Disclaimers: I borrowed Samantha and Tina from my story, Our Reunion, to write this special Halloween tale. I promise they'll be returned unharmed and none the worse for wear<g>.
The two women were snuggled together on the couch in the dimly lit room. Samantha, the small blonde, was totally absorbed in the conclusion of the movie flickering on the TV screen. Tina, her lanky, dark-haired partner, was dozing lightly.
The credits began to roll and Sam used the remote to turn off the television. "Wasn't that romantic?"
"Uh huh." You could find the nightly news romantic.
"C'mon. Admit it. I mean... they were in costume. They fell in love before even knowing what each other looked like!"
"Mmm hmm."
"Have you ever gone to a costume party like that?"
Tina opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "I don't do costumes."
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." Ever inquisitive, Sam was not deterred. "What about on Halloween when you were a kid?"
Uh oh. "Umm... yes."
"Will you tell me about it?"
"There's not much to tell. Steven and I did the typical trick-or-treating that children do."
"What did you dress as?"
"I don't remember."
"Tina Mellekas, you don't forget ANYTHING!"
"Samantha..."
"Please?"
Sighing in defeat, Tina took a few moments to think before starting. "When I was about ten, Steven and I went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with the kids from next door. They had a sister who was a teenager and she was in charge of us."
"What were you dressed as?"
"I was a hobo."
"A hobo?"
"Yeah. It was a pretty popular costume back then. I wore baggy old clothes and carried a broomstick with a kerchief tied to the end over my shoulder. I think I had crumpled newspaper inside the kerchief to make it look full. My mom burnt a piece of cork and drew a beard and moustache on me. I even had a top hat."
Sam grinned, picturing her partner as a child in that costume. "You must have been adorable." You still are.
"I don't know about that, but it was a cheap and simple outfit."
"What did Steven wear?"
"That's easy. He was a cowboy." Tina's voice became softer and tinged with affection. "He loved being a cowboy. I couldn't talk him out of being the same thing every year. He was going to be a cowboy and that was that."
"As stubborn as his big sister, huh?"
"I guess so. Anyway, we carried pillowcases to collect the candy and that year Steven had a particularly threadbare one. When he walked, he occasionally scraped the bottom of it on the sidewalk. After a while, a small tear developed and now and then a piece of candy fell out. I walked behind him, picking it up and putting it in my bag."
"Oh! You DIDN'T!"
"I most certainly DID." Tina chuckled. "When we got home, we dumped all the candy on the kitchen table to see what we had. Steven noticed the hole in his bag and saw that I had more candy than he did. He came to the unhappy realization that he'd lost some of his."
"You didn't tell him you had it?"
"Nope. I waited until a few months later to tease him about it. He was SO mad at me..." Tina's voice trailed off and there was silence for several minutes.
Sam knew the woman was thinking about how much she missed her brother. "Tina?"
"Hmm?"
"Would you like to hear a story about one of my Halloweens?"
"Yeah." Tina kissed the top of the fair-haired head tucked against her shoulder.
"Okay." Let's see... something funny to cheer you up. "When I was in college, they had a Halloween party at the Student Union every year. One time, a group of us in the marching band decided to go together. After a lot of discussion, we settled on going as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
The last bit of information got a laugh from her partner, which pleased Sam. Warming to the story, she repositioned herself, straddling Tina's legs and sitting so she was facing her all-important audience. "One of my friends had black, shoulder length hair and she even had a dress that would be perfect for Snow White. I, naturally, was a dwarf. The funniest part was the guys. They were all different heights, up to six feet tall, but they were dressed as dwarfs, too. We wore stocking caps and white beards made from fluffy white cloth. We carried those mini garden tools designed for children and one of the guys held a lantern. Walking from the dorm to the Student Union, we sang, ‘Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to work we go.' We were pretty confident we'd win the best group costume award."
Tina smiled, caught up in the tale that was being told with much arm waving and enthusiasm.
"Well, on the way, we saw another group heading for the party. It was Jesus Christ and the twelve disciples. Dressed in long robes, they were chanting and carrying torches. They looked cool and we knew we had some major competition. At the party, when the DJ called for the group costume contestants to get out on the floor, all of us dwarfs held hands in a big circle surrounding Snow White and danced around her. The disciples.... well... dancing didn't seem appropriate for them, so they kind of just stood there. We ended up winning and the DJ called for someone to come get the prize, which was a big pitcher of beer. I ran to the stage to get it and he embarrassed the heck out of me by announcing to the whole crowd, "Oh! What a CUTE dwarf!"
"Well, I'm sure he was right about THAT."
Sam grinned at the compliment. "Then we drank too much, danced some more, and stumbled back to the dorms."
"Sounds like you had fun."
"Typical college stuff, but yeah, I did." Sam tilted her head slightly and looked into her partner's blue eyes. "Though now that I'm older, I prefer more... umm... intimate evenings."
Tina reached up and tenderly touched the side of Sam's face. "Me, too," she murmured, sliding her hand behind the woman's neck and bringing her forward for a kiss.
"I DO like it when we agree." The blonde tried to catch her breath after the passionate kiss. "Sooo... if we were invited to a Halloween party, we could go as some famous duo..."
"Yeah. Tina and Samantha."
"Nooooooo. A FAMOUS duo."
"Batman and Robin?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "FEMALE duo!"
"Ah... Cagney and Lacey? Thelma and Louise?"
"Now you're on the right track. Those don't require much of a costume, though. No one would know who we were supposed to be."
"Tweety and Sylvester?"
Imagining them dressed up as the cartoon characters, Sam burst out laughing. "I don't think they're female. Besides that's too much costume for even me."
"Less costume? Hmm... I could go for that." Tina's hands slipped under the younger woman's tee shirt. "How about Xena and Gabrielle?"
"Ohhhhhh.... You in leather...."
"You in that skimpy two-piece outfit..." Tina gently pulled Sam forward and began kissing her neck.
"We'd never make it to the party..."
A deep, sexy voice rumbled near the blonde's ear. "What party?"
"Mmmmm. It sounds like we'll be making some wonderful Halloween memories together."
"I think you're right."
And indeed she was.
The end