Pre-Halloween Horror

	The all-annoying "Creeeaaak" played from the speaker attached to
the plastic Halloween mat at the entrance of the costume shop as I stepped
on it.  The man behind the counter seemed to snicker.  How he managed to
laugh at that thing now after it being triggered for who knows how long is
beyond me.

	"Welcome to the House of Halloween," the man said after regaining
his composure.

	I just grinned and waved.  I wasn't looking for anything in
particular.  Hopefully I could find something here for Halloween.  I
passed all the gag gifts and went straight to the costume section.  I
didn't need any phony barf or squirting flowers.

	The costume section had rows of the bagged, pre-made costumes made
from virtually see-through material.  Those didn't even interest me.  I
wanted something better.  Then I came upon the row of latex masks.  These
had potential.  Every now and then, I could find an interesting latex
mask.  The mutilated human head masks dominated the selection, so I dug
through them to find something good.

	"Ah ha!" I mentally shouted as I found a great looking lion mask.
I held it up in delight to see the whole thing.  Unfortunately, the left
side of the lion's face was made to look like it was a zombie lion.  "How
could they ruin such a good mask like that?" I said to myself setting the
mask back down.

	Digging through more masks I came across a few that were fairly
neat.  There were several werewolves, but they looked to ugly for me.  I
continued searching.

	Giving up on that area of the isle, I looked around.  At the end
of the isle was Halloween Heaven!  Star Wars masks!

	I hurried down the isle to the masks.  They had many characters.
Darth Vader, C-3PO, and even Lando.  Of course, the first mask I picked up
to try on was Chewbacca.  A mirror conveniently hung nearby.  I tried on
the wookiee mask and looked in the mirror.  It was amazing.  "I have to
get this mask," I said to myself.  I took it off and looked at the price.
After catching my breath, I hung the supper-expensive mask back on its
hanger.

	I tried on Vader, and it was just as good.  I didn't want to be
Vader though.  I wasn't tall enough.  Not that I was tall enough to be
Chewy either, but I liked Chewy better.

	At the bottom of the display was another mask that caught my
attention.  I bent down and pried it off of the Styrofoam head it was on.
It was an ewok.  In the spirit of trying on the Star Wars masks, I put on
the ewok mask, too.  Looking in the mirror I saw Wicket staring back at
me.  It looked real.  It was super cute though.  The Chewy mask was much
better.

	I pulled the mask off.  Or rather, I tried.  It was stuck.  The
neck was fairly tight because of the latex cowl they had molded onto it.
I pulled and yanked, but the ewok mask didn't budge.

	I walked up to the front of the store.  The man behind the counter
spotted me.  "You going to buy that one?" he asked.

	I shook my head.  "No, I can't get it off.   Can you help?"

	He nodded and walked around the counter.  With both of us pulling
on the mask, it finally let go of my head.  We stumbled away from each
other from the sudden release.
The man regained his footing and stared at me.  He had a puzzled look on
his face.  He then looked at the ewok mask he was holding, and looked back
at me.

	"Uh... can I... help you with anything else?" he stuttered out.

	"No thank you.  I might come back later," I said.

	He nodded.  "We get a new shipment in on Wednesday."

	"Thanks," I said and walked out of the store making sure I did not
step on the creaking mat.

--

	I opened the apartment door and collapsed on the couch.  The drive
home wasn't that tiring, but work and the trip to the Halloween shop were.
However, I did notice several people staring at me on the road.

	After sitting there for a few minutes, I got up and changed into
my around-the-house clothes.  I then went to the bathroom and passed the
mirror.  I saw an ewok.  Well, not just an ewok; it was Wicket.  And it
wasn't just what I was looking at; it was me.  Well, it was my body with
an ewok head.  Just like I looked like in the store.  "What the....?"

	I pulled at the mask, but it wouldn't come off either.  I pulled
and pulled until I realized that it wasn't a mask.  It was ME!  "How...?"

	But, the ewokiness didn't stop there.  I had noticed that I was a
little shorter than normal.  And the brown fur that was on my face was
also covering my neck and shoulders.  I stood there looking in the mirror
in shock.

	I finally snapped out of my gaze after an eternity.  But, my watch
said only 5 minutes had passed.  Looking at my watch, I noticed something
else.  My hands.  I only had three fingers.  I squealed in what only could
be described as an ewok squeal.  I was becoming an EWOK!

	I ran out of the bathroom toward the front door.  One thing was on
my mind: get back to the store.

	I got into my car and headed down the freeway.  The store was only
15 minutes away.  Maybe they would know what was going on.

	I could tell I was shorter now.  I could barely see over the
dashboard.  "I can make it.  I can make it," I said over and over to
myself as I speeded down the road.  Until I couldn't see the road anymore.
I reluctantly pulled over and just in time.  I couldn't reach the petals
after I stopped the car.  My legs had shrunk down to ewok size.  My feet
even fell out of my shoes because of their diminished size.  I had three
toes!  This was just too much.

	I sat there in the car seeing my body slowly cover in fur.  The
store was too far to walk to, and there was no way I could drive.  My body
was refusing to stop changing.  "I shouldn't have gone to that store!" I
said hitting my three-fingered fist against my hairy thigh.  "I must be
completely an ewok by now," I thought.  I hadn't notice anything human
left.

	The sound of screeching brakes was heard outside.  I climbed onto
the seat and stood up to look out the window.  A mini-van pulled off in
front of me.  The man who was driving climbed out and walked over to my
car.  I crawled under the dashboard.

	"Hello?" the man said looking into my car.  I stayed silent.  "Any
one here?  Do you need help?"  He cupped his hands around his eyes as he
looked in.  And he spotted me.  I could have passed for a teddy bear,
except for the heavy breathing.

	He opened the door.  Unfortunately, I forgot to lock it.  "Hi,
there.  Did they leave you all alone?"  Apparently he thought I was a dog.

	I crawled out from under the dashboard and sat on the seat.  His
look went from calming to startled back to joyful.  "You're an ewok!" he
said excitedly.

	"Yub  Nigub," I said.  My response started me as much as it
startled him.  I couldn't speak English any more.

	The man smiled again.  "Come on, little guy.  I know of a nice
home for you.  It has a nice house and lots of trees in the back yard."
He held out his hand for me to take.

	Against my better judgment, I took it.  Apparently, I was still
changing.  Changing mentally.  The nice man and I walked to his van.  He
opened the sliding door, and I crawled in.  "Why was I doing this?" I
asked myself, but all that replied was, "He has trees in the back yard."

	I mentally screamed as I physically grinned.


The End