MONKEY BUSINESS — A HALLOWEEN TALE

That Halloween evening, an evening when folk welcomed strangers at their doorsteps, Brendan and his parents went trick-or-treating together. Beneath a bright full moon their bodies shone slickly.

Mr Murphy was out, too, standing in the middle of the town's main street, directing operations. From behind his dark glasses he observed his pupils and their parents approvingly.

Guided by the science teacher, the Gatlin family glided up the garden pathway of old Mr Royston's house and rang the doorbell. An elderly couple answered, arms laden with candy.

"Mine!" Brendan spluttered, engulfing old Mr Royston and absorbing his organic material.

"Mine!" said Graham Gatlin, pulling old Mrs Royston into a fatal embrace.

"Mine!" gurgled Brendan's mother, Jessica, and nourished herself on the Roystons' barking dog.

***

Next morning, sitting in the back of a taxi, Nanna Gatlin shifted nervously during the journey from the railway station to her son and daughter-in-law's house. The windows of the taxi had been tinted and the driver wore sunglasses. Even more disconcertingly, when the man verified the address she had given him, his words were indistinct, like the speech of a drunkard.

"We're here, madam," the driver said, pulling the taxi to a halt.

Nanna Gatlin placed a ten pound note in the man's clammy hand, told him to keep the change and struggled out of the car with her overnight bag. Breathing a sigh of relief as the taxi departed, she knocked on the front door of the Gatlin residence.

Having been left off the latch, the door swung open.

"Graham? … Jessica? … Brendan?"

No reply.

Nanna Gatlin advanced into the hallway and pushed open the lounge door. The room was in darkness, the curtains drawn. In the gloom, three shapes rose from the sofa with an unsettling squelch.

"Na-nna!" said Brendan, his voice congested as if he had a cold.

"Na-nna!" chorused Graham and Jessica Gatlin.

Putting her unease aside, the old woman said, "Come and give Nanna a big hug and a kiss."

The transformed Gatlins needed no further encouragement.

Once they had finished feeding, Graham and Jessica grinned down at their son. "Shall we accompany you to school?" they asked.

Brendan grinned back. "Mr Murphy would like that."