by Ray Bradbury
And the town clock struck midnight--GUNNNG!
And gunnng again, to a full count of twelve.
And Halloween was over.
And all about the town, doors were slamming and lights going out.
The boys began to drift saying Night and Night and again Night and some Good Night but most Night, yes, Night. And the lawn was empty, but Pipkin's porch was just full of candle illumination and warmth and baked pumpkin smell.
And Ghost and Mummy and Skeleton and Witch and all the rest were back at their own homes, on their own porches, and each turned to look at the town and remember this special night they would never in all their lives ever forget and they looked across the town at one another's porches but especially on and over across the ravine to that great House where at the very top Mr. Moundshroud stood on his spike-railinged roof.
The boys waved, each from his own porch.
The smoke curling out of the high Moundshroud gothic chimney fluttered, motioned, waved back.
And still more doors were slamming to lock all around town.
And with each slam, one more pumpkin and then another and another and another on the huge Halloween Tree snuffed out. By the dozens, by the hundreds, by the thousands, doors banged, pumpkins went blind, snuffed candles smoked delicious smokes.
The Witch hesitated, went in, shut the door.
A Witch-faced pumpkin on the Tree went dark.
The Mummy stepped into his house and shut his door.
A pumpkin with the face of a mummy extinguished its light.
And finally, the last boy in all the town remaining alone on his veranda, Tom Skelton in his skull and bones hating to go in, wanting to wring the last dear drop from his favorite holiday in all the year, sent his thoughts on the night air toward the strange house beyond the ravine: Mr. Moundshroud, who are YOU?
And Mr. Moundshroud, way up there on the roof, sent his thoughts back: I think you know, boy, I think you know.
Will we meet again, Mr. Moundshroud?
Many years from now, yes, I'll come for you.
And a last thought from Tom: O Mr. Moundshroud, will we EVER stop being afraid of nights and death?
And the thought returned:
When you reach the stars, boy, yes, and live there forever, all the fears will go, and Death himself will die.
Tom listened, heard, and waved quietly.
Mr. Moundshroud, far off, lifted his hand.
Click. Tom's front door went shut.
His pumpkin-like-a-skull, on the vast Tree, sneezed and went dark.
The wind stirred the great Halloween Tree which was now empty of all light save one pumpkin at the very top.
A pumpkin with Mr. Moundshroud's eyes and face.
At the top of the house, Mr. Moundshroud leaned out, took a breath, blew.
His candle in his pumpkin head on the Tree fluttered, died.
Miraculously, smoke curled out of his own mouth, his nose, his ears, his eyes, as if his soul had been extinguished within his lungs at the very moment the sweet pumpkin gave up its incensed ghost.
He sank down into his house. The roof trapdoor closed.
The wind came by. It rocked all the dark smoking pumpkins on the vast and beautiful Halloween Tree. The wind seized a thousand dark leaves and blew them away up over the sky and down over the earth toward the sun that must surely rise.
Like the town, the Tree turned off its embered smiles and slept.
At two in the morning, the wind came back for more leaves.
Thomas Victor
RAY BRADBURY was one of America's foremost writers of science fiction and fantasy. Among his most popular adult books were Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Death Is a Lonely Business. In addition, he wrote several books for young readers, including Switch on the Night. Ray Bradbury died in 2012.
GRIS GRIMLY is an art director and New York Times bestselling illustrator, whose previous books include The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Frankenstein, and Neil Gaiman's The Dangerous Alphabet. He lives in Southern California.
