Little Roseanne Park jumps up and down in excitement that her father almost gives up on putting the green paper maché ogre head on his daughter. Mason Park laughs and shakes his head, exasperated, sits back on the heels of his feet from his kneeling position at eye-level with his little girl.

 

“Rosie, I won’t be able to finish putting on this Shrek costume on you if you don’t stay still.”

 

Mr. Park swears up and down that he’ll grow a decade older from just having to keep up with his seven year old ball of energy

 

Rosie with her puppy dog nose, bouncy and short dark hair giggles and grins from ear to ear, putting her hands behind her back, and sways side to side. She is wearing a white undershirt with a brown vest on top, brown pants and her arms were painted green. She insisted on the green body paint.

 

“I’m sorry, daddy. I’ll keep still.”

 

The little girl rocks back and forth on her heels, cheeky grin and eyes sparkling as she speaks. Her father just melts in adoration of his daughter, so he nods and grabs the green ogre head again and successfully puts it on his daughter’s head this time. He made sure that the head costume wasn’t too stuffy inside so that his  daughter wouldn't be uncomfortable and would be able to wear it throughout the night.

 

Mason gives his daughter a soft pat on her ogre costume’s head and peers under it to see the excitement on Rosie’s face when he says his next words.

 

“There you go, sweetie." He boops her ogre nose. "Now you're all set for trick or treating!”

 

The way Rosie’s eyes lights up could rival New Year’s Eve at Times Square. There were a million fireworks in those brown eyes and her father thinks there is nothing more worth going through hell and back for in this world.

 

The child squeals.

 

“Yay, let's go!”

 

She resumes her bouncing and clapping and hugs her father tight before running off to grab her little plastic pumpkin to fill with treats tonight and mumbling, ‘thank you, daddy, thank you, daddy,” over and over under her breath. Rosie zips out of the living room with her candy basket and goes to her mother who was waiting for them outside.

 

The professor expels a breath and shakes his head. He treasures every moment with his daughter but hopes for his sanity that his child eventually mellows down. He really can’t keep up with her energy. He gets up slowly.

 

Shrek Rosie’s head pops up from behind the divider of the hallway leading to their front door. 

 

 “DOONKEY!”

 

The child bellows in the lowest voice she could manage, imitating her favorite character from her favorite film.

 

The professor sighs and puts on the headband with donkey ears he made to match her daughter’s costume.

 

“Alright, alright, Shrek. I’m coming.”

 

Rosie giggles and whooshes out of his sight again. Her father just shakes his head again.

 

---

 

Little Lisa Manoban holds herself completely still as her mother fusses over her green dress.

 

“Lili, you behave. No running around or making trouble. Understand?”

 

“Yes, Mama.”

 

Lisa dares not make a move because she is aware that her mother is already upset over her not wearing the pink Princess Peach costume her mother previously bought and insisting on wearing a green dress; the little Thai girl wanted to go as Princess Fiona from Shrek and her mother had flat out said no to her the first time. Her mother had asked her why she would want to dress up as an ugly ogre instead of a pretty princess. Lisa, like any six year old afraid of upsetting their parent, couldn’t say anything and just kept quiet.

 

She was crying in her room that night before dinner and when her stepfather went to get her. He saw her little red and tear-streaked face. He immediately hugged her and asked her what was wrong. He managed to coax it out of her after a few moments. She told him that she really wanted to be Princess Fiona because Fiona kicked unlike the damsel-in-distress that Peach was. Her father just smiled and nodded, “okay, sweetheart,” telling her that he will try to talk to her mother.

 

Two days before Halloween, her mother had come home with a little green dress and a braided red-haired wig. Lisa beamed in happiness and excitement and kissed her parents on the cheek.

 

“Oh, Mama, thank you so much!”

 

Her mother had smiled at her and whispered, “you're welcome, sweetie,” before giving her a kiss on the top of her head.

 

Lisa noticed the lack of green body paint, though, and ogre ears; she wanted to be the ogre Princess Fiona, but she accepts the compromise for human Fiona.

 

“Okay, princess, ready to go trick-or-treating?”

Her father walks into her room where her mother had helped her into the costume. The little French girl immediately broke out in giggles at the sight of her father wearing pink horns on his head, pink dragon wings on his back and a pink dragon tail behind him, tied around his waist.

 

“I’ll be the dragon watching over you… get it?”

 

Her Swedish step-father - always the good cop and the clown - turns around and gives his tail a little wiggle. Lisa giggles louder and claps her hands like a baby seal in excitement. Her mother shakes her head and laughs at her husband’s antics. Her stepfather turns back around to face them, grinning proudly that his plan to make his daughter and wife laugh was immensely successful.

 

“But Papa, the  dragon is a girl!”

 

“Well, sweetie, do you want me to wear lipstick?”

 

Another fit of giggles washes over Lisa and the little girl grips her sides. Her father smiles at his precious daughter then at his wife. Lisa's mother  just smiles and shakes her head again, before walking to her husband and lovingly kissing him on the cheek.

 

“Oh, you silly man.”

 

“You love me.”

 

Mrs. Manobam chuckles and gives her husband another kiss on the cheek. Lisa looks at her parents and smiles, happy and relieved that her mother is now in a good mood. Her stepfather turns to her.

 

“Ready to go trick-or-treating, sweetie?”

 

Lisa nods so vigorously, with all the excitement of a seven year old about to go trick-or-treating, then runs to hug her parents around their legs.

 

“Yes, Papa!”

 

----

 

“This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!”

 

Mason Park holds his little excited ogre’s left hand while she held onto her little prop sack (“Because that fits Shrek instead of a Pumpkin!” Rosie had explained to him) with her right. The little girl is practically skipping. She and her father are singing random songs from the child’s favorite animated movies. The little girl told her father that it was only appropriate to sing Nightmare Before Christmas songs first, since it is Halloween.

 

There were already a lot of kids going from house to house on their block. Rosie asked to start from the farthest street in their neighborhood and go door-to-door backwards, so they finish at their block.

 

They get to the third street and father-daughter duo run into one of Mason's colleagues at the law firm her works at as a lawyer.

 

“Hey, Mason! Oh, and is that little Rosie? You got bigger!”

 

The man bends down to look at Rosie eye-level and the child smiles politely at her father’s friend. She does however, find it unacceptable to be called by her name because tonight, she isn’t Rosie, so she puts her small hands on her hips and musters up all the authority she could to try to remedy this.

 

“Good evening, Sir! Please call me Shrek. I’m Shrek tonight!”

 

The man laughs and nods, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

 

“Okay, Shrek. I’m sorry.”

 

The two adults start talking and catching up. Rosie starts growing impatient and taps her foot. Her father remains to be caught up in whatever adult conversation he was having and couldn’t see that his daughter is simply itching to start her trick-or-treating adventure. The little girl decides enough is enough and so she tugs at her father’s pants.

 

“Daddy?”

 

Her father stops in the middle of whatever he was saying and looks down at his daughter.

 

“Yes, Shrek-seanne Park?”

 

Rosie giggles at her new nickname. She decides to go along with it.

 

“Donkey-dad, can I go ahead and start trick-or-treating? I promise to be careful!”

 

“Hmm…”

 

Mason looks up and pretends to consider it. Rosie does her best puppy-eyes expression.

 

“Oh, please! I’m good. I won’t get into trouble.”

 

Her father laughs and nods his head slowly.

 

“Okay, Shrek-sie. I’ll go catch up with you.”

 

Rosie jumps up and her ogre head costume tilts. Her eyes widen in panic that the ogre head might fall or get ruined, so she stands completely still once she touches the ground, holding her head-piece and putting it back right-way up. Her father chuckles.

 

“Just don’t eat any of the candy before I come and get ya, alright? We can’t have you too hyper tonight.”

 

Rosie nods her head in understanding before waving at her father and skipping away.

 

She gets to the next block and decides that she just can’t wait until the last one so she beelines for the closest house instead.

 

As Rosie runs up the front porch of the house, she looks down at her feet to make sure that she doesn’t trip on any rock or cracked pavement. This proves to be a wrong decision because she collides into another kid. She falls splat on her bum on the ground, bouncing a centimeter off of it from the padding in her costume. That was her father’s idea which serves two purposes: one, to make her look like a believable mini Shrek, and two, for safety measures because he knows how  Rosie is when she’s a little too excited. The other kid, an older boy, wasn’t as fortunate, however. He was a taller kid but with the impact of their collision, he fell splat on his bum, too.

 

A group of kids who looked to be his age started laughing at him. The boy’s face scrunched up in anger, turning red. He whips around to face his friends, yelling at them.

 

“SHUT IT!”

 

The group’s laughter dies down but they stay smiling, anticipating what their friend is going to do next.

 

The older kid stands up to his full height, a full head taller than Rosie, and dusts himself off. She was tall for her age but she was slender. This proved a disadvantage at times like these because she has zero intimidating bones in her body.

 

The older and bigger boy looks at Rosie with a nine year old’s rage in his features and Rosie cowers, stuttering apologies.

 

“I’m-I’m sorry! I’m s-sorry. I didn’t mean- I’m sorry!”

 

“You stupid kid! Watch where you’re going!”

 

He raises his fist and aims to hit the little girl. Rosie gasps and covers her face with her arms.

 

“HEY!”

 

Rosie turns her head towards the direction of her savior; the older boy and his friends to the interruption. A little girl in a green dress is running towards them, shouting.

 

“Hey, you ugly bully! Stop that!”

 

The little girl comes in between Rosie and the older kid, speaking with a hint of an accent. She stands as tall as Rosie but she didn’t reach up to the boy’s full height, only up until his nose. The bully’s face contorts in anger before slacking and relaxing. He then starts laughing and his friends laugh with him.

 

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?”

 

The little girl snorts before stomping off to the door and pressing the doorbell. All the other kids and Rosie watch her in confusion. The door opens and a woman answers the door. The woman catches sight of the bully with his fist raised at the little child in an ogre costume, who them immediately straightens up as he realizes that he just got caught trying to punch a younger girl.

 

“Oi, boy! What the hell is going on here?”

 

The little girl in the green dress speaks up immediately.

 

“Ma'am, these boys are picking on my friend!”

 

The woman was in the police uniform. She comes out to her porch and towers over the bully, a menacing look in her eyes. It was his turn to cower back now.

 

“You know what, kid? I hate bullies. You wanna pick on someone? Pick on someone your own size. Pick on me. Otherwise, piss off, now, will ya?”

 

The woman spoke with an all seriousness. She was not playing around and she seemed to not be above disciplining other people's kids. The bully and his friends skedaddle away in fear. The woman turns to the two girls and her icyness melts away completely. She reaches out to help Rosie get up back on her feet and smiles at her and Lisa.

 

Both children beam at her in return. She crouches down to their eye-level and addresses them both.

 

“Well, don’t you two look adorable? Shrek and Fiona!”

 

It was only when the older woman mentions it that Rosie realizes her savior was definitely Princess Fiona, green dress, red braided hair, little gold tiara and all. Rosie stares at her in awe.

 

“So, what are your names?”

 

Rosie snaps back to reality. The other little girl answers first.

 

“My name is Lisa, Ma'am. Thank you for helping us.”

 

Little Lisa curtsies and it was the most adorable thing in the world. The woman chuckles then turns to Rosie.

 

“How about you, pumpkin?”

 

“Rosie. Thank you, ma’m.”

 

The woman smiles warmly at them.

 

“Well you both can call me Auntie Kamala. And you’re welcome. I dislike seeing people getting picked on, especially when they can’t fight back. Now, let me go get treats for you both.”

 

The two children nod in excitement and the auntie. goes into her house again for a moment to grab the bowl of sweets she had prepared for trick-or-treaters. She comes out and scoops two handfuls each for Lisa and Rosie. She also digs around in the bottom of the bowl and pulls out two giant swirly lollipops that’s the size of a hand. The children’s eyes widen in glee.

 

“Whoa.”

 

Rosie mutters under her breath as Auntie Kamala. puts one lollipop into her sack.

 

“Happy Halloween, kids.”

 

Rosie instinctively hugs the woman around her leg and Lisa sees this and does the same. Auntie Kamala says a quiet, “oh” in surprise but the affection from the kids weren’t at all unwelcome. She pats them both on the head as they let go.

 

“Thank you again!”

 

“Thanks, lady!”

 

The woman nods.

 

“You two run along now.”

 

The two seven year olds smile and wave before turning around and heading back towards the streets filled with other little kids in various costumes.

 

Rosie and Lisa walk in silence for a few steps before the girl with green face paint takes the other girl’s hand. Lisa feels the smaller hand enclose hers and she pulls it away, to Rosie’s disappointment. But it was only for a split-second and Lisa slips her hand more comfortably into the Rosie's grasp, so that she’s holding Rosie’s hand, too. This makes the green little girl look at her and beam brightly.

 

“Thank you, Lisa… Erm, Princess Fiona.”

 

Rosie blushes, feeling shy. The taller girl giggled and squeezed her hand.

 

“You’re welcome, Shrek.”

 

The smaller girl looks down and pushes her glasses up her nose, then looks back up at her savior with a thousand-watt lopsided grin.

 

“Um, would you like to go trick-or-treating with me?”

 

Lisa mirrors Rosie’s smile, grinning brightly from ear to ear now, too.

 

“Heck yeah! Of course!”

 

Rosie giggles and she automatically starts skipping. Lisa laughs and thinks, that looks fun, and joins the other girl in skipping. The girl in the ogre costume automatically starts singing the theme from their favorite movie. The Thai girl immediately joins her.

 

And then I saw her face

Now I’m a believer

Without a trace

Of doubt in my mind

 

I’m in love!

I’m a believer

I couldn’t leave her

If I tried

 

Both their fathers find the two girls after they finish trick-or-treating at the next house. The two adults laughed at the coincidence that their daughters are wearing matching costumes, and in turn, they too would match. 

 

---

 

The clock ticks 7 o’clock in the morning and Rosie’s phone starts blasting Accidentally In Love as the tone. She sits up in surprise, rubs her eyes groggily and yawns. Her Thai lover’s arm is draped over her waist. Lisa’s slumber hadn’t been disturbed at all and Rosie presses a kiss on the blonde’s forehead.

 

The singer suddenly remembers the dream she just had and blinks to wake herself up. That was an interesting dream. They had just rewatched the first Shrek movie last night, shared a bowl of popcorn and snuggled. She shakes Lisa softly to wake her, and whispers.

 

“Hey, babe… Hey.”

 

Rosie plants fluttery kisses on the side of Lisa’s face and the blonde stirs. The Thai dancer hums sleepily, wondering what it is that Rosie is waking her up for. Her unspoken question is answered immediately.

 

“I just had the cutest dream…”

 

And Rosie proceeds to tell Lisa about the dream where they were both seven years old and wore a Shrek and Fiona costume; how little Lisa and an Auntie Kamala (who is based on Kamala Harris, a candidate for the democratic party one of her hardcore Rosénators is also crazy about) had saved her from bullies and how they’d become friends.

 

Lisa smiles and laughs while listening to the tale of her girlfriend’s dream.

 

“... and then we started singing “I’m a believer” together while skipping; our dads found us and laughed at our matching costumes and their matching costumes. Then I woke up.”

 

“That sounds so vivid, my love. So cute. Almost as if… It’s another life in another universe.”

 

Rosie chuckles and takes Lisa’s hand, playing with her fingers.

 

“Well, that’s a nice thought. Who’s to say it isn’t?”