and Bigfoots.

Last year, my friends were more interested in mystical reality stories about Marianne’s butterfly tattoo like how she hasn’t been the same since my dad, George finished it.  I told them it was the ink and the pattern of the colors that made the charm.  “The butterfly is spooky the way it watches you,” I said.  “It’s eyes are open all the time, it never sleeps.  Have you checked out its teeth?” 

Ask anybody in the Grove, they would tell you George’s tattoo shop used to sit next to South Side, the sports bar.  There’s nothing next to South Side now.  But last year, it was the most popular place in town.  If you ask Marianne what happened, she’ll tell you about a curse.

I don’t remember what Marianne said about the curse, or the book where it came from.  But, if no one is interested in whether the butterfly doomed George’s old business, I could make something up about the malediction and tell everyone it made Marianne and Don have an affair.