"I cannot believe this..." I murmured to myself, head in hand, Sally at my side. "He just... left me with that bag of bugs... do you know Oogie Boogie, Sally?" She was sewing her arm back on when I turned around.
"Oh, uhm, yes. He was, ah, sort of like your father's, uhm, second son." she stuttered through the sentence, and I felt a scowl grow on my face.
"Of course!" I kicked over the nearest tombstone, and out of it flew... a little ghost dog, with a flashing pumpkin nose. "Well, hello there." I said, patting its translucent head. It barked eagerly. I laughed at it, then looked up at the tombstone. "Zero, huh? Good name." Sally stood behind us.
"We don't know where he came from." she said, patting him as he swarmed around us happily.
"Well, now he's going to keep us company. C'mon, boy!" I called him, and we walked up to the spiral hill.
I sat down, my legs dangling off the edge. Sally sat down next to me, sewing her arm back, and Zero zoomed around us.
"Tell me more about this Doctor Finkelstein fellow." I asked Sally. She looked taken aback by my curiosity.
"He's always thought you were rather... interesting..." Sally started, "He was always wondering why you never came down. He thought it was your choice to stay up there. You... amazed him."
I blinked once, twice. Was I supposed to be able to? I was a skeleton, for God's sake. Sally nodded eagerly.
"See? That's what's always confused him. You're different, Jack. In a good way. Like the rest of us." She wrapped her arms around her knees in almost a protective manner, and I smiled.
"You know, Sally?" I said, and she turned to look at me. "I think that, now that my father's gone, I could be twice the king he was." I stood up on the hill, the moon a backdrop behind me, and lifted that small, round object I had received earlier.
"Just maybe, Jack." She stood up next to me and rested a gentle hand on my arm. "But maybe you should wait a while. Learn Halloweentown. Do you understand?"
I ignored her and stared up at the moon. "I guess... I am the Pumpkin King. Maybe this is supposed to be like this." I felt a rush of enthusiasm. "That's right... I am the Pumpkin King!" I laughed, but it wasn't the nervous laugh that escaped me at the meeting. It was loud, confident, much like my father's. We were much, much more alike than I had ever dreamed. And I knew it was supposed to be this way... for now.
