Being Dysfunctional Has Never Been So Much Fun
Short #284: This is Halloween

Rosa hadn't wanted to buy it – really, she hadn't. Maria was too old to be getting excitable about such strange things at her age; and, at any rate, it was making the other children, the other parents, and, worse, the teachers, talk.

'What a strange child, to be so interested in the occult.'

'That can't be a healthy hobby, can it?'

'It's just not normal.'

Rosa knew, behind backs, spoken in poisonous whispers as soft as falling feathers, that was what they were all saying. That was what they thought. So, she simply couldn't put up with Maria's nonsense anymore. Witches; demons; magic ceremonies? It was all ridiculous!

But when Maria saw the pumpkin in the grocery section of the supermarket, she just kept blabbering on and on about it, and wouldn't keep quiet.

"Mama, mama!" Maria had hollered innocently, tugging at her mother's hand, "it's a pumpkin, mama!"

"I'm well aware of that – but we don't need any pumpkins in our curry rice, now, do we?" Rosa had said, trying to force a smile. "Now, come along, dear."

Maria, however, was stubborn – a trait that she had no doubt inherited from Rosa herself – and she refused to be budged.

"No, mama, you don't understand. Maria doesn't want the pumpkin to eat. It's to carve, for Halloween! You need to have a pumpkin on Halloween! Uu, uu!"

Rosa groaned. She knew, if she didn't play along with Maria, there would be tears and tantrums. That's how it always was with Maria. And, they were in the middle of a busy supermarket. If she started making a ruckus here, it would be impossible to hide. Everybody would see. And, Rosa wasn't always able to control her temper when Maria got into a state. If she raised her hand to her daughter, surrounded by the eyes of so many onlookers, then…

Rosa winced. She was beginning to feel a headache coming on. Now, she understood how Natsuhi felt.

Surely, to minimize any damage to her reputation, and to avoid the scathing looks of the other shoppers, it would be best to listen to Maria – just this once. It was only one pumpkin, after all; and even though Halloween wasn't particularly popular in Japan, it wasn't unheard of for young children to get excitable about it. So, although Halloween was related to the occult, if Maria wanted to carve a pumpkin, that wasn't so weird, was it…?

And yet… wasn't that pathetic, for a grown woman to be constantly bested by an eight year old girl? Wasn't that truly laughable? And, over something as silly as this…

Because of her foolish pride as a grown woman, Rosa couldn't let it slide so easily.

"No, Maria – it's a waste of money, and I don't want to have something so weird in the house. Now, come along."

But, predictably, Maria wasn't happy about this.

"No, mama! It's a pumpkin! You need a pumpkin for Halloween! It's not Halloween without a pumpkin!"

"And whoever said we were going to celebrate Halloween?"

"Maria says! Maria says! Maria wants to celebrate; Maria wants to dress as a witch, and carve a pumpkin, and meet with Beatrice and all her friends, and go flying through the night sky! Uu, uu!"

By this point, Maria's babbling was clearly drawing attention from the others. Some of them gave Rosa pitying looks, sympathising with this problem child; whilst others skirted away, looking disgusted, as though they had seen a cockroach.

Both reactions filled Rosa with anger.

Was her child really such a miserable, loathsome sight…? How did that reflect on her, then…?

"Maria…"

"Uu! No, no, no! Not moving until we buy the pumpkin! Not moving! Uu, uu, uu!"

If an elderly woman hadn't taken that moment to intervene, asking worriedly if there was a problem, Rosa might have lost control and struck her daughter, then and there. However, because of this unexpected interlude, she was able to catch her breath; come to her senses.

"Oh, um… Yes. My daughter's alright. She's just… very enthusiastic about Halloween. I tell her it's a silly American holiday, and I don't want to waste money on such things, but…"

The old woman chuckled. "Oh, that's alright. It's just a bit of harmless fun. I helped my own granddaughter carve a pumpkin yesterday. I've never done such a thing before, but… I suppose these new, exciting innovations makes life a bit more enjoyable, hohoh~"

…And, after this, Rosa felt she couldn't not buy Maria the pumpkin. Not after this old woman had spoken so fondly of Halloween. If Rosa continued to act like it was something abhorrent, she would surely look like the strange one.

So, Rosa bought Maria the pumpkin – even though she didn't want to. And that was how the pair of them found themselves sitting around the kitchen table, pumpkin in the middle, discussing what to do with it.

"Be careful with that knife, Maria," said Rosa tiredly; now feeling too exhausted to make that curry she had promised Maria, and had gone to the supermarket specifically to buy ingredients for.

Maria giggled. "Uu! I will, mama! Maria will be really, really careful, because she's got to carve a very delicate shape!"

"Oh? And what's that?"

Maria smiled. "Why – of course, Maria will carve one of Beato's golden butterflies! Kihihihihi…"

A/N: Except it is not Halloween, but oh well u_u;;
Yeah... I have decided (mostly after re-reading some of Seacats with a friend tonight, and re-realising just how much I really do love this series) to keep on with this collection, until I have 300 shorts. Then, I'll mark it as complete, and I can rest peacefully, hohohoh~ Thank you for your continued support up until now; I will try not to let you down! n_n;; I will see if I can still update once a day until the end... maybe not, but we shall see o: