Charlie dropped Granny and the children off at the church; he had to go and milk some cows, and would attend church in the morning. It was, All Hallows Eve (where the name Hallowe’en comes from), and the church feast, All Saints’ Day was the following day. There was quite a big crowd at the ceremony. The families of the parish brought their lists of dead loved ones in envelopes with a money offering, and put them into the collection baskets. The priest would pray for all the people on the lists. Granny prayed quietly for her husband, John, who had passed five years ago, and for her cousin Tom O’Neill.
Charlie was ready for them when they came out of church. The children couldn’t wait to get back to Granny’s house to put on their costumes to go Trick and Treating around the village. Charlie helped Granny get Conor and Niamh ready. Sean, got himself ready and looked fairly gruesome as the Grim Reaper. Charlie wrapped Conor in the bandages, until just Conor’s eyes could be seen peeping through a small slit. Granny put fake blood on Niamh’s face and hands, and stood back to admire her work.
Charlie était là quand ils sortirent de l'église. Les enfants avaient hâte de rentrer chez Grand-mère pour enfiler leurs costumes et passer de maison en maison pour faire des tours ou se faire offrir des friandises dans le village. Charlie aida Grand-mère à préparer Conor et Niamh. Sean, se prépara et avait l'air plutôt horrible dans son costume de la Grande Faucheuse. Charlie enveloppa Conor dans les bandages, jusqu'à ce que seuls les yeux de Conor puissent être vus à travers une petite fente. Grand-mère mit du faux sang sur le visage et les mains de Niamh et recula pour admirer son travail.
“You really look the part.” “I wouldn’t like to meet this lot on my own,” chuckled Charlie. “Don’t forget to wear your hi-vis jackets, and take a torch,” Granny instructed. So the children put on the jackets and Sean took a torch from Granny.“Have a great time!” called Granny, as they got into Charlie’s car with bags to collect goodies from people.
They started at one end of the village and started ringing doorbells and knocking on doors. There were many others groups of children, of all ages, doing the same. The small ones were accompanied by parents. Charlie followed them slowly in the car, pulling in and parking where he could. Luckily most people were happy enough to hand out chocolate bars, sweets and fruit. Traditionally, nuts would have been given too, but people were becoming aware of nut allergies and didn’t want to cause any harm to the children calling. When they were finished the children put their bags of goodies into the car with Charlie, but took a chocolate bar each to eat.
“Don’t eat all our goodies, Charlie,” Sean said putting his head through the open driver’s window.“Don’t kiss too many girls at the disco, Sean,” Charlie replied.“I should be so lucky,” retorted Sean.“Who would want to kiss you? Yuck!” Niamh gave her brother a playful push.“Have fun and be good,” Charlie called as he drove off.
The children walked across the road to the village community centre. There was a queue of young people outside, all dressed in bizarre and strange costumes. They could hear the music thumping inside. When it was their turn they paid the entry fee, which was going to a local charity, and the back of their hands were stamped with an ink design, to show that they had paid. Inside they hung up their hi-vis jackets on some coat hooks, before they entered the main hall.
Les enfants traversèrent la route jusqu'au centre communautaire du village. Il y avait une file de jeunes à l'extérieur, tous vêtus de costumes bizarres et étranges. Ils pouvaient entendre la musique résonner à l'intérieur. Quand ce fut leur tour, ils payèrent le droit d'entrée, qui allait à un organisme de bienfaisance local, et on tamponna leurs mains avec un dessin à l'encre, pour montrer qu'ils avaient payé. À l'intérieur, ils accrochèrent leurs vestes à des patères, avant d'entrer dans le hall principal.
The hall was full of young people dancing enthusiastically to the latest pop songs. There was a special bar where they could get soft drinks and snacks, on one side of the hall. The whole hall had been decorated with a Halloween theme of bats, spiders and pumpkin faces. Sean, Niamh, and Conor started dancing. Before long they were joined by the O’ Sullivan and Farrell children. They formed a circle to dance together. Soon, other people started copying them, and before they knew it, there were lots of circles of Halloween characters up and down the hall, dancing to the beat.
“This is great fun,” said Niamh, smiling at the members in their dancing circle.“Doesn’t it look funny with everybody dressed up?” shouted Conor, above the music. “You’re a funny mummy,” Niamh shouted back, just as the music stopped. Everyone in the hall heard her and started laughing. “It’s a good thing I‘m wearing these bandages so you can’t see me blushing,” Conor whispered. “I’m the one everyone is laughing at,” said Niamh.“Let’s get a drink,” Sean suggested.
They made their way to the bar and got some cokes and crisps. They sat down on some chairs and observed the crowd. They had a competition to see who could find the craziest costume in the room. They all agreed that a boy dressed up as a hotdog (a sausage in a bread roll), was the craziest costume, and Sean bragged how he had seen the costume first.
Ils se dirigèrent vers le bar et prirent quelques cocas et des chips. Ils s'assirent sur des chaises et observèrent la foule. Ils participèrent à un concours pour voir qui avait le costume le plus dingue de la pièce. Ils convinrent tous qu'un garçon déguisé en hot-dog (une saucisse dans un petit pain) était le costume le plus dingue, et Sean se vanta d'avoir vu le costume en premier.
The children decided to go dancing again. The music was great, and even though there were a group of adults supervising the disco, they didn’t interfere too much, and even joined in the fun. The disco finished at 10 pm. The children got their hi-vis jackets to put on. All the young people trooped out of the community centre, feeling hot and sweaty and with their costumes all messed up. Sean, Niamh and Conor looked up and down the main village street for Charlie. People got into cars and were driven away, and soon there was just them standing there. There was no sign of Charlie.
“Are you ok?” asked the last adult to leave the community centre.“Yes thanks. Charlie Conroy is coming to pick us up. He should be here in a minute.”“Well, if you’re sure. I just live across the road if there is any problem.” The man crossed the road and went into his house.
Sean pulled up the back of his costume and struggled to get his mobile phone out of the pocket of his jeans. He tried ringing Charlie, but it rang out and went to voicemail. Sean left a message and they waited another ten minutes.
Sean remonta l’arrière de son costume et lutta pour sortir son téléphone portable de la poche de son jeans. Il essaya d'appeler Charlie, mais cela sonna puis tomba sur la messagerie. Sean laissa un message et ils attendirent encore dix minutes.
“I’m getting cold,” wailed Niamh.“I know, I know!” Sean snapped at her.“It’s not that far to walk to Gran’s house,” suggested Conor. “There are three of us, so we should be safe enough.”“Anyone seeing us dressed like this would run a mile anyway,” added Niamh, laughing now.“I suppose it will be okay,” Sean shrugged, with the palms of his hands up.
So they started off walking out of the village that was well-lit with street-lights, into the darkness of the country road that led to Granny’s house. But luckily a big, fat, round moon appeared from behind a cloud to help light their way.
