“Cassie, you almost ready? Your date’s going to be here any time,” I yelled down the hall.
“Almost, Uncle Matt,” came her answering yell.
I was about to retort when the doorbell rang.
“He’s here! Come on, shake a leg. You don’t want to give me too much time to torment him, do y---” the word died on my lips as opened the door to see Nikki in a dress made of strips of cloth cut to look like individual flames. An appropriately infernal dress given the two horns on top of her head and the plastic pitchfork she wielded.
“Tormenting is my job, Matthew.”
“What are you doing here?”
“It’s Halloween, Dumpling, where else would I be? We must go dancing.”
“I can’t. I’m a chaperone for Cassie’s school dance.”
“Oh, I know. I am your co-chaperone.”
“Wait, what?”
“I invited her, Uncle Matt,” Cassie said from behind me
I turned to see her dressed as a pirate, a far more conservative version than what Nikki had worn a couple of years ago.
“I didn’t want you to be bored talking to teachers and other parents,” Cassie smiled
“Somehow I think it’s not that simple,” I rubbed my chin.
“Deals with the devil seldom are,” Nikki grinned.