Chapter 5
What More of a Signal Do Ya Need?

“You say she simply looked at the piano and it floated off the ground?”
“Yes, and she lifted off the ground herself!”
“I don’t know how she did it, because I certainly didn’t teach her any of those tricks. She could have killed someone!”
I could hear the people talking but I couldn’t see them. I was in that area between asleep and awake. My eyes flickered open and I saw Jack, Sally and the Doctor looking over me. I looked around and saw I was in the lab on an examination table.
“Oh, Madeleine, thank goodness you’re alright!” Sally exclaimed.
“Wha happen…?” I muttered. My head was aching like crazy. “What times is it?”
“It’s morning and you passed out.” Jack said. “It’s a good thing too.”
“Why?” I was slightly offended. “Why was it a good thing I passed out?”
“Well, you kind of lost control.” Sally explained.
“What?” I asked. Then all memory of the previous events came rushing back to me. I had lost control. I had floated into the air along with the piano and podium. I sat bolt upright. “Was anyone hurt?” I gasped.
“No, no everyone is fine.” Sally said, placing her hand on my shoulder calm me down. “But, um, something did happen…” She glanced at the bangs that covered my left eye.
“What? What happened?” I was worried.
“Well, see for yourself.” Sally handed me a mirror. At my first glance, nothing seemed all that terrible. But then I caught glimpse of white. All of the hair that covered my left eye was snowy white. I was stunned. I had a white streak of hair. I moved the mirror around to look at my other hair. It was still the dirty-blond, golden-brown it was before. All except for the one streak of white. “How did this happen?” I muttered. I wasn’t all that upset. I thought it was kinda cool.
“You suffered from an extreme shock when you lost control.” The doctor explained. “There was some sort of malfunction in the headband,” The Doctor grunted, “which shouldn’t have happened. Most of my creations are flawless.” I couldn’t tell if that was a jab at Sally being defiant or anything, but I got the feeling it was. There was the loud sound of a bell toll and I snapped my head around.
“Now who could that be?” grumbled the Doctor. He rolled over to the edge of the ramp looking down to the base floor. “The door is open!” he called. There was a creaking from downstairs.
“Hello!” called the Mayor. “Is Jack here? I would like to have a word with him!”
“Excuse me,” Jack said politely, walking down the ramp. Now, normally, I wouldn’t have been able to hear their conversation, being that they were all the way down that ramp on the base floor. But, with my special earrings, I could hear their conversation as if they were speaking directly to me.
“Yes, Mayor? What is it?” I heard Jack ask.
“Jack, I- well the witches and I, that is- have come up with a brilliant solution for your dilemma!”
“Did they find the right spell?” Jack asked eagerly.
“No, but we might have something better.” the Mayor replied. “Why not have Madeleine use her skills to move the pumpkins? She could be in the performance with you.”
What? I thought. I could be in a Halloween performance with Jack? There had been a long pause between Jack and the Mayor.
“May I please speak to you outside?” I heard Jack ask. There was the sound of a door opening and closing and I could hear no more.
“Damn.” I muttered under my breath. Apparently I could only hear the conversation if it was in the same room. I couldn’t hear through walls. Since Jack and the Mayor were gone, I decided to continue looking at my new hair. Dr. Finkelstein had begun working on a new experiment, that of which I couldn’t see, and Sally had started to tidy up the lab. As I looked at my reflection I couldn’t help but play around with it. Sally paused and looked over at me.
“You seem really calm about your hair.” She noted. “Is everything alright?”
“What?” I said, looking at her. “Oh, yes, everything’s fine. I kinda like it. The only thing I’m worried about will be how my mom reacts.” And for the first time, my heart suddenly dropped down into my stomach. I doubled over feeling terrible and home sick. I pictured my mom and dad. Was I ever going to see them again? Was I ever going to get home? Sally rushed over to my side.
“Madeleine, are you okay?” she gasped.
“Yes,” I lied, “I’m fine. I just think I need to get some rest. Can I go back to my room now?”
“Yes, you can go.” the Doctor muttered. I nodded to Sally and rushed down to the ramp to my small, dingy room. I slammed the door behind me and fell onto my tiny bed. I felt terrible. My head was spinning, my stomach ached with sadness and hunger, and my limbs felt like dead weight. I just laid there, hot tears running down my face, until I fell into a quiet slumber.
As I slept a dream came into my head. It was hazy though. I heard people yelling and there were three different voices. I couldn’t tell who they were though. There was a sudden jerking motion and what ever I was lying on tipped over. For a brief moment, I hung upside down. Then the laws of physics took place. For at least three seconds I was falling. It felt like I was falling for 30. And right before I hit the ground I jerked awake. At least three hours had passed since I fallen asleep, the sun was high in the sky. There was a sudden knock on my door.
“Uh, come in.” I called. My head ache had subsided a little.
“Madeleine, are you feeling alright?” It was Jack. Now, although I’m such a loyalist to the movie and it’s pairing, I had never thought Jack looked more handsome.
“Yeah, Jack, I’m fine.” I smiled, sitting up. “Thanks. What do you need?”
“Well, you remember the Mayor dropped by a while ago?” he replied.
“Of course.” I said.
“Well, he wanted me to ask you-”
“-If I would be in the Halloween performance with you?” I finished, stunning him.
“How did you know?” he said, surprised. I tapped my skull earrings. “Ah, I see. Well, nonetheless, are you willing to do it?”
I wanted to scream out “Yes! Oh, definitely!” but I had doubts. “What if I can’t control myself and I go crazy again?”
“Well, I suppose Dr. Finkelstein could make a few modifications to make the malfunction a natural, working order.”
“Then yes! This is great!” I was so very excited.
Over the next few days, Jack, Sally and I prepared for the coming Halloween. Since the doctor needed help around the lab, Sally and I went to Jack’s house at different times. When she went, I stayed behind to help the Doctor, and vice versa. When it was only two days before Halloween, I went to Jack’s house to practice the routine. The Doctor had made the modifications so now I had mastered my new ability. It was a cloudy day with only a little sun peeking through the thick layer of cloud. By now, my whole fiasco at the town meeting was a thing of the past. No one said anything and I hadn’t seen any sign of Lock, Shock, and Barrel since the incident.
Once I reached Jack’s house I rang the bell. Jack answered and welcomed me inside. I loved hanging out with Jack. It was so awesome. “Hi, Jack!” I said. “What’s on today’s agenda?”
“I wanted to make sure we have our routine down.” he replied. “Halloween is in two days, you know.”
“Of course.” I smiled walking up to Jack’s study and room. “It’s one of my favorite holidays. That and Christmas.”
Jack smiled. “I’ll go and put on the costume Sally made for the performance. Make yourself at home.”
“Thanks, Jack.” As Jack left I looked around the room. My eyes suddenly caught sight of a jar on one of the top shelves. I focused very hard on the jar trying to will it down with my new ability. The jar suddenly gave a slight jerk and slowly floated down from the top shelf and into my hand. Inside the jar was a large, slimy looking green blob. “I can’t believe it…” I muttered. It was the Soul Robber, the weapon Jack used against Oogie in one of my video games, Oogie’s Revenge. I looked around. “I’m sure Jack won’t mind if I try it on.” I opened the jar and looked inside. The green glob didn’t budge. I was about to reach my hand into the jar when, only an inch from the opening, the slimy blob jumped out and wrapped itself around my hand.
It felt so weird. It was slimy, but it wasn’t exactly wet. I guess that’s what it must have felt like to have a snake wrapped around your hand. I waved my hand around a little bit and the glob whipped out, grabbed Zero’s doggie bed and slapped it into my hand, kinda like Indiana Jones does with his whip. “Whoa…”
“I see you found my Soul Robber.” Jack smiled, walking up the steps in his Pumpkin King costume. The costume looked basically like a scarecrow. Jack’s shirt was tattered and somewhat dirty. His pants looked like straw had been tied to his boney legs. His face was hidden by a menacing looking carved pumpkin. Needless to say, he looked creepy.
“Nice costume!” I beamed at him.
“Thank you.” Jack said. “But the real thanks goes to Sally. She helped me remake this costume.”
I paused for a brief second. “How long have you and Sally been… well, you and Sally?”
“Oh, I’d say, maybe, 14 years.” he replied nonchalantly. I dropped Zero’s doggie bed in disbelief. 14 years?! It now made sense why Sally had seemed uncomfortable around me when Jack was around. She didn’t trust him… or me, for that matter. She didn’t think that her love for him was strong enough to keep him with her. I whipped around. “14 years?” I repeated. “Jack, that’s way to long for two people together and not even think of marriage.”
“Marriage?” Jack stuttered. “Of course I’ve thought about it.”
“Then why haven’t you gotten married?” I gaped.
“I…” he paused abruptly. “I just don’t think either of us are ready.”
My mouth fell open. “‘Not ready’? Jack, you and Sally are made for each other! Look you need to stop and think for a second. Sit down.” Jack sat and removed the pumpkin on his head. “Okay, Jack, answer me these questions, alright? No, don’t say anything unless it’s to answer my question.” I placed my hand in the glass jar that held the Soul Robber and it slid off my hand. I closed the jar and placed it on the nearby desk. “Who was there by your side when you decided to take over Christmas that one year, even though they knew it was going to go up in flames?”
“That was Sally.” Jack replied.
“Right! And who tried to help you by risking her life to go and save Sandy Claws?” I quizzed.
“Sally.” he replied again.
“Yes. And who did her best to help you when Oogie came back a year later?”
“That was Sally too.”
“Then, Jack-” I yelled, waving my hands in the air making him jump “-what more of a signal do ya need? Jack, she loves you! She loves you more then anyone else in this town, more then anyone in the whole world!”
Jack looked at me then out the window towards the lab. “I don’t know.” he muttered. I suddenly felt guilty. I was being controlling. This wasn’t something for me to deal with. It was their problem and theirs alone.
“Well, at least think a little bit about proposing?” I prompted. “How ‘bout we practice the routine.”
No more was spoken of what I had said, though I’m sure we were both thinking about it. Jack and I went over our routine, fixing every little flop and polishing every tiny detail. Towards the end of our practice I had an idea for Halloween and, hopefully, a way to get Jack to propose to Sally. “Hey, Jack why not have a Halloween Ball?”
“A ball?” he repeated.
“Yeah!” I exclaimed. “Everyone could dance, eat, drink and have loads of fun!”
“That’s not a bad idea.” Jack smiled. “I’ll talk to the Mayor and see if I can arrange it.”
I looked out the window and saw the sun was starting to go down on the cloudy day. “I had better go,” I said, rushing down the stares, “See you later, Jack.”
“Good-bye, Madeleine!” he called after me. I rushed back to the lab to tell Sally about my day. I told her about everything, except what I had said to Jack, but especially about the ball.
“Oh, a ball!” she had exclaimed. “Then you and I will need dresses. Unless you intend to wear what you’re wearing what you’re wearing now.” I told her I’d like a new dress and sketched her out a picture of it. She started working on our new dresses immediately.  That night I started getting hungry. The last time I had eaten was when Sally finally found a recipe for soup I liked (turned out worm’s wart wasn’t half bad), and that was early this morning. I snuck out to the lab entry way and up to Sally’s spice cabinet. I looked around. The lab seemed eerily deserted, but I got the feeling I was being watched.
I wanted to get back to bed A.S.A.P., so I quickly searched for Sally’s recipe for worm’s wart. But was I searched, a large spider crawled up by my hand and stared at me. At least I think it was. The spider, for some reason, looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t think of where I had seen it. I quickly made a small batch of the soup and ate it. But all the while, the spider kept watching me. I left my empty bowl on the tiny counter and rushed back into bed. But as I slowly fell back to sleep, it dawned on me where I had seen that spider. Only one name came to mind when I thought of it.

Oogie.