November 1

It never fails! Any time Halloween falls on a weekend, we end up with some pretty strange things in the cafe, and I don’t just mean Vicky’s window displays.

This weekend shouldn’t have been that difficult. Everything was planned. Charlie promised to behave. My cafe should not be this...messy!

Friday night, we ran our normal tournament series with candy prizes. Most of the regulars came in costume, and they looked great. Some of them even looked like creatures from the game. They almost looked too real. When a bunch of them protested the semi-final rounds, I started wondering just how real those costumes really were.

There was this one werewolf that I think read far too much on lycanthropy. He wouldn’t even give us his name, just responded in guttural grunts and swung at anyone who tried to swipe his Forest Sap. I wanted to complain about him, maybe even ask Charlie to invite him to leave, but he drank a week’s worth of Forest Sap and paid the cafe well for every glass.

The Omigachi Trio was a whole other story. They were in rare form Friday night, and even rarer form Saturday. I don’t know why any of us thought it would be a good idea to let them move up to Wizard Duel from Monster Mosh. Actually, yes, I do. Josh’s mother begged us to do it, despite the fact the Wizard Duel crowd can’t stand the three of them. Really can’t say that I blame them. I almost can’t stand the little jerks, and I like children.

I complained about them to Vicky, who so charitably reminded me that it was my decision to allow them into Monster Mosh when they were seven. Eight is the Monster Mash league’s requirement, but I didn’t see the harm. Josh’s older brother has been playing at this cafe for years now. We’ve never had a problem with him. I really never gave it a thought. And the fact Josh had often accompanied his brother and been completely immersed in Cyberdungeons and Punkdragons books made the decision easier. Vicky swears he always knew Josh was trouble. I think it’s the two boys he brought with him when he asked to join Monster Mash league that are the problem.

The trio decided to come as characters from Omigachi, which they’re trying to get the cafe to carry, and then they walked around all night bothering the participants. Although I was in the back grabbing more snacks at the time, I understand from Charlie that the trio actually interrupted a semi-final duel between two of the star players in the cafe by slinging Omigachi insults at them. According to Charlie, it was a lot of “Omigachi would never use such a pitiful creature” or “Omigachi could wipe up the floor with you”. Thankfully, both of the older players had a lot more class (or perhaps they have a healthy fear of Charlie), and they ordered the trio to go sit at the bar. By the time, I had made my way back in, the three were indeed sitting at the bar playing a three-way Omigachi battle that quickly degenerated into arguing and rough housing. All of their Omigachi games do. It’s hindered their cause more than it’s helped.

On Saturday, we had both the Monster Mosh and Wizard Duel crowd in here as usual. Monster Mosh was enjoying league play along with their Halloween tournament. Charlie has an unhealthy attachment to these boys, so she hosted a costume contest for them. The winners got to pick books from the cafe, which really excited them. But with Charlie running it, I think they were hoping for prizes from “the other back room”, as the customers like to call it. So, understandably they were both excited and disappointed in their prizes. Charlie also hosted a Halloween event for the store regulars and the college strategic gaming society Saturday night.

We even had a few “ten-footers”, but they either ran from the noise level or the costumes. Games and loud music everywhere. I would have forgotten I was in the cafe if I hadn’t been behind the bar hiding with my cocoa while Charlie was trying to get me to come dance with her and yet another werewolf. Somewhere along the way, I think some people visited a different bar because a fight broke out between some of the Wizard Duel crew and members of the campus strategic gaming club. My even-tempered brother tried to step in and break it. Charlie tried to show some of them to the door. It took us a couple hours to get everyone outside and broken up.

By the time I walked back inside, only a few people were left, and the cafe was in shambles. Overturned tables. Several broken chairs. A split bookrack. One of the miniature racks was on its side, the miniatures scattered across the cafe.

Charlie, in her usual unaffected manner, simply shrugged and said, “Come on, dahlin’. We’ll leave this till Monday.” Then she escorted Vicky out, where I presume she also sent him on his way, leaving him both elated and crushed. It’s her way. Just as well. Those two would never do well together.

So we got to Monday afternoon, and I started remembering why Charlie’s idea sounded so bad at the time. She has class all afternoon and into the evening, meaning that if I didn’t want to lose too much business, Vicky and I would have to clean the entire place as quickly as possible before our regulars got out of school themselves.

Just clearing the fallen furniture took us most of the time. I gathered up the now homeless books and moved them behind the counter while Vicky tried to come up with creative ways to use miniatures scenery to make the tables that were damaged, but usable, still function as table. The chairs were thrown out back in a lovely heap next the dumpster. By the time we opened the cafe, it was twilight outside and we were down to about two thirds of our normal table count.

“I don’t know how anybody’s going to sit in here, sis,” Vicky started.

I looked around at the remains of my beautiful cafe. “I don’t know either. Midterms start soon. Maybe things will be quiet tonight.”

Quiet would have been a blessing.

Charley arrived just in time to open the shop. As she turned to walk back toward the bar, she scoffed at the window display. “I’ll be glad when this crap comes down.”

She sat down on a bar stool, “Ames, you really must let me do the next window.” Her grin was playful, never a good sign with Charlie.

“Hey! What’s wrong with my window?” Vicky protested from the end of the bar.

“Oh, nothing...if your intention is to keep people away from this place.”

I looked at the window. Vicky had put up the display only a couple of weeks ago. I always let him do the window display since he enjoys it so. Looking at it, I couldn’t really see what Charlie’s issue with the window was. He’d set up a scene of a rather bashed-in hero confronting a giant spider. His use of gauze to make smoke across the floor of the scene was rather clever. All in all, it looked like a standard dungeon crawl themed with a familiar Halloween creature.

“Maybe you two can work together on the next one,” I offered quickly, hoping the compromise would make them both happy. Charlie looked at Vicky and gave him one of her smoky, seductive smiles. My brother visibly paled. Good old Vicky. Tongue-tied around any pretty girl, and Charlie certainly qualified.

The chimes on the door rang. We looked and saw a woman with her son, probably no older than ten. They came ten feet into the cafe, looked around nervously, and then started to leave.

“Wait! Can we help you?” Vicky called after them.

The woman blushed and stammered nervously, “No, no thank you. We’re just looking.” Then she grabbed her son’s had firmly and nearly ran from the cafe.

We looked at each other and laughed. “Typical ten-footer.”

We each set about to cleaning our own areas. Charlie vanished into her back-room shop. Vicky continued straightening the cafe while I cleaned the bar and got it ready for today. “We’re going to have to order an extra barrel of Forest Sap, I think.”

“Don’t they have that double strength Forest Sap now? Maybe we could try that.”

I looked over the order form. Yes, indeed there was Forest Sap and its new version Dandelion Wisp. Guaranteed to keep you awake for a full weekend con, according to the flier. “I’ll look into that.”

Vicky wandered back over at that point, “Amy, my window’s scary, right?”

“Sure. Great use of gaming theme, too." Vicky sat down and pouted. I just chuckled and went back to restocking the snacks.

There was a loud crash from Charlie’s shop followed by a roar, “Get out! Get out now! Josh Martin, I’m callin’ your mama!”

Vicky and I just stood there in shock.

A moment later, three terrified pre-adolescents ran from the back and through the front door without a word. Charlie nonchalantly walked in, “Those little rats picked the lock to the outside door! Can you believe it?”

Vicky was chuckling. I wasn’t amused. “We’ve talked about this before, Charlie. There are minors in this cafe. Your shop has to remain unreachable by them at all times. We could lose the cafe over this!”

“Just out of curiosity, what were they doing, or do I even want to know?”

“Oh, they were trying to figure out how to work this, “she held up a pouch for an inflatable doll.

At that point, I had to laugh, too.“I guess it’s the closest those three will be getting to a girl any time soon.”