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Curzon looked up the driveway at the heather grey colonial in front of him with the red door, as he fumbled for his PADD. Two rows of windows, three on each side of the door were lit with electric candles and in place of curtains hung thick drapes of cobwebs attached to the inside panes. In some, he saw the decor of almost convincingly real fat, black spiders. A chill crawled up his spine, thinking back to the one he just squished under his shoe earlier that morning on the hike through a conservation land built on old Shaker property four miles down the road and past the quaint town centre from Bolton Road.
Tapping a Trillic icon on his PADD, a semi-transparent note appeared which gave the address: 100 Bolton Road. Blue eyes looked up at the Edwardian script numerals on the white frame of the door: 100. Doesn’t seem like anyone is home… Did Ben tell me correctly, or did I transport across continent just to be stood up? The nearly-retired ambassador gave a dry chuckle as the gravel crunched under his feet. It had been a nice day out, however, he thought. It was crisp, but not too chilly even now as the blood orange disc of the sun was flashing through the yellow, orange, and red leaves of one of the two maples in the front yard placed forward and to the sides of each house, and silver birches lined the woods out back along with tall, broad pine trees with grey trunks that had just a touch of pink to them, the kind that reminded him of ancient forests.
[[MORE]]When he arrived at the front door, Curzon knocked twice and waited a moment, sniffing the air and detecting the lightest whiff of that lovely pine scent as he smiled. A moment turned into several and the shadows on his brow grew like the ones cast by the setting sun.
"Ben? Benjamin?" Dax knocked again, this time notching a black, bushy eyebrow. "Are you there? Mrs. Longfellow?"
He decided to try the gold door handle, like something out of a very old book, he tentatively pulled it up, but it almost immediately became ‘stuck’, so he pushed it down, then assessed that he should try pushing it away from him. It took a couple of pushes, but —viola!— the door gave way and creaked open to reveal a warm wood floor, furnished rooms, but empty and dark.
"What in the seven halls…" He muttered under his breath and he walked forward into the living room. "Hello? Hellooo? Is anyone home? Ben!" About fifteen paces in, Curzon passed by a door on the side of the master staircase when the front door suddenly slammed shut. Nearly jumping out of his skin, Curzon whirled around when suddenly the door to the left of him burst open and a small ghoulish-looking creature attacked him. But by its small size and fuzzy brown mop, Dax immediately knew something Sisko was up and he laughed, oh he laughed and hugged the small boy fiercely. "Jake, my boy—!"
The lights all came on at that moment and a room full of people chorussed together. “SURPRISE!!!”
Curzon patted Jake’s back as he laughed. “Aha! I knew there was something up!”
"Hah, sure you did." Ben’s voice shot back, and Curzon turned his head to his left to see him approach, wearing pale grey makeup, fanged teeth and a dark cape. Letting go of Jake, he felt himself wrapped up in a strong hug against Benjamin’s broad chest. His deep laugh rang in Curzon’s right ear, and he pulled back addressing him face-to-face. "Fooled you good, didn’t we, Old Man?"
"Aaah haha! Har har, Benjamin. Aren’t you a little old to be Batman?"
"What? Don’t tell me you’ve haven’t heard of vampires!” Sisko grinned, clapping his old friend on the back as a tall and stunning woman approached the trio.
"Happy Halloween, Curzon!" Curzon did a double take at the diamond-toed heels, little black dress that showed off her legs, and the very becoming feline appearance she had selected to wear for this evening. Sporting a black nose, little whiskers, matching tufty ears, Jennifer held out a plate full of cookies in shapes of bats, spiders, jack-o-lanterns, and more of those ghoulish creatures that looked like Jake’s costume as he caught site of a tail swishing from side-to-side. Peeking around, he laughed when he saw it was an animatronic tail.
"Very creative, Jen!" He beamed, giving her a hug and chaste kiss on each cheek.
"Hey! You didn’t bring a costume!" Jake looked up at him with bright puzzlement.
"Oh yes, he did." Curzon caught Sisko’s eyes as they lifted slyly from Jake’s to his. "He came as the crypt keeper."
Everyone burst into laughter. Grinning and wagging his finger as he angled a knowing look at Ben, Dax had to fight for his next few breaths of air. He knew Ben well enough by now that he wasn’t about to let that Batman joke go without retaliation!
"Ooh Curzon!" Dax felt a small tug from Jake. "Let me show you the pumpkin I carved!"
"Alright, lad, I’ll be out there in a minute! C’mere! Ooooo!" He gave Jake another fierce hug, then patted him on the back and watched, chuckling as he ran out to the back porch.
Curzon took a quick glance around the kitchen and dining room as he beamed. Was it the old house tucked away in a small town with its cozy warmth, the delicious scent from whatever was cooking in its oven, the old technology, the acres of untouched land around them or was it the company he was keeping? Or was it even the poignancy of this fleeing golden hour? Some combination of everything right now —good home, good food, and good people— made Dax feel a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time, a warm surge in his chest and a lightness about his frame when everything felt just right, like the perfect Sisko soufflé.
Turning to Ben and Jennifer, he smiled. He smiled like Ben hadn’t seen him smile in a long time. It wan’t a drastic change from his usual brilliant smiles, but there was something in the way his eyes sparkled. “Thank you for inviting me.” Curzon said softly to the both of them.