threw the basketball at the girls, but they hopped up and out of the way. Then they started making loud, slurpy kissing noises. “Ricky has a crush!” they chanted. “Ricky loves Dolores!”
“Hi-i-i, Do-lor-esss,” Molly squeaked, imitating Ricky. She pretended to kiss the basketball.
“Eeeeeuuuuwwww!” Linda and Susan shrieked.
Ricky jumped on his bike. As he sped past the girls he called, “You’ll be sorry! You’ll pay for this!”
The girls just giggled until they ran out of breath and their stomachs hurt. Finally, they got serious again and went back to the question of what to be for Halloween.
“We could be the princesses of England,” suggested Linda.
“But there are only two of them, Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. One of us would have to be their mother,” said Molly.
“How about being nurses?” asked Susan. “We could all wear capes.”
“That’s what we did last year!” Linda and Molly said together.
They considered being acrobats, three Alices in Wonderland, ice skating stars like Sonja Henie, or the Three Blind Mice. No one could get very excited about being a blind mouse, and anyway, Mrs. McIntire overheard them and said she absolutely did not have time to make a mouse costume for Molly. “And besides,” added Mrs. McIntire, “in wartime I don’t think it’s right to use good material for Halloween costumes.”
Molly, Linda, and Susan groaned. They knew Mrs. McIntire was right.
“But I’ve got another idea,” said Mrs. McIntire. “I’ll show you girls how to make grass skirts out of newspaper and crepe paper. Then you can be hula dancers.”
“Well,” replied Susan, “my sister Gloria taught me how to make flowers out of crepe paper, just like they did to decorate for the prom. We could string them together and make flower necklaces and headdresses.”
“I think my father has an old ukulele,” said Linda. “It doesn’t have any strings, but it will look good.”
“It’s too bad it’s so cold, because I know my mother will make me wear socks and shoes and a sweater on top,” said Susan. “But at least the flower necklaces will hide most of the sweater.”
So the girls decided to be Hawaiian hula dancers for Halloween.
Soon after that, the streetlights went on, which meant Linda and Susan had to go home. They agreed to meet back at Molly’s house after school the next afternoon to make their costumes. Then they would all go trick-or-treating together. Afterward, Linda and Susan would spend the night at Molly’s so they could talk about how wonderful their Halloween had been.
By the time she went inside to supper, Molly had completely forgotten Ricky’s threat to make them all sorry. She was too busy practicing her hula.
Trick or Treat?
By the time they were ready to go out trick-or-treating, Molly, Linda, and Susan were caught up in the excitement of Halloween and very pleased with their matching hula outfits.
“Adorable!” said Dolores. “You look as cute as buttons!” She and Jill bobby-pinned paper flowers into the girls’ hair.
“When I get back from taking Brad trick-or-treating, I’ll take your picture to send to Dad,” said Mrs. McIntire. Brad was wearing a sheet. He was going as a ghost. “Ricky, I’ll want a picture of you, too.”
“Okay, Mom,” said Ricky. He was dressed as a pirate. Ricky was a pirate every year.
It was a windy night, but not too cold, so the girls rolled down their socks and pushed up the sleeves of their sweaters. The wind made their skirts ripple so that they looked graceful and pretty, just like real grass skirts.
They saw Alison when they went to the Silvanos’ house down the street. Her angel outfit was perfect. She had a flowing white satin robe with fluffy white feathers at the neck and cuffs and all down the front. Her wings and halo were covered with gold glitter.
“Hula dancers!” Alison sighed with envy when she saw them.
Molly was very pleased. They had made Alison jealous. “Your outfit is good, too,” Molly said. “You really look like an angel.” She felt like being nice. In fact, it would probably be fun to trick-or-treat with Alison, except Alison’s mother always went with her.
“Hawaiian hula dancers!” Mrs. Hargate was saying. “What charming costumes, gals! And homemade, too! Aren’t you clever?” The girls just smiled and hurried away.
“Really,” Linda said later, “you almost have to feel sorry for Alison with a mother like that!”
“I know,” said Molly. “Wouldn’t it be awful to have a mother who doesn’t know that the whole point of Halloween is to go out and walk around the neighborhood with your friends, and not with her?”
Because of the war, most people did not have any sugar to spare, so the girls did not get as many candies and cookies as last year. Nevertheless, their brown paper bags were soon bulging with apples, peanuts, and homemade doughnuts, molasses kisses, and popcorn balls. The Hargates’ maid was giving out Tootsie Pops, which were the best treats.
Two families, the Pedersons and the Rucksteins, asked the girls to do a trick before they got their treats. So the girls did a hula, waving their arms and singing the Hawaiian song they learned in school. Linda strummed her stringless ukulele. It was a big hit. The Pedersons, especially, clapped and clapped. They gave the girls each two glasses of cider.
Linda believed in eating her treats along the way, so her bag was not as full as Susan’s and Molly’s when the girls finally walked up the driveway to Molly’s house. Molly was humming the Hawaiian song, Linda was unwrapping a popcorn ball, and Susan was making her skirt swish and sway. They were almost to the back door when a huge splash of water poured down on top of them and a hose sprayed straight at them.
“AHHHH!” Molly yelled. The water flooded around her feet in cold gushes. She felt as if she was drowning in a waterfall. Her bag of treats burst, the popcorn balls floated in puddles, the doughnuts turned to spongy globs, the apples rolled away down the sidewalk. Linda and Susan were gasping. Their
