Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

After we left the Halloween party at the home of The Martial Artist and The Book Lover, we headed for another party, which was slated to last until the wee hours. That one was being hosted by The Horror Film Buff and his wife.

Their party was held at a community hall, the same place where they threw his 40th birthday party earlier this year.

When we walked up, we saw a bunch of people outside who were dressed rather formally. But the sister of the hostess was also out there, taking a smoking break, and she directed us to the side door.

They had decorated it very differently. For the 40th birthday party, they'd had a screen set up in a recessed area to show films. This time, That area was reserved for a dance floor. They'd put table cloths on all the tables, with lit votive candles everywhere. They had hung a couple of interesting lighting fixtures in one corner, as well as a mural of a forest of bare trees, which made the room seem bigger.

When we walked in the music was playing and people were laughing. Soon, people we recognized came up and greeted us. Those we hadn't seen since our wedding demanded to see our rings. All seemed impressed by the Celtic pattern inlaid by our jeweler, Henri David.

We made the rounds. I was in character, of course, as Lydia Wells Verne, fictional cousin of HG Wells, niece of Jules Verne and accidental time traveler, having discovered a mysterious machine in Cousin Herbie's estate.

Science fiction fans abounded in this group, and as soon as I told them my name, they knew something was up. Within a few minutes, they'd worked out what I was. One person came directly up to me and asked me if I was a Time Lord. I said, "Not exactly, but very close." The whole idea of the Time Lords from Dr. Who was that they would dress so that they looked like they could be from any time period, except that there was something wrong about them.

I had great fun interacting with the various guest. Many of the guests were people we frequently saw at parties such as this, or at Philcon every year. This includes Dr. DJ, who was the evening's DJ. He was also, along with his wife, a guest at our wedding and recommended our DJ to us, DJ Rock.

One couple came as a rich gentleman and his chauffeur. They told me they were specifically alluding to a scene from the Joss Whedon series Firefly, where there's an elaborate dress ball.

We saw the Independent Filmmaker. Though I didn't get much chance to talk to her, she did coo over my ring, along with his sister, The Social Butterfly, this year dressed as a devil. She got into an entertaining lip-synch performance of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" with another guy dressed as a devil. This produced some fun pics.

Of course, there was the mandatory playing of "Time Warp" from Rocky Horror. I dashed up there, shouting, "They're playing my song!" I tried to dance in character. Lydia, I felt, would be excited about the prospect of dancing to this modern music but would be unsure and perhaps a bit reserved, trying to maintain her dignity.

Among the other interesting characters was a guy dressed as a big bunny, who was quite the party flirt. There were also two Princess Leias from Star Wars.

One of them even brought her own frozen Hans, which I learned later was a plaster cast of her boyfriend, who was also at the party but didn't appear to be dressed up. Maybe he removed his Hans costume before we got there, figuring the plaster cast was good enough.

The male devil was giving everyone massages. He came up to me shortly after we arrived and insisted on giving me a massage. I was about to say, "No thanks," but The Gryphon was standing right there and said, "Trust me. Let him."

Turns out this devil is actually a massage therapist, not just some creepy guy trying to flirt with the girls. He was giving massages to anyone at the party who didn't shrug him off, male and female. His brief massage helped with the chronic pain in my left shoulder.

Of course, The Green Man came as himself.

We'd attended his Halloween party last year, and a couple years ago he'd been Dionysius. His wife this year was dressed as a Beatnik, but I didn't get a picture of her because she kept dashing around the room. I could never get a fix on her.

I did, however, get plenty of pics of a guy who'd come as a zombie and who was committed about staying in character, so that all night long, he shuffled along and didn't speak. Instead of eating brains, though, he had a habit of acquiring people's props.

Whenever he came up to me, I would react in character as Lydia, shrieking and running away, whilst babbling fearfully in my British accent: "Oh, my goodness!" Eventually, one of the women came up and told me that if I wanted him to leave me alone, I should tell him and he would. I told her that I was only reacting to him in character since he was in character and that it was nothing to worry about.

A couple friends of The Gryphon's were there from PAGE (Philadelphia Area Gaming Enthusiasts), and he spent a good deal of time talking to them.

The food was terrific, and if I hadn't already eaten so much at the other party, I would have sampled more of it. They had a lot of Halloween delicacies, like caramel apples and miniature pumpkin pies, along with premiere chocolate like Toblerone. They even had a hot dog machine, where they were cooking up sausages, hot dogs and egg rolls (not that any of those would appeal to me, even if I weren't already full). There were shortbread cookies shaped like bats and a number of other delicacies.

We'd brought a veggie tray, figuring that even if someone had brought one when the party started at 8, it would be pretty decimated by then. I noticed people taking handfuls of veggies, so I think it was a good choice.

I had a number of people ask me where I got my costume. When I told them I got it at a thrift store they were amazed. Of course, they were all separate pieces. I'd had a distinct idea what I was going for, and I had to try on numerous items before finding a combo. It helped that I'd already owned the brown fitted vest, which helped to complete the look, along with the red hat I already owned, having bought it on a whim in a consignment store and never worn it. I'd also pinned one of my grandma's brooches at my neck to cover the top button.

Another partygoer found a way to make a costume out of everyday clothing, going as the Hugh Laurie in the lead character from the FOX show, House. He only glared like this when he was in character; otherwise, he was a soft-spoken, sort of shy guy.

As the party wore on, I learned that a wedding reception was taking place in the front of the building, which was why we'd seen the dressed up people on our way in. This led to an amusing moment, when a Halloween party guest dressed as Gene Simmons in full KISS makeup had arrived there instead. He tells me that while he was looking around, trying to spot people he knew, some woman had come up and told her that she scared him.

I can understand, though. Imagine this showing up at your wedding reception.

We had a great time and probably would have stayed even later than we did, but we had to get home to our doggie, Una. We'd arranged to have our dog walker stop by and take her out and feed her around dinnertime, but by now we knew she'd need some attention again. So we bid our host and hostess goodnight and left. The Dormouse followed us just until he knew where he was headed, then honked the car and sped around us into the night.

More from Halloween 2007:

November 2, 2007 - Out of Time

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

November 2007 Index

Musings Index

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