FINALLY, IT WAStime for The Crew’s costume reveal.
“Are you almost ready?” Harper called upstairs.
“Almost!” Mary called.
“Coming!” Dot said.
A few moments later, Dot and Mary nearly collided at the top of the stairs.
“Oh my gosh, you lookamazing!” Dot said.
“And you’re adorable,” Mary said.
“Let me see!” Harper said.
They came down the stairs and started laughing.
“This is incredible!” Dot said.
Ever since Maddy had told her to click her heels three times to go back to New York, Dot had wanted them to dress up as characters fromTheWizard of Oz. Mary was into it but insisted they had to besexyWizard of Ozcostumes.
“Fine,” Dot said, up to the challenge. And she’d risen to the occasion.
Dot was Dorothy, wearing a tiny blue-and-white-checkered miniskirt and matching crop top. She had on white netted stockings and red sequined platform shoes. Her hair was in curls and she’d put on a perfect Taylor Swift–red lip to finish the look. She twirled around while Harper took a video for social.
Mary took Harper’s phone and recorded her sexy Scarecrow. She’d found a denim minidress and a checkered bustier, plus thigh-high boots, a floppy hat, and two big red circles on her cheeks. Pippi had a little sign around her neck that said, “Toto,” and she was wearing a Kansas City Chiefs dog sweater. “It was all I could find,” Harper said.
It was Dot’s turn with the camera, and Mary didn’t disappoint. The Wicked Witch wasverybad, with a tiny, skintight dress that stopped just at the tops of her thighs. Then a sheer black skirt hung from the back, and her cleavage was... noticeable. She held on to a black broom, just in case people couldn’t figure out who she was meant to be.
“Are we going to give these kids nightmares?” Dot asked.
“Nah,” Mary said.
“But we might make their dads faint,” Harper warned.
They gathered to take a selfie, and Dot posted it to her story. Her caption read, “Trick or treat,Wickedstyle.” A second later it had already racked up a hundred views.
“Well done,” Mary said, giving Dot a high five.
They passed out candy and had a wonderful time chatting with the kids in their costumes. Dot gave extra to the ones who’d made an effort with their costumes. She especially liked the political ones—twins dressed as red and blue waves, a cow covered in “VOTE” stickers, and a guy named “Bill” wrapped in white and with a replica of the Capitol on his head.
Dot pointed at that one and laughed. “Well done, Bill!” she called. Bill took a bow.
“Do you know him?” Harper asked.
“Oh no. That’s just Bill—sitting on Capitol Hill. My dad used to play these really old cartoons he grew up with for my sister and me. Bill was ‘introduced’ in Congress but couldn’t get a vote. It’s how I learned how a bill becomes a law.”
“Heck, I need to watch that now,” Harper said.
Dot checked her phone and saw the time. “Yikes. What’s happened to me? I need to focus. We have a race to win.”
“I think you’re going to win,” Mary said.
“Me too,” Harper said.
Dot appreciated their optimism, but she wasn’t so sure. The race was neck and neck.
As the night wound down, fewer kids were coming by, the temperature was dropping, and the parents were ushering their children home. They still had school in the morning.