Halloween short

The Evening Post, Halloween 2009, The town of Evening


Report by Bernard Shaw

The town of Evening was looking forward to a relatively normal Halloween celebration this year, and, as candlelit pumpkins sat in the doorways of homes all over the town on halloween night everything looked set for a healthy celebration of an old festival. However, things have been reported that have shocked this reporter. Everyone knows that the town of Evening has been home to a very traditional market that have long used the traditional system of buying and selling in pounds and ounces. Recently though this system has been subject to an overhaul, seeing the modern measurement of kilograms and grams. A Mrs. Oakley of the town market was found shaken and somewhat disturbed this week when market day coincided with October 31st.

Mrs. Oakley, a traditional stall worker on the market, was going about her usual business on Saturday (the day of halloween) but had noticed a stall at the end of her row that she had not noticed on any previous trading day. Mrs Oakley was the last person to pack up her stall and told The Evening Post that she saw a number of customers avoiding the strange new stall on the corner of her trading row. She took pity on the figure at the stall and had this to say, 'I approached the stall and asked the man at the stall what he wanted for half a kilo's worth of apples.'. Mrs Oakley continues, 'He kept repeating this phrase "A pound of apples for halloween deary" over and over again'. When Mrs Oakley went to fetch some money the man disappeared along with all his goods. 'I turned around and the next time I looked he was gone!', she reports.

Another strange occurrence happened to a man named Ronald Turnip, who happens to be the manager of the market. Mr Turnip was cycling home late on Halloween night after a drink with his friends. When passing Evening market he slipped off his bicycle and said he was roused by an abnormal figure who 'offered me a pound of apples', Mr Turnip recalls. Mr Turnip reported that after this despite a bad fall he was able to cycle home again. 'I remember falling off my bike and bumping my head. When I woke up a strange figure offered me apples in the old measurement of pounds', said Mr Turnip. 'He then took money from me and insisted that I ate his tasty fruit, but when I got home there was no sign of the bag of apples he had given me'.

These strange goings on require more investigation. So far efforts by the police to locate these unlicensed sellers have been to no avail. But Mr Ronald Turnip has controversially shifted back to the old system of measurement, though denies it is because 'of that strange encounter'.