Rouge The Bat: Happily Married

Rouge the Bat and Thomas Adriani have been married for ten years
and one month as of this chapter.

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Halloween was two weeks away. Still time to shop for costumes. Rouge
held her daughter's hand, walking through the shop. "I bet they
have little witch costumes for little girls, that sound good?" Teal
didn't look up. "Teal? The witch costumes are this way!"

The little girl finally spoke, "I don't wanna be a witch, mommy. Witches
are scary." Stunned, Rouge was curious. Bats were often limited in
costumes due to their wings and Rouge had often preferred to be a witch.
Her more revealing costumes had gone into storage long ago, but she
still carried the tradition.

Teal's first Halloween was this year. The little girl was finally
old enough. "Then what do you want to be?" Rouge asked her child.

The little girl looked up. "I wanna be an ANGEL!"

'Oh dear,' Rouge thought quietly, looking around. Plenty of angel
costumes. Not a popular costume for the scary day of the year. But not
one that was made for bats. The wings were all solid pieces.

Walking to the counter, Rouge said, "I need an angel costume for my
daughter."

"That's fine, we have plenty of- ...oh," the clerk answered, looking
at them.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He explained, "they just don't make them for... people like you, I'm
afraid. It's the wings. The only places that make angel wings that fit
over bat wings are the movie studios and they cost a fortune. Believe
me, I've tried before to get them in. Then there's the fake halo..."

Rouge glanced back. All the angel costumes seemed to be made for
humans only. "I'm sorry," the clerk said, "it's just not a popular
Halloween costume!" Upset, Rouge left the store, her daughter visibly
disappointed.


Home. Rouge was free to let her anger out, tossing a pillow across the
bedroom. "Bad day?" Thomas Adriani asked.

"Teal wants to be an angel for Halloween..."

"Wow, that IS bad news..." he jokingly replied.

"It's not that," Rouge said, "but they don't make angel costumes for
bats! I... the guy at the costume store said it's the damn wings! And
Teal, she's in her bedroom crying..."

Pulling Rouge close, he held tight. "So we make angel wings for her.
Big deal." His thoughts changed course briefly. "I see. You're upset
that she's not going to follow her mother."

Rouge responded, "I've been a witch ever year since I can remember... I
thought, if only Teal picked up the better habits of bats, it'd be one
she learned from me." Pausing, she continued, "Teal said witches are
scary."

Leaning back with her, Tom commented, "remember what I used to call
you when we first met?"

She smiled. "Your 'little angel'."

He said, "maybe I should start calling you that again..."

"Okay, Tom, make you a deal," Rouge offered, "you make us both a set
of angel wings... and I'll drop my yearly tradition."

"That's the spirit," Thomas said, cradling her head.

"After all, I'm not a young woman anymore. I'm a mother and should show
SOME responsibility and compassion for my child."

"You're not old," Tom replied. "You're only twenty-nine."


Rouge stood, wings out, while Victoria measured them out. Teal did the
same. Grabbing scissors, Tom cut open old pillows, spilling out feathers.
Sketching out patterns, Vic pinned together sheets of white fabric and
traced the cutting outline as Tom assorted feathers by size and prepared
the glue. "I need those wire coat hangers," Vic said, Tom handing them
over. Bending them out, she cut them into lengths. "Neither of you
should try to fly with these things on, okay, Boss? The wires will keep
them from sagging but they might get in the way."

Rouge helped sort the feathers and Vic cut out the fabric. Turning to the
sewing machine, she sewed in the pockets at the tops for the wires and
meshed the halves together. "Gotta test fit these!"

"Me first!" Teal shouted, running over to let Vic drop the cloth wing
covers on. Rouge picked up a pair of scissors and cut out the backs of
the angel robes, tossing the fake wings aside.

"Now you, Boss," Vic said, Rouge dropping the robes to fit her own
wing covers. Content that they fit right, Vic pulled them off. "Looks
like my work is done. You three have fun." Grabbing her purse, Vic left
as they said goodbye. Uncapping the glue, Tom began the long work of
gluing feathers into the cloth. Teal enjoyed this, finding joy in making
her angel costume. Running soft sleeves over other wire bits, Rouge
fashioned out ear clips for the halos.


Halloween night in Central City was busy. The streets were packed and
the residential areas filled with people going house to house. Teal's
candy bag was nearly full. Tom's pirate costume was uncomfortable and
he just wanted to get home and get out of it. "Why didn't you bring the
hook?" Rouge begged.

"Because I'm not carrying that goofy plastic thing all night," he
responded.

She commented, "you could have at least worn the eyepatch."

"And ruin my depth perception? Teal, you ready to go home?"

The little bat child looked into her bag. "I got lots of candy! We can
go home now!"

The family found the car, Tom hitting the buttons on the tiny remote
to unlock the doors. Once inside, Teal threw her bag down. "You're
not eating all of that candy tonight, Teal!" Rouge ordered.

Tom added, "she's not eating most of it, period. I want my daughter
to have teeth."