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“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Maye cackled. She dropped the goalie pads and pulled him by the hand up the steps to the haunted house entrance.
Inside the Fear Factory, she continued to hold his hand. It was the only way to keep him inching forward through the obstacles. She finally got him to the end, where the chainsaw massacre finale popped out from around the last corner, and Chris released a gut-curdling scream at an octave and decibel that would rival a scared Tracy. Or a slightly spooked Tracy. Or an excited Tracy.
“You laugh,” Chris said, “but I usually have a stunt double do these scenes for me. I can’t handle it.”
“Well, you did great,” Maye said.
“Yeah, man,” the chainsaw guy said as he pulled up his old-school hockey mask, “you did really good. And I loved you in A Want, A Need, and a Wish: The Real-Life Story of the Man Who Awakened from a Coma and Believed He Was a Magic Genie.”
Maye led Chris to the nearest bench where he could catch his breath. “I haven’t heard a fear-laden yell like that since Tracy and I attended a screening for an indie horror film.”
“Oh yeah?” He asked. “What was it about?”
“Um…let me think…” Maye pondered. “I think it was, like, these guys who kicked people out of their vacation homes…or something…?”
“Was it Cockroach and Venom?” Chris asked, excitedly. “A vigilante eviction team that wreaked havoc across lake houses along Lake Winnipesaukee in the 1980s?”
“That’s the one,” Maye said, impressed. “You don’t like to be scared but you like horror films?”
“I contain multitudes,” he confirmed. “Shout out, Walt.”
“Well,” Maye took a deep breath and let it out. “Lucky for you, Halloween is just about over.”
“No jump scares during Christmas?” He asked.
“None to-date. But never rule it out. The mayor is always open to hearing new ideas.”
Chris helped her gather the goalie equipment and carry it back to the market entrance, where preparations were under way for the kick-off to Christmas.
“Are those working cannons?” Chris asked as volunteers rolled two long barrels on oversized wheels in front of them.
“In a sense…” Maye said, vaguely. “You’ll see.”
“Alright, folks,” Mayor Mayer announced as the crowd began to pack in at the market entrance. “The time has come. Gather round, gather round. It’s time to turn the page on fall and welcome in the best time of the year!”
The audience cheered.
“Are we ready?” the mayor turned and looked behind him. “Okay, let’s light this candle! 10…9…8…7…”
“Why are we counting down? What’s going to happen?” Chris asked.
Maye smiled. “You’ll see.”
“3…2…1…Merry Christmas!”
Each cannon let out a bang and an engine puttered to life. Within seconds, snow shot up into the air, then fell softly, blanketing the ground.
“Those are snow cannons??” Chris asked with glee.
“They sure are,” Maye said.
“I don’t need a stunt double for this,” Chris said, and he reached his arms out wide and twirled around in the falling snow.
The mayor began singing a version of Edwin McCain’s “I Could Not Ask For More” set to the music of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”
“Merry Christmas!” Tracy shouted when she found Maye and Chris in the crowd. “Maye, you dressed up!” she said, admiring both of their costumes. “Are you two ready to start the holiday season?”
“There’s more?” Chris asked enthusiastically.
