Chapter One

It was Halloween once again for the Harts; the entire neighborhood was painted with the reds, yellows and browns of the changing leaves on the old trees lining the streets. The whimsical, spooky Halloween decorations on everyone's front door step gave the entire neighborhood a friendly and tight nit feel.

Reba, after the scare they'd given her last year had decided to tone it down a bit this year. But don't dare underestimate this redhead! She still plastered her house in decorations and had her costume upstairs ready to change into. She just didn't throw around any of her classic pranks and tricks. The kids had been having fun at school all day with the activities that student council had planned for them, now they were home, carving pumpkins in the kitchen. After they carved their pumpkins they were going to put on their costumes. Kyra was going to take Jake and the little ones out trick-or-treating and Cheyenne and Van were going to a party with Reba, Brock and Barbra Jean and what was big blond goofball doing? Well, Barbra Jean was stalking around playing tricks on everyone.

Reba sighed as she set the candy bowl down on the table she'd set beside the front door in preparation for later that night. "Barbra Jean, I can see you."

Barbra Jean stepped out from behind the curtain. "How?"she cried. "I was hidden!"

She pointed to Barbra Jean's feet. "Your shoes."

Barbra Jean looked down at her red high heels. "Darn it! Reba, no fair!" she reached to her right toward the bowl and scooped up a chocolate bar.

"Ah ah!" Reba exclaimed and snatched it from her hand before she could peel off the wrapper. "That is for the trick-or-treaters."

Barbra Jean scoffed and pouted. "I suck at practical jokes…"

"That you do. Now leave the candy alone!" Reba said pointing at her with the chocolate bar still in hand.

Barbra Jean dropped her shoulders. "Fine." she whined then reached quickly forward grabbing it from Reba's hand.

"Barbra Jean!"

"What? You bought the good candy. You always buy the good candy, which is why all the kids in the neighborhood love coming to your house so much…"

"Well Barbra Jean, if you didn't hand religious pamphlets out to everyone that came to your door they wouldn't egg your house ever year."

"You forgot toilet papering it…" she added.

"Hmm, hmm." Reba giggled. "That was fun."

"That was you?" Barbra Jean exclaimed, jabbing the candy bar toward the redhead.

Reba, realizing her mistake, rubbed her neck. "What? No!"

Barbra Jean stomped her foot. "It was you! Reba!"

Reba turned away smirking then spun back around. "Wait a second, why are you here?" she asked.

"Oh! I need your help."

"My help? What with?"

"Your devious, I need a really good prank to get Brock."

Reba shifted her weight. "I thought you didn't celebrate Halloween because you were afraid of it."

"Yeah, well he didn't tell me about the plan to get you last year and I was running around like a crazy person for half the night looking for a crime scene. So, I wanna get him back, and since you're the most devious person I know I thought you'd like to help."

Reba kept a straight face. "You thought I'd like to help?"

"Uh-huh!" Barbra Jean said optimistically.

"Help you, prank Brock?"

"Yeah!"

Reba let out an evil laugh and slapped Barbra Jean's arm."I'd love to. What ideas did you have?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe have a dummy set of golf clubs and bend them all."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Reba said flatly."Barbra Jean, even if it's only the size of a raisin you still have a brain between those ears… use it! He isn't going to go to the country club on Halloween!" Reba urged her toward the couch. "You've gotta think outside the box. What did you wanna do scare him or make him cry?" she asked taking a seat.

"Well-"

"Oh, please say make him cry!" Reba said giddily.

"Well, okay yeah, let's make him cry."

"Hmm, hmm… now we're talkin'." Reba said and tapped her chin thinking. "Well, I have some washable spray paint in the garage… we could cover his car in graffiti."

"His Lexus? Oh, Reba, he'd kill us!"

"I never said we had to put our names in it, you bonehead!"

"Oh…"

Rolling her eyes, Reba shook her head.

"What if we got one of those cling on sticker things that looks like a crack and put it on his windshield and drop a bat by the tires?"

Reba sat up quickly. "That could work. I have a bunch of them here somewhere. Okay, so we can do that and then we can-"

"Don't you think that's enough? I want him to cry not file for divorce!" Barbra Jean cried.

Reba scrunched up her nose. "Okay, okay… I'm gonna go out in the garage and get the stuff. You keep him busy. Okay?"

"Yep!"

Reba got up. "And don't you dare let anything slip or this whole thing is ruined. Got it?" she asked.

"Got it." she turned toward the door in search of her husband then stopped. "Reba?"

"Yes?"

"What are you being for Halloween?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

"Oh, come on! Reba, you goootta tell me."

"Noooo, I don't! You'll see later tonight."

"Oh, fine."

"Are you dressing up Barbra Jean? Or do you not believe in that part of Halloween?"

"Oh, I'm being something simple."

Reba leaned on the doorknob. "You're being yourself?"

"Of course not, you silly! I'm being a ghost!" she said with a smile then left.

"Don't you let anything slip to Brock!" Reba called after her.

"Don't worry." Barbra Jean laughed.

"Hey, Ma." Cheyenne said when Reba came into the kitchen.

"Hey, Honey." Reba said breezing past her.

Van grabbed her arm, pulling her to a standstill. "Whoa, where are you going Mrs. H? You look like you're on a mission."

"I am."

"What's the mission, Mom?" Cheyenne asked.

Reba looked toward her eldest daughter wearing her hair in a hairnet, an apron covering most of her body and yellow rubber gloves up to her elbows. "Cheyenne, what are you wearing?" she laughed.

"She said carving pumpkins was gross, I told her she was a wimp." Jake said reaching his hand deep into his pumpkin, taking out a handful of bright orange mush and seeds then shoving his hands toward his sister.

Cheyenne backed up and put her hands in front of herself. "Eww! Jake, don't! Mom!" she cried.

Reba smirked. "Jake, stop grossing out your sister and Cheyenne, man up." she said, making Van snort out a laugh behind her. "What are you laughing at? You're worse than Cheyenne."

"Hey!"

Reba patted Van's shoulder. "It's okay, Van. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go find that spray paint."

"What are you doing?" Kyra asked.

"Barbra Jean wants to prank your father, I want to make him cry." she said then jogged out.

The four looked at each other. "What?"Cheyenne said.

"If Dad's gonna cry then I wanna see it! It's so funny!" Jake exclaimed.

Cheyenne turn to glare at her brother "Jake, that's not nice!" she scolded.

"It is when mom makes him cry. She's so good at messin' with him and it's great because he doesn't get mad at her."

"But she said she wanted to make him cry."

"That doesn't mean she's gonna do something mean. It's Halloween she's a prankster. A kick ass prankster when she wants to be." Kyra said simply.

Van sat back down at the table to finish gutting his pumpkin. "Well what do you think she's gonna do with spray paint?"

Cheyenne reached into her pumpkin and gagged. "I don't know, not something too bad. She wouldn't ruin something for a laugh. This is Mom we're talking about here… oh, this is so gross."

"Cheyenne, stop being such a girl. It's just pumpkin." Kyra said rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but it looks like vomit."

"Seriously, you need to get over yourself." Kyra scoffed.

Cheyenne pulled out a long, gunky string of pumpkin. "Ew, oh, oh no. No, I can't do this!" she dropped it on the table,peeled off her gloves off and threw them on the table then ran from the room.

"What a girl." Jake grumbled, carefully placing the top on his jack-o-lantern. "I'm done. Look Van!" he turned the pattern to face his brother-in-law.

"Hey! It's batman! Good job buddy! Go put it out on the front porch and I'll bring min out when I'm done. Okay?" Van asked.

"Alright." Jake smiled and picked up his pumpkin and walked proudly out of the kitchen.

Van smiled after him then glanced at Kyra.

She could feel him watching her but tried to ignore it and kept carving out the grotesque image in the tough orange skin. "Why are you watching me like a creep?" she asked looking up through her eyelashes.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked.

"Van, how many times do I have to tell you that you only need to lather rinse and repeat once..."

He threw his hands up in the air. "Hey, hey, ho wa ha!" he laughed. "That is so funny Kyra!"

Kyra looked up and raised her eyebrow. "What is wrong with you?" she laughed.

"I need your help."

"Why do you want my help?"

He looked through the dividing window then leaned close to her. "I need you to help me scare Cheyenne."

"Scare Cheyenne? Van, I scare her on a daily basis."

"No, Kyra. I want to scare her but I can't because she always sees it coming."

Kyra stepped away from her pumpkin and put the top on it. "Okay, Van, since it's Halloween and I was too lazy to set up any pranks, yeah, I'll help you."

"Sorry, you'll what?"

"I'll do it."

"Really?" he asked flatly.

"Really, now I think you should jump out and scare her. She's really jumpy."

"I've tried that. It didn't work."

Kyra thought for a minute. "You know that scarecrow mom has on the front porch?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You should dress up like it, go stand out there, then when Cheyenne walks past, jump out at her. I bet she'll cry."

"I don't want her to cry, I just want to scare her."

"Van, when she gets scared she cries. If you're coming to me for help and you don't want her to cry then… oh nevermind. Do you want to scare her or not?"

"Yes! Yes, I want to scare her!"

"Well, it's my way or the highway buddy."

"Okay, fine. But if she cries it's on you." Van said.

"I'm okay with that. Oh, mom has a scarecrow costume in the garage. I think she's out there, go ask her."

Van nodded and headed outside to find his mother-in-law.

Cheyenne came back into the kitchen, tossing her apron on the counter. "Ugh, carving pumpkins is so disgusting. Why did the farmer guys have to make the insides so gross?"

"Cheyenne, they didn't… oh nevermind, did you want me to gut it for you?" Kyra asked.

Cheyenne stopped at the table. "Sure! Would you do me a favor and carve a kitty in it too?"

Kyra looked up. "Why can't you do it yourself?" she asked.

"Because I need to go put on my costume. And I suck at carving."

"Well, what about me?"

"Like your costume is even hard to put on." Cheyenne scoffed.

"Well, yeah. I have to do my makeup."

"So do I!" Cheyenne exclaimed.

"What are you being?"

"A cat." Cheyenne said with a smile.

"A cat?"

"Yeah."

"You're wearing all black, I can bet you're doing a smoky eye and some red lipstick. I need to paint my entire face and get Elizabeth in her costume."

"Why would you put Elizabeth in her costume?"

Kyra hastily picked up the spoon and started gutting Cheyenne's pumpkin. "Because you asked me to!"

Cheyenne looked at her sister for a minute. "Oh, yeah. Well, thanks for that! You're an awesome sister Kyra." Cheyenne said cheerily. "I love you."

Kyra glared at her sister. "Somehow I find that hard to believe. Go get ready." She sighed. "I'll do everything."

Cheyenne clapped her hands. "Thanks! I owe you one!"

"Or two… thousand." she grumbled as Cheyenne skipped out then she heard something crashing in the yard. "What the heck?" she picked up a towel and wiped off her hands then went to the patio door and slid it open. "Mom?" she called. "Mom, are you okay?"

A body jumped out in front of her. "Boo!"

Kyra's hand flew to her mouth. "God! Van, you idiot!"

He jumped up and down in the grass whooping and hollering. "Ha! I got you!" he pointed at her laughing then stopped and scratched his chin. "I usually don't get people…"

Kyra slapped his chest. "You didn't get me! I heard a crash and thought something happened to mom in the garage!"

"Oh, whoops that was me. I tripped over the trash can. Got straw in my eye… this costume is itchy." he scratched his side. "Hey, I got you… so, I guess I'll really get Cheyenne!" he exclaimed and bounded through the patio door and through the living room.

Kyra shook her head. "What. An. Idiot."