1st October Thunder Blast: Roy's Hocus Pocus Halloween Morning, October 31st, 2025 🍊
Roy wakes to the sun spilling through the blinds...
A faint glitter of sparkle settles to the floor, colored in orange, red, and yellow...
And all of a sudden —hocus pocus poof — it turns into an orange, glistening with sweet, citrus honey... So good for me, an Orange Blast of flavor and beautiful color...
He blinks, still fuzzy, his mind half in and half out of sleep... He can’t quite remember the dream, or the scene, or the scene in the dream... Everything swirls together in that hazy, almost déjà rêvé sort of way...
“Self,” he mutters, “thank God it wasn’t like a Dracula bite, sucking the living life right out of me...”
JJ, the little bear‑dog Chihuahua, is in bed with him and his girlfriend, licking his face like there’s no tomorrow...
“Alright, alright, I’m up!” he laughs, pushing her gently away...
His girlfriend stretches, half-asleep...
“Don’t forget to drop off your suit today... The charity gala for the Cancer Society is tomorrow night...”
Roy sighs...
“Yeah, yeah, the gala... Gotta look sharp for the do-gooders...”
He helps his girlfriend with her coat and walks out with her to the car...
The crisp October air brushes past them, leaves swirling in small golden gusts...
“Thanks, hon,” she says, buckling in...
“Anytime,” he says, giving her a smile before heading toward the next stop of his morning...
The bell over the ZIPS door jingles...
“Morning,” Roy says, setting the suit on the counter...
The clerk smiles and says,
“Happy Halloween! Same-day pickup?”
“If you can swing it,” he says... “Need it pressed and ready for tomorrow...”
“No problem. Pick it up today, 5 p.m.”
Roy blinks, a little dazed, then repeats, almost to reassure himself...
“As in… 5 p.m. today, right? Happy Halloween...”
The clerk laughs...
“Yeah, for real. Same to you, bro...”
“Perfect,” Roy says, grinning... One thing off his list—all green lights...
Next stop—Safeway...
As Roy walks in, the first thing he sees is a whole featured section of Halloween candy: pumpkins stacked high, bats and ghosts dangling from the ceiling, a Dracula poster grinning down at him...
Candy corn spilling from bins, witches cackling from wrappers, pumpkin motifs on every endcap...
The air hums with that sugary, slightly spooky energy of October 31st—love the Autumn Blast, love the Autumn Blast—sweet and bright, playful and crisp... A perfect October morning...
Then the smell hits him—the hiss of hot oil, chicken frying, biscuits baking, a little slice of heaven...
Behind the counter, the crew moves like a well-rehearsed band—smiles bright, hands fast, energy humming...
Roy grins...
“Man, you guys are really cookin’ this morning—rockin’ and rollin’!”
One of them laughs...
“You know it, hon!”
“Man, you guys cook the best,” Roy says...
“Lemme get that eight-piece, hot and ready...”
The smell of sweet and hot spicy chicks nearly floors him...
Roy goes home, happy as can be...
thoughts spinning with devouring all eight pieces...
and it was gone just like that...
The morning still hums in his mind...
a little extra zing of Halloween—Scary Blast—trickling through the energy of the day... Playful, mischievous, perfect for October 31st...
Baltimore women who’ve been born and raised here...
know how to cook Red Hot...
and know how to do it just right...
That’s a fact...
A well-known fact in these parts...
and it’s the God’s honest truth...
God bless the women of Baltimore who know how to cook Red Hot...
and know how to do it just right...
God bless America
🇺🇸
Roy passed on the hot cross buns (too early and gotta goto the ball, and he went for somethin fishy 😋
They look so fine.
