SUSANNAH STEWART | PUMPKIN JACK, BLOODY BONES, AND THE BAD CHILDREN, PART THREE
Dracula and Jacky O
The little guys defy Pumpkin Jack
Pumpkin Jack has a plan to save himself and Bloody Bones from life as Halloween decorations and to become fierce monsters once more. They have a loud argument. The other Halloween decorations, Agatha and Phineas Greystone, Ambrose and Oscar Swopes, Jacky O, and Dracula lecture and mock the two, enraging Pumpkin Jack.
I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody.” Abraham Lincoln
Two little friends in the attic Tired of the mean guys’ racket. Dracula and Jacky O Said hush now or you gotta go. Shut your big mouth or pack it!
Attempting to make up for his previous lack of cooperation, lickspittle Bloody Bones eagerly rushed to Pumpkin Jack’s defense.
“Jack’s right as always.”
Seeing the pleased expression on Jack’s face, Bones followed up on this unexpected opportunity to get back in Jack’s good graces. He shouted at the two small friends. “You shut up, Jacky O. You too, Drac-U-lala! What happened to him and me wasn’t Jack’s fault. How was he to know the old ragbag was a witchy woman? Why would someone that powerful be sleeping on the street with a bunch of homeless losers?”
Jacky O retorted, “Let’s see, let me think just half a second. Yup, now I’ve got it. Here’s the answer. To catch a pair of gullible villains, maybe, who had made the mistake of thinking they had spotted some easy prey. The conjure women in Haven don’t tolerate bullies, at least not the supernatural kind. You’re lucky Granny Weaver didn’t blast you to oblivion.”
In a slightly milder reproving tone, Dracula said, “Granny offered you redemption. She took away your power, and left your consciousness untouched, allowing you the opportunity to repent and save yourselves.”
Unable to keep quiet, Jacky O said, “I think it was a dumb idea myself. Your second chance was unlucky for the rest of us. We’re the ones who had to put up with you jerks, griping and whining, day and night. What’s a miserable existence and humiliating comedown for you is a joy for us. We’re glad to be what we are and where we are.”
Dracula added, “You are foolish to think only of continuing in wickedness. Granny Weaver wished for you to suffer, to feel what it is like to be powerless so that perhaps your hearts might soften. She and Penelope are good women who want to think even evildoers can change. They do not know you as we do.”
He gravely continued, “But even such as you may change. It is a good life. You should join us willingly. There is a limit to their hope and to their mercy. The Stewarts, particularly young Susannah, are not so forgiving as Granny and Penelope.”
Bones and Pumpkin Jack had momentarily been shocked into silence by the small ones talking back, but that didn’t last long.
Unimpressed by Dracula’s reasoned pleading, Pumpkin Jack snorted his derision, not in the least interested in advice or philosophy.
“Just let that rotten little girl try to take me on. She’ll be sorry. As for the old bat, Granny Weaver, she just caught us off guard. And that Penelope is a dolt. And so is that dumb husband of hers. Here we are, right here in their house, and they don’t understand what’s going on with us, how close we are to recovering our power.”
He cackled contemptuously, thinking of the lovely woman walking in the garden below and the old woman who had been his downfall.
“We’ll see who laughs last. I’m feeling more myself since those bad children, those marvelous, mean, selfish children visited last week. Nothing like a spot of wickedness to pick a bloke up,” Jack replied, an intimation of his old satanic smile, a hint of his past fiery evil gleaming deep in his eye.
To Be Continued Daily Through Halloween
Here is part one.
Here is part two.
Here is another Halloween poem about Pumpkin Jack and Bloody Bones.
