Postcards From the Beyond - Chapter 5

Exactly four weeks later Gileon was back.
“I had to sneak half my workload onto my colleague’s desk to get here in time!” Gileon said sheepishly when he arrived. “What's so special about today?”
“Come outside and see,” Sebastian said, opening the front door. Maddy raced out ahead of them giggling in excitement. Seb followed her. Gileon peered anxiously round the door frame.
“Aren't you going to carry me? Put me in a backpack or something?” he asked.
“Not today, you can walk about as much as you like today!” Gileon still hesitated despite Sebastian's assurances. He chewed the end of his tail fretfully. Maddy ran up and grabbed his paw, dragging him out of the house.
“Come on!” she cried, “It’s Halloween, all the best sweets will be gone if we don't hurry up!”
“What's Halloween?” Gileon asked as he walked timidly between Sebastian and Maddy up the street.
“The best day of the year except maybe Christmas and birthdays,” Maddy said.
“Everyone dresses up in costumes and people give out free sweets!” Sebastian explained. Now that he mentioned it, Gileon noticed that the children were dressed rather differently from the Earth clothing he was used to seeing them in. Seb caught him appraising him.
“I'm Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon,” Seb explained, “remember, from one of those movies we showed you?” Gileon nodded and turned to Maddy.
“I'm a mad scientist!” she said proudly.
“I wanted her to be Chewbacca, she's got enough hair for the part and the way she talks, she sounds like him half the time,” Seb said. Maddy hit him in the arm, but she was in too good a mood to get really mad at him.
“And, who am I?” Gileon asked, looking down at himself, dressed as always in him blue uniform.
“You're Gileon, Intergalactic Mail Man of course!” Seb announced happily. “Today you can just be yourself.”

As the afternoon drew on more and more people appeared in the streets. Many of them were dressed in fantastical costumes. Gileon had cowered rather the first time they had passed someone. But the person hadn't given him a second glance, and after that Gileon's confidence grew. Soon they were mingling with groups of other children, trailing from door to door.
Gileon marvelled at how people would just give them free sweets and cakes. Sebastian had given him a brightly coloured bucket to collect his sweets in, and it was soon brimming over. They were all soon hyped on sugar and any last worries vanished from Gileon's mind.
“Come on, let’s go to the park.” Maddy hauled at Gileon who was sitting on the kerb eating candy by the handful. “There's going to be a Halloween parade, we won't get a good view if we don't go now.”
It was already crowded in the park when they arrived. There was a fairground set up around the edges. A bouncy castle and hook-a-duck stand, and whirling rides which made Gileon queasy just to look at. They pushed through the crowds along the parade route looking for a good spot.
Suddenly fierce yapping and growling sounds erupted and a great commotion scattered the crowd. Gileon leapt back, with a cry of alarm, from a small dog who was straining at its leash to get at him.
“What monstrous creature was that?” Gileon asked, anxiously looking back at the still frantic dog as Seb and Maddy hurried him away.
“It's just a Jack Russell,” Maddy said, stifling a laugh, “it probably thought you were a rodent.”
“I am a rodent!” Gileon exclaimed indignantly.
He soon forgot the incident however, once the parade started. It was dark now and the parade floats were lit up with swirling and flashing lights. Music blared and dancers danced. Gileon had seen much more sophisticated entertainment before, but he'd never had as much fun as he did that night. After the parade passed, the children showed Gileon around the rest of Upton on the Downs. It wasn't a particularly big or interesting town, but to Gileon, it was all fascinating. They didn't get back till late and only narrowly avoided being grounded.
“You should be getting back home too, your parents will be worried,” Mrs Oakes said, glancing at Gileon when they arrived back on the doorstep.
“Erm, yes, I'll be right off then,” Gileon said, glancing longingly past her into the hall, wanting to stay and talk to Sebastian and Maddy about all the excitements of the night.
“Wait, you left your bag in my room!” Maddy said suddenly, seeing Gileon's reluctance to leave. But Mrs Oakes was unrelenting.
“Go and fetch it for him then,” she said. Maddy stomped off to get Gileon's mailbag. Seb lingered at the door, Mrs Oakes moved away into the kitchen, but left the door open.
“Sorry,” said Seb, “I guess you'll have to go for now.”
“That's ok,” Gileon said, quickly getting over his disappointment, “I had a great time today. I can't wait for the next Halloween! How often does it happen?”
“Only once a year,” Seb said a little glumly.
“Oh.” Gileon was deflated too. Maddy arrived back with the mailbag and handed it over. Mrs Oakes peered through the kitchen door at them.
“You can't stand talking on the doorstep all night, say goodbye!” she called then ducked back out of sight. Gileon pulled what looked like a mobile phone out of his pocket and punched some symbols on the touch screen, the portal swirled vibrantly into life. Sebastian gazed at the portal.
He wondered what it was like on the other side of that portal, in the world where Gileon came from. He wondered about all the other planets out there, and the space ships and technology. He wished he could explore it all.
“I wish I could show you my world, but it's really impossible!” Gileon said, recognising the look in his eye.
“Why?” Maddy demanded.
“I could get in a lot of trouble if anyone found out,” Gileon said with genuine regret.
“We could get in trouble if someone found you here too!” Maddy retorted. Sebastian could tell from the tone of her voice that she was warming up for an argument. Gileon looked like he was ready to fight his corner too. But this was no time or place for an argument. Mrs Oakes was just in the other room, and the wormhole was open in the doorway. He nudged Maddy sharply in the ribs with his elbow to forestall her argument. Gileon seized his chance to leave.
“See you soon!” Gileon smiled his thanks to the children, then stepped back into the spiralling portal and vanished.
“What was that strange light?” Mrs Oakes asked, coming through to the hall again and herding them towards the stairs and bed.
“Just some parade floats passing by,” Seb invented as he shut the door.