Raisins for Dana

    Dana left her house to go trick or treating with her friends, and on the way out her mother asked her to push the trash in the bin. Dana ignored her mother and rushed to another part of the neighborhood before her mother could ask again. Very well her mother thought, squinting her eyes as she watched Dana disappear behind the turn of the street. And as she did, her mother cast a particularly aggravating spell, as she was known to do.

    Red smoke wafted up and out from her wand, then shot out to follow Dana. When the group reached their first house, Dana's friends received their candy first. As Dana stepped up to utter the candy-receiving mantra, the red smoke found her, and she inhaled it. "Trick or treat!" she said just as the rest of her friends, and in returned she received a box of raisins. Frowning, Dana thanked the neighbor, then continued on their route. At the next house, the same thing happened. Dana was last in line, and she received raisins. She decided to go first as the following house, and once again, a box of raisins was tossed into her bag.

    She was beginning to get frustrated, but at the next house the spotted a bowl. A bowl of real candy. Yes Dana thought, and they all ran up and grabbed what they could before the contents were empty, except for a lone box of raisins. Dana turned around and immediately sought the next house. "Dana, you didn't get anything from the bowl?" Milly asked.

    "No, there wasn't anything good left."

    "What do you mean, that might have been the best haul we see all night!"

    Dana spun around and shouted "No, you all got all the good stuff! All that's left is a box of raisins" And she pointed at the bowl, which Dana's friends could plainly see was empty. They looked at Dana, confused, and then Dana looked to see the bowl for herself. Empty.

    Dana peered in her bag, and there she saw four boxes of raisins. Four houses, four boxes. Mom thought Dana.

    The group continued on through the night, and Dana's enthusiasm wilted more and more after each house. Her sack grew heavier and heavier with raisin boxes, and eventually the spell didn't even try to conceal itself. One their way back home, one house opened the box of raisins and dumped them in Dana's sack. The next opened two boxes and dumped them both in. Then an entire jar of raisins was dumped in, followed by five-gallon bucket of raisins, and penultimately a man shoveled an entire heap of raisins he had sitting just inside his front door into her sack.

    When they arrived at the last house before they returned home, Dana stayed on the sidewalk while her friends received their candy. As they were returning to their friend, the door opened back up and the neighbor threw a single raisin at Dana, hitting her square in the forehead and plopping into her sack.

    The girls returned home with Dana, then said goodbye for the evening. Dana flung the front door open, Sat her sack against the foyer wall, grabbed the trash and brought it out to the trash bin, slamming the door behind her shouting "Fine, I'll take out the trash!" Once she had completed her chore, she flung the door back open, stepped inside, slammed it shut again, and brought her raisins upstairs.

    "Are you happy now!" she shouted again at her mother who was sitting on the couch sipping pumpkin tea, and then she dropped her sack in the middle of the floor and went to her room crying.

Once some time had passed, Dana's mother came up to talk to her. "Thank you for taking the trash out like I asked honey." Dana didn't respond, and her mother continued "can you show me what you got from trick or treating?" Dana turned and faced her mother.

    "You know what I got." she said. "Sorry for not taking the trash out when you asked."

    "It's ok, dear.  Would it really have been that difficult to just do it right as you were leaving the house?"

    "No, I was just excited to go out with Milly and Chelsea."

    "I know. Well come on, can you please show me what the neighbors gave you?"

    Dana rolled her eyes then trudged downstairs. When her mother sat back down, Dana grabbed the sack from the bottom corners, and lifted it up, dumping the entire sack's worth of. . . candy onto the floor!

    "Mom! Thank you!" Dana exclaimed.

    Dana's mother smiled "You're welcome. Next time can you do what I ask at the first request?"

    "Yes Mom, I'm sorry." Dana said, and then sat down to sort through her candy, and dispose of any boxes of raisins she found.