A Dalmatian Halloween

Halloween this year was dalmatians, both of them. White outfits with spots, fleece hats with black felt ears, and full face paint — whiskers, black noses, one eye patched dark on the big one. Each wore a paper dog tag on a ribbon: Lucky for the older, Jewel for the little one.

Got them to sit still against the yellow door long enough to remember it. The older one held her sister by the shoulders and mugged; the little one grinned through her paint and kept ducking her head, so the ears flopped forward. By the last try the tags had spun around and Lucky was half hidden under her chin.

The face paint mostly survived the day. Mostly.