Small But Mighty

In the waning hours of trick-or-treat night, a young Dracula and a ghost converged once again on a street corner to compare hauls and discuss strategy.

“So, no full-sized bars as of yet,” said the ghost. “But there were some fresh baked brownies at the Millers.”

“Oh, cool,” said Dracula. “Just a word to the wise, the Johnsons’ yard is decorated like crazy, but their selection is pretty weak. Same lollipops they give away at the grocery store.”

“Ah, very useful information, thank you,” said the ghost. “As for Mr. Vincent’s–”

“Dude, what? Mr. Vincent?” Dracula nearly dropped his treat basket. “After last year? When he gave away ‘Healthy Grains Energy Bars’? And dead fidget spinners for years before that? You seriously went back? AGAIN?”

“He’d set up a lawn chair basically on the sidewalk,” the ghost said. “I couldn’t avoid him. But it’s not as bad as it was last year. KIND minis. Dark chocolate or caramel almond and sea salt.”

“I guess that’s better than fruit,” said Dracula.

“And he says the chocolate and caramel only melted a little in the August heat,” the ghost said.

“Wait, huh? The August heat?”

“Yeah,” the ghost said. “Apparently, the deal site he ordered them from delivered while he was out of town. He was ‘down south’ to ‘play the Labubu market’? I didn’t ask follow-ups, and luckily he didn’t say anything, only sort of stared into the distance with an expression on his face like he was in pain.”

“But, dude,” Dracula said, “it’s October.”

“Oh right. August was when he ordered them,” the ghost said. “But he assured me there’s still a month before their best-by date. And I said, well, I’ll be sure to eat it before Thanksgiving. And that was a mistake because he launched into this whole thing about how what’s really scary is the general population’s lack of understanding regarding best-by dates versus expiration dates. He talked so long that my flashlight died, but he gave me another one.”

“He just gave you a flashlight?” Dracula said.

“Yeah,” the ghost said. “He told me the same site that sold the bars sells a lot of them, and ‘you can never have too many lights.’ It was weird. But the KIND bars might be good.”

“Yeah, I’ll think about it,” Dracula said. “Good luck on the rest of your night.”

“You too,” said the ghost.

And they parted ways.