Shadows of the Underworld

I assembled this year’s Halloween costume just in time for a Halloween fundraiser last Friday night. I searched all over the place for my butterfly wings, and started vaguely recalling that I may have given them away. Realizing that I would need to shop locally, I Googled online for costume ideas and started leaning toward a dark fairy concept. Seeing the costume was potentially just up the street, I made a quick trip to the Halloween store. I couldn’t find a dark fairy costume in my size, but I did find a queen of the underworld costume that looked promising. The black, red, and yellow dress was supposed to also include a choker. I added some devil wings that I noticed, a metal crown with fake gems, and a curly umber wig. My next stop was to Walgreens to get wine colored cosmetics to match the outfit.

At home, as I started putting together the outfit, I noticed that the choker was missing, and the dress was incredibly tight. I eventually got into it, and was worried I might not be able to get back out. I found my wife’s pentagram necklace from her goth days, and it made the perfect accessory.

At the party, I had fun chatting with people, mostly about politics, and getting to meet a few other people. I was tickled when someone recognized that I was dressed to represent Persephone, the Goddess that was the queen of the Underworld in Greek mythos. Once I got home, I discovered that the dress wasn’t as hard to get out of as I anticipated, and I left it all assembled and hanging for Halloween.

At the Utah Stonewall Dems, I was nominated for the chair position. The election will be next month, and the ratification will be in the Spring.

Speaking of Greek mythology, I read the latest Percy Jackson novel by Rick Riordan, Wrath of the Triple Goddess. Percy is a senior in Alternative High School, and to get accepted to New Roman University, he has to have three letters of recommendations from the Olympian gods. He has one, and needs two more. Hecate, the Goddess of witchcraft, has interceded, demanding that Percy fulfil her quest next in order to get a letter of recommendation. The proposal is simple, he has to housesit the Goddess’s pets for the week before Halloween, and if nothing goes wrong, he gets his letter; on the other hand, if it does go wrong he can look forward to obliteration.

Recruiting his friends to help, he approaches Annabeth. We learn that Annabeth has a favorite thinking spot, a park bench under a maple tree where a famous architect was buried. It’s a place she feels inspired, and it’s where she asks Percy about the quest

Hecate instructs the trio, including Grover, not to touch the ice cream machine before 10 am, and to only handle it with safety gloves. Not everything is as it seems however, and soon the friends find themselves on another raucous chase for their lives.

In More Stars than Grains of Sand, Al Forsyth informs us that we are each “home to an astounding number of non-human living things’ that help make us human. Bacteria makes up more that half our cells. While twenty thousand genes are distinctly ours, we have with each of potentially twenty million bacterial genes.

In Patchwork, by Tess Carlotta, Lewie feels worried about his 18-year old blind brother, that despite anything he does, just slips out of the house and doesn’t return for a long time. Kit tentatively asks if Orion might have a paranormal way of just knowing where his brother may be. He and Basie have been suspecting there may be something more to Lewie than what meets the eye.

In a later scene, Orion knows where they arrive because of the short distance Lewie has driven them and the call to restful ease that suffuses the Wellhead property. Lewie directs them to go into the home. Lewie’s Applachachian twang always seems more noticeable when directing Orion.

When Kit’s husband’s body is pulled from a flaming house, Officer Ida Alvarez contemplates putting Kit in handcuffs, as he tries to get past her. Lewie would never tell you what he was thinking, but he turns face-to-face with Kit and tells him, “He’s got a pulse. That means there’s a chance.”

In the what-if story “Great Day in the Morning,” Basie tells Kit, who he has just met, that he’s “in a professional’s hands.” Kit senses a possibly steamy undertone to the statement, and replies in a similar fashion, “Well in that case, show me what you got.”

I found out that Mom is having trouble eating, drinking, and staying awake. Just being on the phone was consuming a lot of energy. What she wants to hear are “remember when” stories. I don’t know how much longer she’ll be with us. Of the multiple cancers in her body, one has already reached stage 3. Because of the multiple types of carcinoma, both radiology and chemotherapy are off the table. The medicine she is being given tastes terrible. I am thinking of booking a plane ticket to be home with Mom for Christmas, in the event I may not have another chance. In Eden’s Trial, by Barry Kirwan, Zack warns Micah to breakoff his run to launch the ashes of his mother and those who did not survive the evacuation journey back toward Earth. As he breaks off, a white missile and Zach in hot pursuit streak by. Micah asks if Zach can catch the missile in time before it reaches the mother ship.

Last night, I tended to trick or treaters in my costume, while I spoke with Mom on the phone. It was great to hear from her, and to hear her energy somewhat restored. We talked of Halloweens past, how much fun we had, and the Halloween present. I caught doorbell recording of a man encouraging his son, "Don't be afraid," which really drove home for me the values of Halloween--learning to not be afraid to meet your neighbors, knowing someone has your back, and a loving and supportive community.

Finally Mom has some of her appetite back, and I was heartened to sense the restoration of energy as we talked. The medicine for her cancer costs thousands of dollars per bottle, and they are trying to work through Medicaid hurdles to be able to afford treatment.

It can be frightening sometimes how close the shadow of death seems to be, whether out of concern for a loved one, or the passing of one very dear, possibly even concerned about our own mortality. This is the season when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest, probably more metaphysically that physically. As the days get ever longer, we are reminded constantly of the twilight and the shadows.

Yet we can still be encouraged, to grab every moment that we can, to breathe every breath, absorb every scent, and to live into each and every moment. It's okay to be afraid, but we cannot, must not let it paralyze us. Instead, we must know that we can lean one another and have each other's back, remembering to do what we can to make life fun.