No sooner did Shawn and Michael leave the tree house, notebook in hand, then Michael said something.


"I want to do some more trick or treating." He said to Shawn flatly.

"Before we go to Celebrity drive."

"I want to get more candy because then I will be able to sort them. I am almost at 20 pieces of Tootsie Rolls and 20 Jolly Ranchers. I need 3 more Tootsie Rolls. I need 2 more Jolly Ranchers. Three and Two is five."

Shawn was about to immediately agree, but then the logic of what Michael was asking him to do kicked in. "What if you get three more Jolly Ranchers before you get three more Tootsie rolls? Also, is the candy different on Celebrity Drive, or could we trick-or-treat there and do both things?"

Michael shrugged his shoulders.

"Three and two is five."

"I need 3 more Tootsie Rolls. I need 2 more Jolly Ranchers."

Then he stared at Shawn for what seemed like a really long time.

Shawn didn't think that made much sense, but at the same time, Michael was a friend and someone he wanted to keep happy. He nodded his head. "Let's trick-or-treat every house on the way to Celebrity Drive, and we'll see how your count is doing. Sound good?"

Michael nodded.

It would have been just a hop over the fence behind the tree house to get to Celebrity Drive. However, that would have entailed landing in someone's back yard on Halloween at dusk.

And so the boys went through the neighborhood on Rodeo Drive Trick or Treating at every house en route to Celebrity Drive. The first house gave then full size Twix bars. The second house gave out Fun Dip, which Michael actually began to eat on the way towards the the next house.



However, after about the fifth or sixth house Shawn saw headlights from behind. There was a car on the road that was moving very slowly behind them.

Shawn noticed the car, and tried to see if it was the same one that had tried to egg them before. He decided to warn Michael just in case. "Look out for the car. It might be the egg one." The next house they went to, he tried to see what the car did as they headed up the driveway, whether it would continue along the road past them or keep following them.

As the they got the candy from the next house, Shawn noticed that the car had stopped at the top of the hill. When Shawn and Michael came back down from the driveway, the car began to inch forward again.

It was hard to see what time of car it was, because every time Shawn looked back, all he could see were bright headlights against a backdrop of darkness.

Remembering what happened last time, Shawn didn't openly react, but instead made sure that as they walked to the next house, their path took them close to bushes, trees, or other cover they could quickly dive behind if a sudden egging occurred.

 Shawn could feel the bright lights against his back, see his own dark shadow grow longer along the road as the car inched it’s was forward at a slow pace behind him. It was about fifty feet away and had picked up a bit of speed, just a hair, maybe  it was going about four or five miles an hour.

Michael was busy assessing the horde of candy he had gotten and was busy counting each piece. “We did not get to go trick or treating at the juvenile criminal place. Chestnut Grove I believe it was called.”

But as he was speaking Shawn sensed the ca. There was a loud screech as it lurched forward, the unmistakable sound of the engine roaring as it sped down the hill towards Shawn and Michael.

Shawn had been expecting this - another repeat of the egg throwing from earlier, so he'd already been looking for something to hide behind. He didn't wait for them to get close to see their intentions, he just warned Michael and started to move behind the nearest object. "Take cover!"

While Shawn ran away from the curb to hide behind a bush, he glanced behind him to catch the profile view of Michael's face, stoic and impassive, running towards the closest yard. The headlights bore down on him, half of Michael's face was covered in shadows and he moved with his arms and legs in a synchronized rhythm. Yet just as he reached the grass...

SCREEEEEEEEECH!!!!!

The car came to an abrupt stop. A few seconds later, the smell of burned rubber wafted towards Shawn's nose, the sound of Michael's footfalls as he padded his way to sit next to Shawn towards the adjacent bush.

The car was just sitting there for a moment longer. Then the window began to roll down.

Shawn felt a drop land on his forearm. Seconds later, it started to drizzle.

Shawn, crouched behind the bush squinted into the headlights, trying to see who was in the car. He thought back to the car that had thrown eggs at them, whether this one matched - it would be weird if this was all just a coincidence, but weirder stuff had happened tonight.

Shawn squinted into the headlights and through the drizzle that was coming down. It was not the car that had thrown the egg. It was a big car. An expensive car.

It was a pink Cadillac.

The motor hummed a low, soft purr. More like animal than a car.

Shawn saw movement from the driver’s window like the driver was about to stick something out of the window.

Shawn stayed behind the bushes for the time being. He had no idea what someone in a big expensive car would be doing tearing around the neighborhood, leaving burning rubber on the streets. Was it following them? Or maybe the driver was just looking for random kids?

Slowly, slowly, the driver's head emerged to stick itself out of the window. It looked like a woman, her eyes were squinting against the drizzle.

And with stunning clarity it all came into focus.


"Shawn!? Is that you?" Mom shouted towards the bushes, head on a swivel looking this way and that.

Shawn breathed out a sigh of relief, and immediately felt silly for not realizing what was going on. He softly called out to Michael. "Oh, it's okay, that's my Mom."

He got to his feet and headed towards the sidewalk. "Sorry Mom! I didn't realize that was you!" His tone conveyed relief and a bit of amusement - what a silly misunderstanding!

When Shawn spoke to Michael, Michael remained completely impassive and emotionless, a face of stone. It was as if Michael didn't care one way or another if it was Shawn's Mom or not.

As Shawn headed towards the sidewalk Mom's smile brightened.

"It is you!" Shawn's Mom sounded relieved, as if the sight of Shawn and his identification had put her at ease. "Come on, Get in. I want to show you." And she gestured to the passenger side of the car, beckoning Shawn to come inside with giddy enthusiasm and more than a hint of relief. Shawn got the sense that Mom had been looking for him for quite some time.