Trunk-Or-Treat

Driving up to the 6th annual Mount Calgary Mission Church Trunk-or-Treat, Mandy beamed out the window of the family suburban while her husband Jimmy swerved in and out of the long line of parking cars, trying to see around them. He was muttering, but Mandy was only listening with half an ear to make sure he didn’t swear in front of the kids.

“I don’t see why we can’t do something about this…gol danged parking. ‘Sposed to be a mega-church, they ought to be enough parking that you don’t have to get stuck in a field tryna get in!” 

“Well honey, it’s just that they reserved the 3 paved lots around the back for the trick or treaters, normally we don’t have to park out in the field.” The other reason they had to park in the field was because she and the kids had sat in the suburban waiting for him for 30 minutes while he “finished up in the bathroom,” so all the remaining good spots were taken, but Mandy didn’t say this. He was spending more and more time gelling his hair in the mirror lately as it thinned, and he was touchy about it. Pulling into a spot at the end of the row, he swore softly and she shot him a look. 

The kids were bouncing in their seats, looking so adorable in their costumes that she couldn’t help but hold them still for one last photo before they ran off to play with their friends. “Say cheese!”

“CHEEEEEESE” her three little bucktoothed mice sang out. The oldest, Little Jimmy, sat with his smile frozen for a second, waiting to be sure that the photos were over before unsnapping his seat belt and sliding out of the car. He was ten now, and he didn’t want to spend an extra minute with his five and three year old brothers. The matching grey fleece mouse costumes had nearly undone him, Big Jimmy had to threaten to spank him before he’d agree to put his on, so Mandy was just glad that he seemed to have cheered up. He waved at her as he exited the car and disappeared into the throng of families trudging toward the church.

While Jimmy slammed his way out of the car and checked his hair in the mirror, Mandy unbuckled the little ones from their car seats and handed them their candy bags. She and Jimmy each carried a little boy mouse to keep them out of the mud. Putting the trunk-or-treat in the paved area was the kind of thoughtful thing her church did all the time, Mandy thought. They knew that nobody wanted to be washing baby costumes tonight. As they walked Mandy looked around and waved at everyone she knew. She’d gone trick or treating in her neighborhood as a child, her parents hadn’t been very religious and hadn’t understood the demonology that was involved in the worldly halloween celebration. When she’d first heard of trunk-or-treat she had worried that it wouldn’t feel special, but Mount Calgary always went above and beyond and with all the fun games and elaborate decorations people put on their cars (Mary and Jacob were dressed up as pirates and the back of their pickup was a ship with a real gangplank!), this was even better than regular halloween! 

She caught sight of her best friend Andrea in the line to drop the little kids off with the Sunday school group and shouted her over. Andrea was leaving her twins and her next two youngest, her older boys were off somewhere with their friends. Her teenaged daughter stood in the receiving line to accept little crying toddler bunnies and angels with the other high school girls, it was another sweet thing about Mount Calgary, that the young women in the youth group were all so involved. They always volunteered to help the little kids navigate the trunk-or-treat, or easter egg hunt. 

“Look at those precious little babies! What are ya’ll’s costumes?!” Andrea gushed. “Now, don’t tell me…are ya’ll…turtles?!”

Brayden and Sawyer grinned and giggled. “No we’re WABBITS!” Brayden lisped. He was missing his two front teeth after a fall on his four wheeler. 

Mandy turned to the cluster of children hanging on Andrea’s skirt. “And ya’ll must be…ponies!” Andrea laughed.

“Alright Hayden, Brynlee, Macy, Gunner, tell Miss Mandy what ya’ll’s costumes are.” Andrea instructed. As they each listed their assigned farm animal, Mandy was impressed as always by how well-behaved they were. And Andrea made all their costumes herself! 

After they had turned in their children, Andrea and Mandy walked together to the mother’s ministry wing of the enormous building to meet up with their other friends. As they made their way through the parking lot, they clucked their disapproval to each other over the handful of “scary” halloween costumes they saw among the crowds of kids. Mount Calgary had been very clear about not dressing children up as witches or ghosts or other demonic things, but there were always a few non-regular church attending families who didn’t get the message.Mandy felt sorry for those kids, imagine, your parents dressing you up in a devil costume and bringing you to a beautiful church like this. As they turned the corner to enter the church under the royal purple awning, Mandy tugged on Andrea’s frilly lace shoulder.

“Psst, look at that!” She pointed to a beat-up white van, parked at the end of the nearest row of trunk-or-treat vehicles, the front of the cab buried in the bushes. “Do you think that’s somebody’s work truck?”

Andrea tsked. “Looks like. And they didn’t even decorate it! I swear, can’t believe how little some people do for their community.” Mandy nodded and they headed in to laugh and chat with the other mothers. 

As they circulated and snacked on fruit and veggie platters, Mandy lost track of Andrea and she didn’t see her again until she made her way over to pick up the kids. “Randy wanted to leave a little early to beat the traffic,” Andrea said, shrugging. Mandy giggled. That was what Jimmy had been demanding they do for the last hour. “So, I came and grabbed the kids, but they said that they can’t find Brynlee!” Mandy noticed that she looked flushed.

“Oh Andrea, I’m sure she’s around!” Mandy tried to sound upbeat but she could tell that Andrea was worried. She hugged Brayden and Sawyer and ignored them as they tried to tell her about all their candy. “Where have you looked so far?”

“All around the parking lot and in the Sunday School rooms.” 

“OH” Mandy gasped. “Oh, wow, you’ve already been looking! Did you tell anyone yet?”

Andrea looked near tears. “Well I just figured that she’d turn up, I mean, she’s sure to, right? Do you think I should?”

Mandy turned around and marched back to the front of the line of parents collecting their children. “Listen! Everyone, listen. We are missing a five year old girl, her name is Brynlee! She’s dressed as a–”

“As a sheep!” Andrea filled in. The crowd quieted and one of the fathers took charge and began forming search parties. A group of about 30 parents fanned out throughout the grounds and a couple people ran in to tell the pastor and his wife, who announced the search on the intercom. Mandy was holding Sawyer and Brayden tightly by the hands as she called for Brynlee through the rose garden off to the side of the church when she nearly ran into little Jimmy. He was whispering to a group of boys standing in a semi-circle behind a bush. 

“Jimmy!” She snapped, startled. “Where have you been? Didn’t you hear, everyone is looking for Brynlee?!” 

He turned slowly around and looked at her with a strange expression. “Who is Brynlee?” 

“Who is–it’s one of Miss Andrea’s daughters!” No recognition. “The second youngest…the one with the funny ear.” 

“Ooh. Oh, wow, she’s lost?” 

“Yes! Now I don’t know what ya’ll are doing back here but you need to come help look for her.” She turned and headed back to the parking lot, and he caught up with her.

“Momma, did you hear about the truck?”

“What truck?” 

“The one that was handing out…homemade things.” His was usually a quiet boy but she had to strain to hear him. 

“What are you talking about? Do you remember seeing Brynlee tonight?”

“Well, she…she maybe was near the truck the last time I saw it. She was getting one of the cookies.” 

Mandy whirled around and released the other two boys to grab him by the shoulders. “What truck! What did it look like?”

He pulled away from her and shrugged. “I don’t know, it was a white truck. Looked kind of dirty. The lady in the back was giving out these homemade cookies that were…kind of weird. We told her we didn’t want them.”

“Oh my goodness! C’mon!” She pulled the boys back to the father organizing the search at a run and breathlessly demanded that Jimmy tell him what he’d seen. The other boys were rounded up and confirmed: Brynlee was last seen taking something from the woman in the dirty white van, the one Mandy and Andrea had noticed earlier, and then she seemed to have vanished. The searchers set out looking for the van and a checkpoint was immediately formed to stop cars exiting the lot, but the van was nowhere to be found. Andrea, red-faced and crying, was huddled on the church steps surrounded by the rest of her brood while her husband Randy paced and spoke to the detective who had arrived. The fathers fanned out into the woods around the church led a group of police officers and they shouted for Brynlee. It was getting dark and groups of mothers and cranky, over-sugared children had moved into the sanctuary to wait. No one was allowed to leave until their car had been checked and they’d given their information to the officers. Mandy thought that she should go to Andrea to comfort her, but she couldn’t get close because of the crowds and she didn’t want to be a distraction. Sawyer had peed in his costume so she tried to clean him up with wet wipes. Big Jimmy joined them and gave her dirty looks when he caught her eye. If they’d left when he said to, they wouldn’t have had to sit through any of this. 

Suddenly, hearing shouts outside the church, Mandy jumped up and rushed outside. A group of officers rushed up, and one of them was carrying Brynlee. Andrea fell over her and wailed “PRAISE THE LORD!” The little girl was muddy and had twigs in her hair, but otherwise seemed okay. Mandy elbowed through the crowd and hugged Andrea’s shoulder.

The crowd began to disperse, but a small group of men and the detective remained at the edge of the parking lot, passing something around and murmuring. Big Jimmy walked over to join them as Mandy and Andrea tearfully told each other goodnight and promised to talk in the morning. They both had tired children to put in bed. 

In the car, Mandy noticed that Jimmy’s face was white and he was silent as he drove, no longer complaining about the late night. “Jim, honey, you must be tired out. Did you hear if they found out anything else about that van?”

He shook his head, shuddering. “Nope, but they found her candy basket.”

From the back seat, little Jimmy’s voice was a harsh whisper. “Dad did they find the finger cookies?” 

“What cookies?” Mandy asked.

Big Jimmy whirled around to stare at his son. The two younger boys were sleeping in their car seats. “Did you…did you see them?”

“She tried to give them to us too. But we said no. Only Brynlee took one. We told her not to.”

Mandy turned to her husband. “What cookies. Finger-shaped cookies?” Mandy wondered aloud, imagining the sugar cookies people used to decorate with nails made out of frosting for kids halloween parties when she was young. 

Her husband stared straight ahead at the road. “No, they were fingers.”