Horrors

The guys were just into their accustomed places on the floor of the loft facing their flaming fireplace when Brian leveled what Justin may have felt was an accusation.

“You know what, Kiddo?” Brian said. “If our holiday celebrations keep getting bigger every year, they’re gonna start to overlap.”

“And like – this expansion of our celebrations is all my fault?” Justin replied. “Halloween’s coming up. So what’s the big change in our….?”

“We are chaperoning Gus’ class Halloween party at school,” Brian told him. “We never did that before….”

“And we won’t be doing it again either, Kinney,” Justin pointed out. “Chaperoning rotates and Linz and Mel volunteered for this year – and then Gus asked if his daddies could come too – and that was not my idea either – and the damn party is only for a couple of hours – and it’s in the afternoon – and it won’t kill you – you’ll probably have a good time too – and it’s not my fault…..”

“Bet you wouldn’t be so defensive if it wasn’t your fault, JT,” Brian grinned. “Thy verbosity doth convict thee….”

“Cut out that Shakespeare crap right now, Brian,” Justin grinned back at him. “It’s not my fault and you know it too….”

“Well it’s on the same day as our scary movie night,” Brian continued his complaint. “It’s a busy day…”

“Like you do anything for scary movie night, Mr. Kinney,” Justin laughed. “Except pick the movies in advance. I’ll have the loft all decorated for Gus’ party here and for scary movie night too – and I’ll get a lot of help - from Malcolm and Hunter – and Jason and Roger – and can I expect any help from you?”

“Sweetheart,” Brian laughed back at him. “Don’t push me. I just might decide to help – and then what would you do?”

“Yeah, that would be a disaster all right,” Justin agreed. “It would put the horror back into Halloween all right. But you’re always complaining about how many people come to old movie night - and then it was you who invited Dave and Wendell – not me….”

”That is your fault though, Taylor,” Brian told him. “The only reason I asked them was because you assured me that they couldn’t come…..”

”Well it’s not my fault if you’re so dang persuasive, Bri,” Justin laughed. “If you were as persuasive as me, they wouldn’t be coming – but we’ll be glad to have them, I bet. They’re a lot of fun….”

“Well there’s something else I better tell you, Sunshine,” Brian confessed. “Dave like - wanted to bring the scary movies. He said he could get us some new Hollywood horror stuff that hasn’t even been released to theaters yet….”

“I hope you turned him down, Brian,” Justin replied anxiously. “You and Mikey decided to go really traditional this year and show three old Boris Karloff Frankenstein movies. Those old scary movies are way scarier than the new stuff. You did turn him down, didn’t you?”

“Well like – yes and no, Sweetheart,” Brian equivocated. “Dave thought we ought to move it from the loft. He said we could get a bigger room at some hotel and use a bigger screen and….”

“And like – I’m supposed to decorate this like – bigger room too?” Justin wondered. “Or leave the decorating up to incompetent professionals – after all the work I’ll have done in this loft? I hope you….”

“I told him you wouldn’t put up with a move out of the loft, Baby,” Brian told him. “I think Dave’s scared of you – too….”

“Well I do have the strength of my convictions,” Justin pointed out with a grin.

“And you’re stubborn as a mule too,” Brian pointed out in return.

“And you told him we didn’t want any of those awful new Hollywood horrors too, didn’t you?” Justin probed. “They probably wouldn’t scare me and I wouldn’t have to sit on your lap with both your arms around me for protection….”

“I don’t think you’d ever be that brave, Baby,” Brian grinned at him. “Being brave is not your style at all – especially if you have some other agenda….”

“So we’ll be doing the Frankenstein movies then?” Justin concluded – only partially correctly.

“Well maybe I like – compromised with Dave on that score, Babe,” Brian revealed. “We’ll still be seeing Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein but there was this new horror movie that Dave has invested in and he wanted us to see it so I told him ‘OK.’ It’s gonna be in 3-D too. That might scare you a little bit…..”

“You have to wear some kind of crazy glasses for those 3-D movies, Brian,” Justin demonstrated his command of current events. “That’s dumb, Kinney. If the axe murderer is gonna jump off the screen at me, I’ll just take the dumb glasses off and…..”

“Then I think you see maybe two axe murderers jumping off the screen,” Brian projected. “That could be worse than one….”

“Then you’ll just have to like – hold me tighter, Kinney,” Justin informed him.

“Just how tight do you mean, Baby?” Brian wondered. “Wanna check it out like – now….”

“Sounds like a good idea to me, Bri,” Justin agreed. “You can never be too well prepared for scary situations….”

So there was a pause in the Halloween discussion at this point while the guys figured out just how much protection Justin was likely to need. And it took quite a while for them to discover the exact right formula - but they did get it – finally – after considerable experimentation.

“Do you think that crazy 3-D is worth the bother, Bri?” Justin quizzed the cinema expert as the conversation resumed where it had left off.

“Actually,” Brian recalled, “They tried out almost the same process way back in the 1950s. There was this awful movie called Bwana Devil – and then a parade of bigger budget movies afterwards – Hollywood tried - but it didn’t catch on then. I think folks said the glasses were uncomfortable – and cheap - and they lost them. Anyhow, the 3-D disappeared pretty quick back then….”

“And now it’s back, Bri,” Justin pointed out. “That’s weird….”

“When you’re as old as me, Sweetheart,” Brian pontificated. “You’ll learn that things come and go – and then come back again – but stuff doesn’t just die. It comes back and people think it’s new…”

“Like maybe you and Mikey have some of those 3-D glasses left from the 50s, eh Bri?” Justin gibed.

“Nope – I think we lost them all,” Brian played along. “They weren’t sturdy enough to last anyway. Cardboard. Dave’s gonna bring enough glasses for everybody this time. His are gonna be heavy plastic though – and not cardboard like the ones in the theaters. VIP glasses for 3-D here in the loft…..”

“I hope he brings enough,” Justin said.

“He asked me how many to bring and I told him you like – expanded the guest list every year, JT,” Brian told him, “So I couldn’t be sure. So he’s bringing 100 pairs in different sizes….”

“100 should be just about the right number, Bri,” Justin did some gibing of his own. “Yeah – about 100 will work fine…..”

“There’s just like – one other thing, Baby,” Brian remembered. “Dave and Wendell are gonna stay over for the big Halloween party at the Center – and they want you to pick out some costumes for them when you pick out ours…..”

“Gee whiz, Brian,” Justin told him. “Halloween in getting so big around here that I had to get extra help too. Like – I’m not gonna pick out our costumes this year. I got help. Emmett’s gonna do that for us….”

“Which really puts the horror back into Halloween, Kiddo,” Brian reacted with some amusement. “I might have to hold you even tighter than we had planned…..”

“So maybe we better practice again, Kinney,” Justin suggested. “We want to get it right….”

“Nope,” Brian told him. “No practice unless you agree to fire Emmett and pick out the costumes yourself. Take it or leave it…..”

“Gee whiz, Brian, you sure drive a hard bargain,” Justin seemed to complain.

But he didn’t mean it at all. Justin figured he had all the Halloween plans satisfactorily under control.
 

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