Page 10 of Batty About You
“Because we’ve lived long enough to know that you don’t mess with a curse. When you mess with a curse, it messes with you. Please stay inside tonight, or in some holy sanctuary, Bogdan! Your parents are beside themselves.”
“Bunica, I have to grow up and live on my own at some point. They can’t always watch me on Halloween night like I’m some ticking time bomb!”
“But you are not at home, alone, on your own. Then, you would be safe!”
“What, the devil can get into forests in Romania, but not apartments in Hoboken? Sounds pretty weak-assed to me.”
There’s a flurry of frantic Romanian prayers for my soul and for God to remove my stupidity. “Why would you say that?” she hisses.
“Because I wanted to! I will not be ruled by fear!” I might be bullied by it and crap my pants if I don’t pull over and shift soon, but I’m not going to beruledby it. “ I love you, and if you don’t want the curse to be that I crash my car, you’ll let me hang up and just say a couple of extra prayers that tonight goes well. Okay?”
At last, after a shaking, heaving sob, she says a whole litany of blessings and fervent prayers for protection over me, tells me to make sure the girl I’m meeting is not some internet Jezebel like the one who duped my cousin Vasile out of five thousand leu, reminds me to call her tomorrow if I’m still alive, and hangs up.
“Happy freakin’ Halloween,” I whisper to myself, and narrowly avoid missing my exit.
Chapter Four: Bogdan and Kelly
I’m an hour early, and the town is decorated to the teeth. Gold, black, and orange adorn every lamp post in the old-fashioned “downtown” made up of shops and brick buildings. I have time to kill. I should stop and buy her flowers. No, a corsage! I’ve always dreamed of giving her a corsage, but between sneaking straight from work to Pine Ridge and dodging a dozen frantic phone calls from my relatives, I didn’t think about it until now.
Not that it matters.
Not that I can find the florist.
Not that any shops are even open.
What the...? Why is everything shut down tight at seven? Why aren’t there any kids running along the well-lit streets with costumes and buckets of candy?
Doesn’t matter.
I decide to head up to White Pines. I’ll see if I can park somewhere discreet, and then go on a flying mission in my bat form. In case you’re wondering, I canalwaysturn into a bat, day or night. The problem is that once sunset hits, I can’t go back to a human form. I’m either this big humanoid bat or a cute little bat. (I think little brown bats are cute, anyway.) Consequently, I’ve rarely been outside at night unless it's in the sky. The idea of going to a crowded ballroom fills me with dread, but Kelly’sworth the risk. My family may talk about curses, but this night is a blessing, too! This is the one night I can take Kelly out without people fleeing and screaming. Tonight, I’m just another costume.
And hey, tonight is a night where bats are just another spooky decoration.
I make my way to White Pines, smiling as I see all the places Kelly has told me about—the River House, which is the restaurant where she works, and the campus where she attends classes... Maybe one day I could be here, strolling hand in hand with her. I know NYU has a med school. Does this little campus have one? Could I do my grad school here, with her, my beautiful new bride?
I find a place behind the caterer’s van to park my car and roll up the windows, wincing as I’m compressed into a tiny tube of wings and seatbelts. Then I scurry out as fast as an overgrown bat mutant can scurry and take to the skies!
As I fly, I spot her off-campus apartments, a single block of bricks on the other side of the river from the campus.
Would this be where we live? Since Kelly’s roommate moved out, she’d have a spare room. If she can afford it on her own—temporarily, could we afford it together?
Would that second bedroom soon hold our baby daughter? Or son? I picture a girl, a beautiful girl like Kelly, someone safe from my cursed genes. We both want a big family, but I’ll be happy to stop well before seven, just in case.
I swoop lower, wondering if I can spot Kelly in one of the windows. Not in a creepy, stalker-y way! I just can’t wait for a little glimpse of the woman I love in all of her finery. Maybe I can even spot her car! I know what I’m looking for: a bright blue Toyota with one black rear door from where Lourdes ran into it with her scooter.
