It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To

From the diary of Penelope Halwind:

Halloween
I never have liked that ‘who’s going to try and scare me next, and how?’ feeling…

Pigeon’s Place was packed. Since it’s opening it had been expanded a couple of times and I was proud of it. I stood outside my office looking at all of the costumes.

Katie, the barkeep, was dressed in a traditional tuxedo. My fellow Gotham’s Most Wanted members all had their usual attire (in fact there were several Lady Panthers and a couple of The Questions; of course I knew which one was Stanley). What surprised me was he number of Nightshades I saw.

There was also the usual assortment of classic monsters, slasher-flick slayers, sci-fi characters and people just trying to be scary or disgusting. I watched a Cleopatra and Mark Antony walk in before realizing it was Stanley’s friend and his girl. The outfit really suit him, I found myself thinking ‘damn.’

“I saw that” Stanley said from behind me. He put his arms around my waist and kissed my cheek.

“Sorry ‘dear,’” I smiled up at him. “Couldn’t help myself.” He smiled too…and pinched my backside.

“You can make it up to me later.”

I would have said something flirty back but in walked The Harlequin. Stanley and I both scowled. Just what we needed…Joker showing up with all of the Nightshades dancing around.

The Harlequin walked up to the karioke machine I had rented and grabbed the microphone. “Happy Halloween, everyone! Well, not so happy fa me, cause my puddin’s in Arkham. Again.” Here she sighed dramatically. “So I’m hangin’ out with my new friend.” She pointed and the crowd turned to look. A woman in a green leotard and flowers in her long red hair stepped forward. From a little way down the bar Gemini shouted “Ivy!” like it was a dirty word.

“It’s Gaia now. Leo.” I looked at Stanley. No love lost between those two. The Harlequin and Gaia made their way over to me.

“Hiya, Pigey! No hard fellin’s, I hope.”

“Ya don’t cause any trouble and I won’t have m’ boys toss ya out on your ass” I hissed through my teeth. Stanley looked at me as if to say ‘whoa, calm down.’

“You had the good taste not to kill a bunch of pumpkins” Gaia commented. She took a seed out of a pouch on her belt and held it out in her hand. It sprouted and she asked for something to put it in. “I hope you like violets. We’re all on the same side here.” I looked at her as if to say ‘yeah, sure’ and took the gift into my office.

“Happy Halloween.”

It was the real Nightshade. I folded my arms. “Can I help you?”

“Actually, I was on my way home. I knew you had planed a big party and hope it is going well.”

I sighed. “Yes, it’s fine. Thank you for asking.” I looked up and he was gone.