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Mr. McGreggor's Halloween Tree House

© Virginia Marin

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Mr. McGreggor was in deep thought as he sat at the little black kitchen table painted with black and white checks, tiny white dots and big red cherries. His head was nearly bald except for approximately seventy tiny gray hairs forming a fragile skirt from ear to ear. A Saint Nick nose supported grandpa spectacles that rested tenuously atop a very bushy, though well-manicured, mustache. His eyes twinkled like stars while his handsome, wrinkle-free face hinted to his newly found happiness, for you see, Mr. McGreggor had recently acquired a Mrs. McGreggor.

Scratching his shiny head he said to no one in particular, "I don't know why I am so depressed."

"Well, for land's sake, Greggy, DO something--anything would be better than sitting around feeling sorry for yourself," said his little wife from someplace around the flour bin.

Long ago, Mrs. McGreggor had been turned into a Kitchen Witch by an ugly Troll. When, by accident, a small cut on her finger earned a transforming feel better kiss from Mr. McGreggor, the Kitchen Witch suddenly appeared as a delightful little lady with long gray hair caught back in a tiny little knot behind her head. As things sometimes wonderously happen, coffee and cherry pie had brought them together.

"Well, what can I do? I am too old to work. I would rather sit here and eat your cherry pies."

"That will make you terribly fat. Isn't there something you have always wanted to do, but have never had time? It's October, and the Eve of All Hallows will be coming around soon. Why not make something for Halloween, something that all of the children could enjoy," suggested Mrs. McGreggor.

Tapping his fingers on the table, he thought and thought. All of a sudden an idea popped into his head. "I have always wanted to build a tree house. Yes, I will make a tree house for Halloween, and what better than a Harry Potter tree house."

He jumped in his old jalopy with its time-worn running board. It huffed and puffed to the lumber yard, where Mr. McGreggor made his purchase. Back home, he put his basic design elements on paper--a ghostly looking tree which supported not one, but two tree houses, a platform in the middle, steps to each of the houses and a look-out platform at the very top. Around the tree was to be a protective fence.

When construction was finally completed, Mr. McGreggor hung an old inner tube swing from one branch and a wooden seat swing from another. A ladder provided additional access from the ground to the first tree house level.

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