[Author's notes: Hey all. This used to be called "That Halloween Feeling" back when it was a one shot, but now it's turning into a full fledged story. I went back and made a few edits, mostly spelling and grammar and changing "the end"s to "to be continued"s. You don't have to read these all over again if you don't feel like it. Enjoy.
All characters belong to Disney/ Pixar, not me]
When Riley arrived home from school on that crisp, fall day, she was delighted to see that her father was already home when she spotted him in the kitchen.
"Hey, Dad." She called.
He turned his head and waved, pausing from unloading the bags of groceries piled around him.
"Hi monkey, how was school?"
"It was good…" She was about to expand on the statement, when she spied him hefting something large and orange onto the kitchen table.
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"What. Is. That?" Anger frowned with a snarl, pointing at the object that had raised his ire.
"It's a pumpkin, duh." Disgust answered, giving him an unamused roll of her eyes.
"I know it's a pumpkin!" He huffed. "What I want to know is, why is there a pumpkin sitting there if we didn't pick it out?"
"Dad picked a pumpkin without us!" Fear panicked. "What does that mean?"
"It means we aren't going pumpkin picking this year." Sadness sniffled, drooping her head.
Joy tried to calm the team, "We don't know that for sure, you guys. Let's ask about it."
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"What's with the pumpkin?" Riley asked with a hint of uncertainty.
Dad glanced at the gourd, then at his daughter, an apologetic grimace on his face.
"Uh, yeah. Honey, things had been pretty crazy at work with these random hours I've been getting. So I…" he hesitated. "We just won't be able to get out and go pumpkin picking as a family like we usually do every year." He stared awkwardly as her face fell to a frown.
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"I was right." Sadness sighed, practically melting into the console. "Goodbye pumpkin patch, goodbye hay rides, goodbye fresh squeezed apple cider…"
"First our friends think it isn't cool to go trick-or-treating, and now this." Anger fumed.
"Goodbye costumes and candy…" Sadness added, letting out a huge sob. Her blue glow dominated the control panel as tears puddled on the floor.
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"Hey, I know it's loosing a big tradition and another big change." Dad tried to console her. Placing an arm around her he guided her towards the pumpkin. "That's why I grabbed this big boy when I saw it at the Buy-n-Large. We can carve it together, just like old times. Gotta keep that tradition going right? We'll always have next year to find a pumpkin patch. And we can still put up the decorations we brought with us from Minnesota. It'll be fun."
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"See, Dad hasn't forgotten Halloween completely." Joy smiled. She pushed a lever forward, lifting Riley's mood considerably. "We can still make this a great first Halloween in San Francisco."
Sadness straightened up and wiped her eyes. "We're still not going trick-or-treating." She sniffled.
"Well, we could, but if our friends found out they'd label us an immature freak." Disgust clarified.
"What about the party Joanie invited us to? She said we can dress up for that. I bet we can put together a great costume, too." She summoned the memory of getting the invitation.
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"Yeah, I guess we can still have fun." Riley agreed. Suddenly she remembered what she had wanted to tell Dad before. "And my friend Joanie at school invited me to her Halloween party, and Amy's going too, so she's thinking we could all go to a haunted house beforehand."
"A haunted house, huh?" Dad sounded impressed. "I remember taking your mother to a few of those when we were dating…" he paused mid-chuckle, his voice taking a darker tone. "There…aren't any boys going with you, are there?"
Riley shrugged, "Jordan, maybe. I haven't asked him yet." She caught his cautious look and, understanding his implication, rolled her eyes. "Nothing like that's going to happen, Dad."
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"And if it did, it's none of your business." Disgust added, though Dad would never hear.
"Ohh, why did you have to remind her about the Haunted House?" Fear groaned, fretting. "I was hoping she'd forget and we wouldn't go."
"Oh, grow a spine. It's only a bunch of people in costumes going 'boo'." Anger frowned.
"Come on Fear, we'll have a great time." Joy said, patting his shoulder.
"But, what if it's so scary we scream and look silly in front of everyone?" He asked.
"You mean, make Riley look like you?" Disgust smirked.
"Everyone's going to be screaming." Joy ignored her and continued "That's the whole point. Getting scared is what makes it fun."
"But what if I make her too scared? What if I over do it and she does something embarrassing?" He gasped, a dreadful thought coming to him. "What if I repeat the 'Gorilla at the Zoo' incident?"
Disgust gasped horrified. "We promised to never speak of that again!"
Joy raised a hand, silencing any further comment. She looked to Fear sympathetically.
"That won't happen again, I'm sure of it. Besides, Riley's bladder is way stronger now than it was when she was four."
His eyes darted about nervously before settling on her face. She took his hands.
"I promise. By the time we go to the haunted house, you won't be so afraid."
"Yeah... I'll probably be terrified." He sulked and shivered.
"You won't be. We'll just have to come up with a plan to get you ready. Then you won't need to worry about overdoing it. Riley will be the right amount of scared and we'll have the best night ever."
He gazed at the floor, uncertain. "I don't know…"
"It'll work, you'll see." She gazed out the view screen and got an idea. "I know what'll take your mind off it for now."
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"So…" Riley gazed expectantly at the Jack-o-lantern to be. "Can we carve the pumpkin now?"
Dad smiled. "Tell you what, Monkey. If you get the newspaper laid out by the time I'm done putting this food away. We can see about giving Mr. Pumpkin here a face."
Riley fist-pumped with glee and got right to lining the kitchen table with a double layer of old newspaper. She found the pumpkin carving tools in the junk drawer and got set to thinking of what sort of face she was going to etch into the gourd.
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"We should carve a scary face." Anger insisted. "Every year we carve a goofy smiley face and it always makes the house look like we're saying 'Happy Birthday' instead of 'Happy Halloween'."
"But happy faces are so much fun to do. And besides, it's not my fault you get out-voted every year." Joy smirked.
Anger grinded his teeth. "By 'out-voted' you mean that Fear is too scared of jack-o-lanterns to agree with me, Sadness wants your approval too much to disagree with you, and Disgust is too pre-occupied with the pumpkin guts to agree with anybody!"
Disgust shuddered, "Ugh, can we please wear gloves this year?" she pleaded.
Joy considered this. "Okay, maybe it wasn't so fair in the past." She conceded. "Does anyone else want a scary face?" She asked.
Fear shook his head for no. Disgust was already wrinkling her face at the idea of pumpkin innards, but Sadness half-heartedly looked up.
"Um, actually…I have a suggestion of my own, if you'd like to hear it…"
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As the sun set over the neighborhood The Andersen family stood on the sidewalk, admiring their freshly decorated new home. Rubber bats hung from the windows, cobwebs draped in every corner, a smiling plastic skeleton hung on the front door. And the centerpiece of it all was the glowing Jack-o-lantern sitting by the doorsteps.
"I'm impressed Riley." Mom admitted. "I think we're the only house on the block with a wailing pumpkin."
Riley admired her work of art. After squeamishly dealing with the pumpkin's guts and seeds, she had managed to carve out a face that appeared to be in mid-moan. Dad had even let her use the knife by herself, (she had been extra careful with it, though.) Now she was content. She wasn't sure where the idea of a sad pumpkin had come from, but it seemed fitting. Something new, for this new part of her life. A new tradition, a new home, a new town.
A new memory, gold and blue, rolled into headquarters.
[To be continued]