Off Season Cupid

"You should have found your two targets when you were supposed to. Like the others."

A small fat round cherub named Fletch sat next to another named Pip who rolled his eyes in disapproval.

"The people I wanted to fall in love with each other were already taken by the other cherubs."

"Oh, Fletch! There were plenty of people to go around."

A stray autumn leaf drifted by as the two cherubs ducked out of its path.

"I mean look at this!" Pip grumbled. "We shouldn't even be out here shooting people with our arrows."

Fletch fluttered into the sky as he stared down at Pip. "You know, Pip, for a cherub, you're rather gloomy. I will find my two people and they will fall in love."

"Cupid won't like us out here one bit. Not with the mischievous spirits of Halloween out here. It's too dangerous for cherubs like us."

"But I need to find my two people by midnight!" Fletch said as he fluttered off leaving the other behind. "Or else I lose my arrow!"

Pip gave an exasperated sigh as he followed along. There was no reasoning with Fletch.

Strange beings, tall and short and of all sorts of shapes passed the two cherubs. Fletch eagerly watched them, eyes wide in amusement, while pip ducked back in caution.

"How fun!"

"If one of the trickster spirits finds us out here and pull one of their pranks on us, neither of us will be laughing!" Pip said. "Let's just find your people and get this night over with!"

Fletch fluttered back ahead to a bush and kept just out of sight waiting for the right opportunity.

His eyes followed a young man wearing a grim reaper cloak and carrying a plastic scythe.

He studied the reaper as his hand reached for his arrow. Who could he match him with?

He looked around the reaper and spotted a young woman in a flowing black and dark purple dress. She wore a silver crown and wore ghoulish make up. He raised his arrow.

Pip noticed Fletch's two targets and rolled his eyes. "Great. The Grim reaper falls in love with the evil queen. How romantic! Cupid will be impressed!"

Pip was just about to turn away in grumbling disapproval when he noticed something off about the person dressed in the grim reaper costume. Very off! Unlike the other trick or treaters, the reaper's feet never touched the ground. Even with the long cloak, Pip could see it levitating.

"Fletch, wait!"

But Fletch had already released his arrow.

As the arrow hurled across the cool autumn air, both Fletch and Pip felt a rumble.

"Look out!" Pip exclaimed as a large group of trick or treaters rushed by knocking Fletch's arrow off course.

"Oh! I almost had them too!" Fletch groaned as he reached for his second arrow.

"And it's a good thing you did miss!" Pip exclaimed. "That wasn't a costume! That was a shape shifter! One of the many tricksers that come out on Halloween night!"

"A shifter?!" Fletch exclaimed as he glanced around to get a better look. "Are you sure?"

But it was already gone.

"Positive. And you would have known too if you weren't so quick to shoot."

"I won't miss the next one!" Fletch smiled already fluttering off to find his next target.

"Fletch, wait!" Pip cried as he darted after the other cherub.

Dodging trick or treaters and doing their best to blend in, the two cherubs fluttered to an outdoor arch adorned in cobwebs, skulls, and plastic spiders.

"This is perfect!" Fletch said. "This is the very kind of arch people marry under!"

Pip rolled his eyes as crowds of trick or treaters rushed by with bags and buckets full of candy. "I doubt very much anyone is even thinking about getting married under this arch tonight."

"Not until I hit them with my arrow!" Fletch winked. "You know for one of Cupid's cherubs, you could be a little more romantic!"

Fletch then readied his arrow as he kept a close eye on the trick or treaters coming in and out of a tented area. Eerie Halloween music could be heard booming within the area.

"Well this music is certainly not romantic!" Pip replied as both he and Fletch felt the vibration under their feet.

Fletch's eyes narrowed in on a young woman wearing a flowing tunic with gold belt and a leaf crown.

"Oh, she could be Aphrodite! The Goddess of love! This is perfect!" Fletch shouted joyfully as he raised his arrow.

"Fletch, wait!" Pip exclaimed but Fletch was too quick.

The arrow hurled toward Fletches target but hit an animatronic in the tented area instead. A chain reaction occurred as various other horror animatronics shrieked, moaned, and cackled as they lit up the tent causing trick or treating to flee the tent in horror.

"Let's get out of here!" Pip cried as he pulled Fletch along with him.

Both he and Fletch managed to flutter away to a low lying tree branch away from the tented area which turned out to be a haunted house.

"I have to make this one count! I only have an hour left until midnight," Fletch said as he reached for his third arrow. It was his last one. Reality sunk in. "My last arrow."

Pip saw the downhearted frustration in Fletch's eyes as his own softened. "You'll get your targets. You just haven't found the right ones yet."

This time it was Fletch who grumbled. "I know. It's just that I have never made anyone fall in love. What a cherub is supposed to do."

"Then you had better make this one count!" Pip winked as he pulled out Fletch's last arrow and handed it to him.

This time there were no crowds of trick or treaters in a mad dash for candy. There were no horror animatronics to set off that would send trick or treaters screaming.

There was Halloween music but it was a more soft and mysterious kind of spooky. The kind you might here in old Victorian mansions.

A young man stood at a table with cups of apple cider on it. He grabbed empty paper cups and plates and started to clean up the area. A young woman stood next to him wiping the table down. Not as dressed up for Halloween as most of the other trick or treaters, both only wore a simple black cloak and some skeletal face paint.

Fletch and Pip watched them from the branch.

"They look so bored!" Fletch exclaimed. For once, there was a moment of hesitation. Were these two the targets he was looking for? He lowered his arrow. "I don't know."

Pip reached over and raised Fletch's arrow. "A cherub's job is to make people fall in love. It's soon midnight, Fletch. And these two look like they could need some love."

Fletch nodded as he steadied his arrow. "You're right. I have to make this one count!"

With careful precision he followed his two targets and released his arrow.

The arrow hurled across the yard but instead of hitting the ended target, crashed into some cups full of cider spilling and soaking the young man.

"Oh no! No! That was my last arrow!" Fletch cried as he fluttered in the sky in a panic.

Pip only watched the two as the young man stood there in shock, costume dripping wet from cider. Next he heard a laugh which made him laugh too.

"Fletch look!" Pip smiled as he urged Fletch's attention to his two intended targets.

There was the young man in a dripping wet costume and next to him, the young woman was laughing as she frantically handed him some paper towels.

Her smile was genuine and lighthearted. Like she hadn't laughed like this in a long time. The young man's eyes met hers and suddenly, they both started laughing. When the laughter was finally over, for a split second, both only smiled at one another.

Fletch's eyes widened in disbelief. Could it have been a spark?

Pip smiled. "You might not have shot anyone with your arrow, but you did make them fall in love."