A Dickens Halloween

"Not even to apologize?" Once again, Marla shook her head. Eleanor nursed her hot tea, wondering where this would lead.

Bob returned after restarting the moaning machine and strobe lights on the porch. He picked up the candy bowls and found the crushed popcorn balls in the trash. With a sad look, he stared at the empty bowls in his hand. "Why, Elle? Why do you do this?"

His thoughts were interrupted by a ring at the door. Bob disappeared to answer it, dropping the bowls in front of Eleanor on the table. A child's voice yelled "Trick or Treat!" as the door opened, and she could hear Bob chatting at the door with a familiar woman.

"Oh lord, it's our neighbor, the widow slut Ursula. Probably came to invite Bob over for apple bobbing in her huge gaping pussy." Eleanor rolled her eyes, but smiled at her own wit. "He's probably the only man in the neighborhood she hasn't fucked."

Marla looked at her and Eleanor stopped smiling. "What? You're not telling me that he's..." Marla shook her head once again. Eleanor sat back in relief.

"Thank goodness, he's all I've got. And he knows I'll take him to the cleaners..." Her voice trailed off as she listened to Bob invite them in.

The slut widow entered the kitchen first, remarking on what a wonderful homemaker Eleanor must be. Statuesque, she didn't look ten years older than Bob and acted half of it. Enormous fake breasts and freckled chest kept falling out as she moved around the room with one button too few fastened on her shirt. Fawning over the wallpaper, she pulled Bob by the arm and held on to him while pleading with him to help her spruce up her kitchen like theirs.

The young boy who followed was dressed as a pumpkin. Almost as wide as he was tall, the boy nicknamed Tiny looked around the kitchen for something to eat. Bob managed to pull away from his temptress just long enough to point out Eleanor's secret stash of York Peppermint Patties, which the boy fell upon as if starved.

Eleanor hit the table with her fist. "Damn, I should have hidden those better. What do you think that boy weighs anyway?"

Marla's Ghost looked him over and replied, "A bunch. I've heard he has a pituitary problem. Needs brainsurgery or something."

"What he needs is a treadmill. Will you look at her making herself at home with my man???"

The slut Ursula was bending over in front of Bob to admire the baseboards, all the while arching her back to give her ass more lift. Bob seemed amused with her position, but nevertheless admired her ass-waving technique. Finally, he invited her to sit down at the table while he put on a pot of coffee.

"I heard about poor Marla Peach, what an awful shame." The widow managed to sound nearly sincere while adjusting her bra.

"Oh, it's a terrible tragedy," Bob replied, back turned while starting the coffee. "Eleanor's probably busy with the funeral arrangements as we speak. She'll be crushed I'm sure, as we all are. Marla was her best friend."

Eleanor looked at Marla. She couldn't think of anything to say. Marla excused her with a calming grin and turned toward Ursula, "Where the hell is her accent supposed to be from anyway?"

Eleanor laughed, her first for several days. "I don't know, I guess it's European but damned if I can place it. Look at her now, she's actually squeezing her titties together with her arms to make them look bigger."

Indeed, Ursula tried every erotic pose in the book over the next thirty minutes to catch Bob's eye. They chatted about Marla, Tiny's surgery, and Ursula's dwindling life insurance money. Occasionally, Ursula would laugh at Bob's jokes and squeeze his thigh, but a well-timed trick-or-treater at the door always managed to get them separated. Finally, after numerous hints and suggestions that Bob should come over this weekend to look at a leaky faucet, the slut widow and her enormous son moved off into the night.

Bob collected little snacks and food where he could find them. Sitting by himself in the hallway, he gave out all he had before turning off his porch decorations as the stream of children slowed. Eleanor had moved to the hallway to be close to him and sat against the wall. Marla's Ghost joined her and they chatted like old friends as they watched him give out the rest of the food and then begin to clean up.

"Can't we haunt him or something? Let him know we're here?" Eleanor queried. Marla apologized but explained that she was new to this. She dropped several items and slammed one door, but Bob simply closed a window thinking it was all due to a draft.

As Bob finished, he wrote out a note for Eleanor to wake him when she gets in, a note she would have instantly ignored any other time. But her inability to communicate with him was having a profound effect on her. She stared at him lovingly as he prepared for bed, pulling Marla along as she followed him through the house.

While he showered, Marla's Ghost sat on their bed next to her friend trying to look away from the master bath. "I don't know why I have to be here."

Eleanor squeezed her hand, "I think I'm beginning to understand, a little anyway." Just then, Bob stepped out of the bath, toweling off his back and wet hair. His athletic body hid his age as the hours in the gym kept off the paunch that most of his friends were cultivating. As he shook his hair dry in the towel, his cock danced back and forth, bewitching both women. Eleanor squeezed Marla's hand even harder.

"He is gorgeous isn't he? It isn't fair that they get more sexy and we just get old."

Marla's Ghost didn't reply. Her free hand wandered, not quite sure where to go. Her body reacted to the sight of him though, as her thighs subconsciously squeezed together and her nipples hardened. And for the first time in months, Eleanor was having the same reaction.

Bob held the towel still for just a second, listening for sounds in the house. Then sighing, he pulled open a drawer in the hutch containing their bedroom television and looked over the tapes inside. Picking one out, he put it in the VCR and hit rewind.

As Bob strolled into the bath, hanging his towel up and putting his pajama bottoms on, Eleanor grabbed her friend by the shoulders and whispered excitedly to her. Her voice was lusty, something Marla hadn't heard for years.

"That's our porn tapes, oh my god, he's going to watch one. We haven't watched one together for who knows. How do I get to him, sweetie, tell me, please!?!?"

"I don't know, Elle. Believe me, this is torture for me too. I want to run into the other room but I can't." Marla's Ghost looked sad for the first time. Eleanor sat stunned that she would be surprised by this, but managed only to put her arm around her friend in an awkward attempt to comfort her.

Bob came in with a hand towel and turned down the sheets. He flipped on the television and clicked the lights off before laying upon the bed. With the push of a button, the opening credits of a cheaply made porno movie flickered in front of their faces. The girls sat on the front of the bed, listening to the generic music while watching Bob slip handcream out of his bedside table. The bottle was almost empty.

"That little sneak, he masturbates to our tapes when I'm gone," whispered Eleanor to herself.

"Don't you?" Marla's Ghost bit her lip as she said it, then spun to stare at the screen.

Eleanor turned to look at her, then smiled at the couple on the screen. "Yes, I suppose I do."

The man on screen was dressed as a cop, pretending to pull over a busty blonde on a deserted road. The women held each other as the actress bartered her way into paying for the ticket by alternative means. Before long, her shirt and short skirt were peeled off as she unzipped his cock by the roadside.

Behind them, Bob was massaging his growing erection through his loose cotton pants. Squeezing and pulling at it slowly, he stared just beyond them at the action on the television. Eleanor turned to watch him and saw him slip his hand inside to massage his bulging meat. Her breath quickened as she watched his hidden hand move under the cloth.

As the speedtrap driver sucked the well-hung stud against the patrol car, Bob pulled his rod out and leaned over to apply the handcream. Eleanor watched as his hard cock twitched against his dark pants, eventually recaptured by his hand working the lotion up and down his length. After twisting his hand to finish spreading it, Bob held his cock tightly at the base for a moment, letting it stand pulsating in his grip. As the hapless motorist began moaning behind her, Bob slowly began to pump his engorged cock with his loose fist.

Eleanor glanced back to see that the cop had stripped the girl and placed her on the hood of his car. As he was eating her shaved pussy, she could hear Bob begin to breath more deeply and heard the sounds of lotion slapping from his handjob.

But what caught her attention was that Marla's head was turned to watch Bob, her mouth open and her eyes dreamily glazed over. Eleanor still had her hand around Marla's shoulder, but Marla's hand had disappeared between her own legs. While Eleanor stared at her, Marla's Ghost glanced into her face and quickly looked down, her hand freezing.

"No, it's ok." Eleanor placed her other hand on Marla's leg and pulled it over her own. The gray skin was warm and was soon propped up between Eleanor's thighs. This spread Marla's legs wide enough for Eleanor to see Marla's hand cupping her pussy. "I want you to cum too."

Marla's eyes closed as she began slowly spiraling her fingers over her pussy lips. Half-turned, she could open them to see Bob milking the glans quickly or pumping his cock slowly. His other hand reached underneath to hold his balls while he masturbated.

Soon, they were both moaning along with the sounds of loveless fucking from the video, but Eleanor no longer cared what happened on the screen. She found herself flushed from the tender sounds of passion and release.

Seeing her friend and husband pleasuring themselves was too much finally. Reaching under her tangled legs, Eleanor dipped a finger into her own wet pussy and slid the flowing juices up over her clit. Feeling the slippery knob under her fingertip, she turned to see Bob pumping his cock in earnest, eyes closed and soft whispers of climax escaping his clenched teeth. Beside her, Marla's Ghost fell back onto the bed, arching her back and breasts as her fingers flew over her drenched cunt. A rising moan of ghostly orgasm filled the room, as Eleanor suddenly forgot her own clit and reached down to touch her best friend. Just as she touched her pussy, the room went black.

**************************************************

Light returned revealing the back mixing room at the chocolate factory. Eleanor looked down at her hand expecting to find it still connected to Marla's Ghost. But the spirit was nowhere to be seen. Several of Eleanor's longtime employees hustled about finishing last minute tasks before closing time. That they walked right through her without notice told Eleanor that this madness was still continuing.

She found Eleanor in the side room, standing over the vat where her life had ended. Stepping up beside her, they stared into it silently for several moments. Without looking up, Marla's Ghost broke the stillness.

"I'm so sorry, Eleanor. I had a moment of weakness." Her voice was melancholy and weak.

Eleanor hugged her friend, "Don't apologize, there's nothing to be sorry for. I think even Bob wouldn't be sorry about it if he knew."

Marla's Ghost looked at her with an odd expression. "Well, I'm sorry about that too."

That's when it dawned on Eleanor. Marla had done it on purpose, drowned herself in chocolate. She had loved Bob. Somehow she loved Eleanor. And both were unrequited and heartwrenching; torturing her for most of her life.

Tears streaming down her face, Eleanor embraced her friend and they cried together. Both begged forgiveness, each blaming themselves. For an hour they sat beside the barrels of chocolate and sought comfort in each other. But with all their soul-searching and coming clean, neither knew what lie ahead.

"I can't see any way out," Marla's Ghost finally sighed. "That's always been my fatalistic side, my downfall. You'll eventually leave me, go back to life. And I will continue to watch from the sidelines."

"I won't shut you out again, Marla. We have to follow this through, the answer is here somewhere."

As the employees shut down the backroom lights, the ghostly pair wandered up front to find two of them putting away the petty cash. The conversation stopped them in their tracks.

"I wish she would just sell the business, honestly. She's ghastly. A terrible boss, terrible business mind, everything. Remember when she first took over, how she fired the bookkeeper for pointing out her own mistakes?"

Eleanor and Marla looked at each other. "I never did that," each of them said, then broke into giggles. As they started to follow them out the door, Eleanor noticed the wall calendar. It said "October 31."

"We're in the future now, aren't we? I mean, we've seen the past. And the present. So this must be the future." Marla's Ghost nodded her agreement and suggested that they find Bob.

They walked several blocks to Bob's office. There they found him, looking much older as he finished the day's paperwork. He muttered several times under his breath as he poured over the large stacks of bills, before finally putting on his coat and heading to his car.

The women were silent as they road in the back-seat. Bob's mood had changed, he was somber and quiet. The man who usually sang along with the car radio didn't even bother to turn it on.

As they pulled up to the house, Eleanor gasped. Her house had been painted a bright pink and most of her trees had been cut down. As she stared in disbelief, she also noticed that there were no Halloween decorations this year.

"Oh god, I must have gone crazy in my old age," she muttered to herself.

As they all stepped through the back door, Bob dropped his keys and began to straighten up the cluttered kitchen, pulling his tie loose as he sorted dishes. Eleanor walked around him aghast at the god-awful new purple wallpaper and tile on the floor. The room looked like a poorly designed whorehouse.

"What the fuck is going on here? Do you know what is happening?" Eleanor asked Marla's Ghost though she knew the answer.

A distant voice called out from the back room, "Is that you, sweetie? Did you pick up some food?"

Bob slumped his shoulder and yelled out, "No, I forgot."

"Well, I guess we'll have to eat the leftover chinese in the fridge."

The voice was getting louder, and Eleanor suddenly realized that it was not her voice. She froze in astonishment as the widow slut Ursula came around the corner and posed against the door frame. She was wearing a pink bathrobe untied, with a see-through full length nightie underneath. Puffing on a cigarette she purred, "How was your day, anyway?"

Bob didn't turn around. As he rinsed a beer mug and placed it in the washer, he replied, "Fine."

Eleanor wanted to scream. Her face reddened as she fought the urge to lunge at the interloper.

The widow slut eased her way across the kitchen in fuzzy slippers and worked her fingers around Bob's chest from behind. "What's wrong, lover boy? I know that pout," she cooed as the cigarette bounced up and down in her lips.

Bob stopped what he was doing and looked out the window, "Ursula, what is going on with you? The fudge shipment never got sent and you let Patty go today. Are you trying to scare away all your employees AND clients?"

"Why do you keep checking behind me, dahling, you don't trust me? Is it because you don't love me as much as that Eleanor."

Eleanor watched Bob squirm and try to turn around, but Ursula held him close from behind. "No, I don't mean that." He raised his arms to show that he was trapped but she gripped him even tighter.

"You told me to take over the business to give me something to do, so I do it. I send my own boy away because he makes you unhappy. What else do I have to do for you?"

Bob sighed, "You sent Tiny to military school after his surgery because he got kicked out of every school in town. And I'm not trying to force you into anything, I'm just trying to help..."

"Then help me with this," Ursula deadpanned as her hands dropped to his groin.

"No, not tonight. I've got some work to do. And I have a terrible headache." Bob tried to pull her hands away but they were already attached to his crotch.

"I know how to help one of your heads." The slut widow began to knead his groin and rub herself against his ass. Bob raised his head to the ceiling, but stopped pulling on her arms.

"Can we talk about the factory in the morning, then?" Bob's voice sounded defeated and drained.

The slut widow began to unbuckle his belt from behind. "Oh I'll sell it if you want. The place just reminds me of suicide anyway." She slipped his belt around him. "She left it to you, anyway."

Eleanor stood stunned as her neighbor's hand reaching down into her husbands pants to rub his cock. His eyes closed, he stood still as he gave in to his new wife. Finally, unable to take any more, Eleanor ran into the den to avoid watching. Marla's Ghost approached from behind and touched her shoulder.

"He is miserable, Elle. He's miserable because you are gone."

Eleanor turned into her arms. "I haven't been there for him for a while. I can't believe so much has gone wrong. I've been so selfish."

Marla's Ghost held her tight, "We all have a little bit. But it's nothing that you can't fix."

Eleanor pulled away slightly, "What about you?"

Marla's Ghost smiled again. It was the tranquil look that Eleanor had marveled at what seemed years ago when they first began their journey. "I'm moving on I think."

Bob lifted his new bride and walked awkwardly past them toward the bedroom, pants around his ankles. Looking briefly at the future couple disappear, Eleanor sighed and wondered aloud, "If only I knew how I could make a fresh start myself."

As they stood together, Eleanor's eyes fell over the mantle. There, in the center, was the lit candle, nearly burnt completely down. Pulling Marla's Ghost by the hand, Eleanor led her to the mantle and they both stared at the waning light. With a slight blow, Eleanor tested the flame which flickered but continued to burn. The pressure from Marla's hand lessened then returned as the flame came back.

Eleanor looked back to her friend. "I have to do this." Marla was staring at the candle.

"I know."

Her hand gripped Marla's even tighter. "You know, I never said that I love you." Their eyes met.

"I know. And I never would have believed it. Until now."

They kissed and held each other tight. Struggling to say their good-byes, neither let go even as Eleanor turned to the candle one last time. With her free hand behind the flame, she closed her eyes, blew, and the candle went out.

As she turned around, her hand no longer held Marlas' Ghost. The gray image was fading before her. Just as she disappeared, Marla smiled, touched her fingers to her lips, and blew Eleanor a kiss. Eleanor felt a new sense of peace as the room around her faded away as well.

*******************************

Bob entered the back door and tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter. The house was dark but he knew his wife must be home since the porch was lit up and moaning as children ran across his front yard with treat bags. Through the shadows of the house, he noticed black streamers hanging throughout the kitchen. With a surprised look, he followed the trail of new decorations through the dining room and into the front foyer.

There at the front door was his wife, bending forward to chat with a small group of Power Rangers. She was dressed in a short black dress, ripped at the thigh in a jagged pattern and capped with a witches hat. As he admired her from behind, she dropped fresh popcorn balls and peppermint patties in each of their bags before wishing them well.