John S. Kellington, PhD., the black letters on the door read. Inside, Dr. Kellington was working late into the night, researching various rare illnesses. He was extremely tall and thin, somewhat resembling a skeleton. He attempted to tame his wild black hair every morning, but only managed to make it look relatively neat. He often wore a black suit with white pinstripes and a large black bowtie.

On a large, old pillow, his Afghan hound, Zero, slept soundly. The dog raised his head slightly when John spoke.

"Think we should call it a night, Zero?" he asked, closing the book he had been reading. Zero let out a small yip of approval and John smiled.

"Alright, boy, let's go," he said, and got up. Zero also got up, and trotted to catch up with his owner after a good stretch.

Meanwhile, in Halloweentown, things weren't going well to say the least. The holiday which the town was named after was always dull and uneventful, and the mayor constantly wore his 'sad face'. Oogie's Boys wandered the streets freely, flinging stones and spiders at any unsuspecting passers-by.

"Oooh dear," the Mayor said, cowering halfway under the seat of his van, "They're coming for me! I know it! I can't stand this town much longer; there has to be a way to make things better. No one is enthusiastic about Halloween anymore. They aren't even relatively scary now."

He fell silent as a small child dressed as a skeleton walked by.

"Nobody over here, Lock!" the boy yelled over his shoulder, and walked on. The Mayor let out a small sigh of relief and continued wallowing in his self-pity. His mumblings came to an abrupt stop as an idea came to him.

"That's it!" he exclaimed (quietly though, so none of Oogie's Boys would hear him), "There should be a new mayor! No one respects me around here, and I know they never will. If I could just find a scary enough leader, my troubles would be over! But not anyone from here, oh, no. He needs to be from a completely different place! I must go and find this person at once!"

He began to stand, but hit his head on the bottom of the seat, and, while cursing under his breath, managed to stumble backwards out of his van. He repositioned his tall hat, climbed back into the van, and headed home to pack his bags.

John yawned and climbed into his bed.

"Good night, Zero," he said, and the tired dog made a halfhearted attempt to wag his tail in response. No sooner had John closed his eyes, he heard a strange noise outside his window. It was like the clicking spinning noise of a party spinner. John slipped silently out of bed and peeked out the window to see...nothing. He sighed and slumped back to bed. But this time, he kept his eyes on the window. The sound came again, and he saw a shadow pass over his window. In an instant, John was up and wrenching the window open. A small, round man with an extremely tall hat sat below his windowsill. At least, John thought he was a man. His face was as white as Zero's fur and his frown contained a mouthful of sharp teeth.

"Who are you?" John demanded in his most frightening voice, scaring the poor Halloween Town Mayor out of his wits. Suddenly, with the party spinner noise, the Mayor's head spun around, revealing an insanely happy grin and mismatched eyes.

"You're perfect!" he cried, and leapt up, "You must come with me! I have a terrible problem and only you can fix it!"

John assumed it was a medical problem. He was the only doctor in the village and his talents were widely known. But what kind of medical problem would a creature like that have?

"Um, well, let me get dressed first," John said, hardly believing what was happening.

Zero stood up, whining worriedly.

"Shh," John whispered, "It's alright, boy."

He put on his favorite black and white suit and went out the front door, Zero following closely at his heels. He walked around the side of the house to where the Mayor stood. His face still sported the painfully joyful smile.

"First of all," the little man said, "What is your name?"

Maybe he doesn't need medical attention, John thought, most of my patients know who I am beforehand.

"Me?" he said, "My name is John Kellington, and you?"

"Oh, you can just call me Mayor," the Mayor said, "Now that we've been introduced, you must come with me, my dear boy! Come with me to Halloweentown!"

He grabbed John by the hand and was about to lead him to his van when his face flipped around yet again. He stared despairingly at John's hand and began to moan.

"Oooh!" he cried sadly, "Oooh no! I knew you were too good to be true!"

"What?" John asked, confused, "What's wrong?"

"You're alive, aren't you?"

The question caught John completely off guard.

He pulled his hand out of the Mayor's grip and replied angrily, "Of course I'm alive! Are you playing a trick on me? It's really not very funny!"

"Ooh no!" the Mayor said again, and buried his face in his hands, "No, no, it's not a trick. Oooh dear! I'll have to deal with those horrible trick-or-treaters again now!"

John sighed exasperatedly and said, "I don't have the slightest about what you're talking about, so if you'll excuse me-"

He stormed back into his house, slamming the door behind him. The Mayor hung his head and trudged sadly back to his van. Neither of them saw each other again for five years.