All Hallows' Eve at the Inn

Speaker 1 Get more, nothing much happens, with bonus episodes, extra long stories, and ad-free listening, all while supporting the show you love. Subscribe now.

Speaker 2 This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians.

Speaker 2 These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save.

Speaker 2 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations.

Speaker 1 The holidays can be a lot, can't they?

Speaker 1 For business owners especially, this time of year can go from cozy to chaotic. Fast.
I remember my first holiday rush. I was so worried something would break.
The website, the checkout, my own brain.

Speaker 1 But that's when I learned what a difference the right tools can make. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world.
About 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S.

Speaker 1 Whether you're just opening your virtual doors or you're running a full-blown store, Shopify helps you take the holidays from chaos to cha-ching.

Speaker 1 There are thousands of templates and tools to make your site beautiful and functional.

Speaker 1 AI tools to help write product descriptions and headlines, and built-in marketing support so your voice doesn't get lost in the noise.

Speaker 1 Plus, you can relax, knowing Shopify's award-winning customer service is there 24-7 if anything comes up. So, make this Black Friday one to remember.

Speaker 1 Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com/slash nothingmuch.

Speaker 1 That's shopify.com/slash nothing much.

Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good,

Speaker 1 and then you fall asleep. I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read everything you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We give to a different charity each week, and this week we are giving to Save a Fox Sanctuary.

Speaker 1 They work to rescue and provide forever homes for captive-born, non-releasable wildlife. You can learn more about them in our show notes.

Speaker 1 I'd like to thank some recent premium subscribers for their support.

Speaker 1 So thank you, Luna.

Speaker 1 Thank you, Carlos. Thanks, Seth.

Speaker 1 And thanks, Brittany.

Speaker 1 Community support makes this show possible and freely available.

Speaker 1 If you'd like to join their ranks and get ad-free and bonus episodes wherever you're listening now,

Speaker 1 go to nothingmuchhappens.com or click on the link in our show notes.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 we need just enough entertainment, engagement,

Speaker 1 stuff happening to keep your mind gently focused.

Speaker 1 Not too much,

Speaker 1 so that you end up staying awake,

Speaker 1 but enough that you don't wander into aimless thought.

Speaker 1 And I have that for you.

Speaker 1 All you have to do is listen.

Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice,

Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake later in the night and start to feel the engines in your mind revving back up,

Speaker 1 just turn on an episode. You'll drop right back off.

Speaker 1 Sometimes just thinking through the details of a story or even a pleasant memory will do the same.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called All Hallows Eve at the Inn.

Speaker 1 And it's the third in our special Halloween series this year. It's about the innkeeper and her trusty sidekick sycamore as they ready the inn for guests on a dark October eve.

Speaker 1 It's also about carved pumpkins that line the great staircase. A blurry face in an old photo.

Speaker 1 A bubbling cauldron of punch in the ballroom, a costume purchased from the thrift store, and a forgotten tradition brought back to life.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 lights out.

Speaker 1 It's time to snuggle down into your sheets

Speaker 1 and get as comfortable as you can.

Speaker 1 Let your whole body drop heavy into the sheets

Speaker 1 and relax your jaw.

Speaker 1 If you tend to clench,

Speaker 1 after we take our deep breaths, place the tip of your tongue at the spot where your upper teeth meet the gums on the inside.

Speaker 1 Sometimes I kind of suction my tongue there

Speaker 1 into the roof of my mouth, and it puts my jaw in a position

Speaker 1 where I really can't clench.

Speaker 1 First, take a deep breath in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh from your mouth.

Speaker 1 Nice.

Speaker 1 One more breathe in

Speaker 1 and out.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 All Hallows Eve

Speaker 1 at the Inn.

Speaker 1 Sycamore was very excited.

Speaker 1 He sat on the check-in desk

Speaker 1 beside the giant book our guests sign when they arrive.

Speaker 1 His tail thumped and played on the desktop,

Speaker 1 and his black ears twitched back and forth.

Speaker 1 We'd met in this very room the year before.

Speaker 1 He'd been found by a friend of mine.

Speaker 1 She'd spotted him in the branches of the tall sycamore tree in the side yard,

Speaker 1 here at the inn.

Speaker 1 And when she'd nickered at him from the ground,

Speaker 1 he'd climbed down into her arms.

Speaker 1 She'd transferred him into mine.

Speaker 1 And since then,

Speaker 1 we'd been the best of friends.

Speaker 1 I didn't know how he would be as a hotel cat.

Speaker 1 Would he like the constant coming and going of guests?

Speaker 1 Footsteps in the halls?

Speaker 1 chef and our maid and me all moving from floor to floor.

Speaker 1 Some cats run at the first sound of a human

Speaker 1 and hide under beds.

Speaker 1 And I worried he would be the same.

Speaker 1 But he seems to have been born to be an assistant innkeeper.

Speaker 1 He loves greeting folks as they arrive,

Speaker 1 herding them from the front door, past the great staircase in the hall,

Speaker 1 and into the front office.

Speaker 1 If you stretch out on the porch swing,

Speaker 1 he'll curl up in your lap.

Speaker 1 Need a bit of company while you read in the library.

Speaker 1 He's happy to sit beside you and purr.

Speaker 1 He knows every nook and cranny of this great old house

Speaker 1 and is as good and welcoming an ambassador as I could hope for.

Speaker 1 And now,

Speaker 1 as the afternoon waned,

Speaker 1 and it was nearly time for even more guests to arrive,

Speaker 1 He was eager to play his part.

Speaker 1 Many years ago,

Speaker 1 before I was innkeeper here,

Speaker 1 there was

Speaker 1 another innkeeper.

Speaker 1 She oversaw the house's first turn at hospitality.

Speaker 1 It had originally been a wealthy family's home,

Speaker 1 then a school,

Speaker 1 then then had sat empty for a time

Speaker 1 until she opened its doors to guess.

Speaker 1 When she was ready to pass the torch to someone else,

Speaker 1 no one stepped into her shoes,

Speaker 1 and again, the house was empty.

Speaker 1 Then,

Speaker 1 One fateful day,

Speaker 1 I came bicycling down the overgrown drive

Speaker 1 with no intention of doing anything more

Speaker 1 than circling past the front door

Speaker 1 and going back to the road.

Speaker 1 But I felt pulled to peer

Speaker 1 into the cobwebbed windows,

Speaker 1 to walk through the old gardens and down to the lake.

Speaker 1 This place was like a book I couldn't put down.

Speaker 1 Soon I found myself

Speaker 1 with the keys in my hand,

Speaker 1 venturing into the dark halls with the flashlight,

Speaker 1 wanting to reclaim every cupboard,

Speaker 1 along with restoring the inn,

Speaker 1 bringing the ballroom back to life,

Speaker 1 and even rehabilitating the dumb waiter in the hall.

Speaker 1 We were returning another tradition to this old place.

Speaker 1 For years,

Speaker 1 the original innkeeper

Speaker 1 had thrown a giant party

Speaker 1 every Halloween night

Speaker 1 and invited the whole village to come.

Speaker 1 This year,

Speaker 1 in less than an hour, in fact,

Speaker 1 our guests would arrive

Speaker 1 for this

Speaker 1 new,

Speaker 1 old celebration.

Speaker 1 I came around the desk

Speaker 1 and leaned down to plant a kiss on Sycamore's head.

Speaker 1 Let's light the candles in the pumpkins.

Speaker 1 He leapt down beside me

Speaker 1 and meowed excitedly

Speaker 1 as we came out into the hall.

Speaker 1 We'd gone all out for this.

Speaker 1 Giant spider webs stretched up the great staircase

Speaker 1 all the way to the third floor.

Speaker 1 And on each step was a carved pumpkin.

Speaker 1 Ghostly gauze was draped over mirrors and chandeliers.

Speaker 1 The stairs were delightfully creaky as we climbed.

Speaker 1 And I smiled, thinking that

Speaker 1 the house was playing its part in the spectacle.

Speaker 1 I'd first thought of putting real candles in the pumpkins.

Speaker 1 I wanted them to flicker and smoke just a bit

Speaker 1 for the authenticity.

Speaker 1 But Chef,

Speaker 1 ever the more logical of us,

Speaker 1 pointed out that all it would take was a misplaced shoe on the stairs to send a flaming pumpkin down into the hall.

Speaker 1 And then the fire department would have to be called

Speaker 1 while I liked the image of that flying grinning gourd

Speaker 1 very headless horseman

Speaker 1 I guessed they had a point

Speaker 1 but now

Speaker 1 as we turned the landing at the second floor and made our way

Speaker 1 puffing slightly up the last flight

Speaker 1 i realized hand lighting all those candles

Speaker 1 would have taken the whole night.

Speaker 1 Chef had found some battery operated lights

Speaker 1 and kindly charged and situated each one and gave me a remote.

Speaker 1 I took it from my pocket as we stood at the very top of the stairs

Speaker 1 and looked down

Speaker 1 through the gloomy webbed flights

Speaker 1 and into the dark hall.

Speaker 1 Sycamore poked his head through the railings,

Speaker 1 and I could feel his tail curl around my ankle.

Speaker 1 I pushed the button on the remote,

Speaker 1 and the whole space lit up with a flickering orange glow

Speaker 1 that was spooky yet beckoning.

Speaker 1 I hoped it would be

Speaker 1 irresistible to our party guests tonight,

Speaker 1 drawing them up to the ballroom

Speaker 1 where chef's punch cauldron would be bubbling and smoking

Speaker 1 and the band playing,

Speaker 1 enticing them to reach for a partner

Speaker 1 and join the dance macabre.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 into our costume, Sicky.

Speaker 1 Not much time left.

Speaker 1 And we hustled down the hall to our room.

Speaker 1 Sycamore had considered several costume options.

Speaker 1 He'd considered going as a jaguar, slinking through the crowds as a big, powerful cat.

Speaker 1 But, you know, in his mind, that was already who he was.

Speaker 1 So he wouldn't have even needed a costume, which isn't that fun.

Speaker 1 I'd suggested he go as Velcro,

Speaker 1 since he's black and sticks to stuff.

Speaker 1 I'd been picking some of his fur off my collar when I'd made the suggestion.

Speaker 1 But he'd just turned away from me and sighed.

Speaker 1 In the end,

Speaker 1 Chef found him a sort of onesie

Speaker 1 with glow in the dark paint

Speaker 1 that made him look like a kitty skeleton.

Speaker 1 And when we'd tried it on and flicked off the lights,

Speaker 1 he'd watched himself prowling in front of the mirror and purred.

Speaker 1 I helped him into it now,

Speaker 1 rubbing his ears as I snapped it up the back.

Speaker 1 I thought about

Speaker 1 all the silly fun

Speaker 1 we had together.

Speaker 1 How had I ever lived without him?

Speaker 1 Then I turned to my closet and took out a vintage dress, an apron I'd found at the resale shop.

Speaker 1 I didn't know the name of the other innkeeper.

Speaker 1 Didn't know how old she was when she started or stopped.

Speaker 1 But I felt a kinship with her.

Speaker 1 Just like I dressed as my heroes when I'd gone out trick-or-treating when I was young,

Speaker 1 I was dressing as her for the party tonight.

Speaker 1 It was strange, actually.

Speaker 1 We'd found lots of pictures of the house at various times in its life.

Speaker 1 But we'd never found a single shot of her.

Speaker 1 Well, there was one

Speaker 1 we found in the back of a closet.

Speaker 1 But her face was a blur.

Speaker 1 She must have been moving too fast for the shutter to catch her.

Speaker 1 I could relate.

Speaker 1 It seemed I was always needed somewhere in the inn.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 I'd based this costume on that blurry image.

Speaker 1 A pale dress with full cuffs

Speaker 1 and a dark apron.

Speaker 1 Just like me, she'd worn sensible flat shoes

Speaker 1 that would make going up and down the stairs possible and speedy.

Speaker 1 And though I couldn't tell in the photo,

Speaker 1 I'd guessed she'd tucked her hair up in a neat bun.

Speaker 1 So I twisted my own locks into place

Speaker 1 and secured them with bobby pins.

Speaker 1 Sycamore lay glowing in front of the full-size mirror in the dim light.

Speaker 1 And I stepped in front of it.

Speaker 1 I felt the air fade from my lungs.

Speaker 1 I don't know why.

Speaker 1 In some ways I was dressing up as myself.

Speaker 1 But in the mirror I saw a different version of me.

Speaker 1 A woman who had known even more of the secrets of this old house.

Speaker 1 And it felt like saying a word that had been on the tip of your tongue for years.

Speaker 1 A bell rang over my door,

Speaker 1 and I jumped, startling myself

Speaker 1 out of whatever sort of daydream this was.

Speaker 1 I laughed

Speaker 1 and looked down at skeletal sycamore.

Speaker 1 That's chef

Speaker 1 letting us know that guests are arriving, Sy.

Speaker 1 Let's be

Speaker 1 good hosts.

Speaker 1 I peered at myself in the mirror one more time

Speaker 1 and said as I turned to the door,

Speaker 1 or

Speaker 1 good ghosts

Speaker 1 All Hallows' Eve

Speaker 1 at the inn

Speaker 1 Sycamore was very excited.

Speaker 1 He sat on the check-in desk

Speaker 1 beside the giant book,

Speaker 1 our guest sign when they arrive.

Speaker 1 His tail thumped and played on the desktop

Speaker 1 and his black ears twitched back and forth.

Speaker 1 We'd met in this very room

Speaker 1 the year before.

Speaker 1 He'd been found by a friend of mine.

Speaker 1 She'd spotted him in the branches

Speaker 1 of the tall sycamore tree

Speaker 1 in the side yard

Speaker 1 here at the inn.

Speaker 1 When she'd nickered at him from the ground,

Speaker 1 he'd climbed down into her arms.

Speaker 1 She'd transferred him into mine,

Speaker 1 and since then,

Speaker 1 we'd been the best of friends.

Speaker 1 I didn't know how he would be as a hotel cat.

Speaker 1 Would he like the constant coming and going of guests?

Speaker 1 Footsteps in the halls.

Speaker 1 Chef and our maid and me

Speaker 1 all moving from floor to floor.

Speaker 1 Some cats run at the first sound of a human

Speaker 1 and hide under beds.

Speaker 1 And I worried he would be the same.

Speaker 1 But he seems to have been born to be an assistant innkeeper.

Speaker 1 He loves greeting folks as they arrive.

Speaker 1 Herding them from the front door,

Speaker 1 past the great staircase in the hall,

Speaker 1 and into the front office.

Speaker 1 If you stretch out

Speaker 1 on the porch swing,

Speaker 1 he'll curl up in your lap.

Speaker 1 Need a bit of company

Speaker 1 while you read in the library.

Speaker 1 He's happy to sit beside you and purr.

Speaker 1 He knows every nook and cranny of this great old house

Speaker 1 and is as good

Speaker 1 and welcoming an ambassador as I could hope for.

Speaker 1 And now,

Speaker 1 as the afternoon waned,

Speaker 1 and it was nearly time

Speaker 1 for even more guests to arrive,

Speaker 1 he was eager to play his part.

Speaker 1 Many years ago,

Speaker 1 before I was the innkeeper here,

Speaker 1 there was another innkeeper.

Speaker 1 She oversaw the house's first turn at hospitality.

Speaker 1 It had originally been a wealthy family's home,

Speaker 1 then a school,

Speaker 1 then had sat empty for a time

Speaker 1 until she opened its doors to guess.

Speaker 1 When she was ready ready to pass the torch to someone else,

Speaker 1 no one stepped into her shoes,

Speaker 1 and again

Speaker 1 the house was empty.

Speaker 1 Then,

Speaker 1 one

Speaker 1 fateful day,

Speaker 1 I came bicycling down the overgrown drive

Speaker 1 with no intention of doing

Speaker 1 anything more

Speaker 1 than circling past the front door

Speaker 1 and going back to the road.

Speaker 1 But I felt pulled to peer into the cobwebbed windows,

Speaker 1 to walk through the old gardens

Speaker 1 and down to the lake.

Speaker 1 This place was like a book I couldn't put down.

Speaker 1 And soon

Speaker 1 I found myself with the keys in my hand,

Speaker 1 venturing into the dark halls with the flashlight,

Speaker 1 wanting to reclaim every cupboard,

Speaker 1 along with restoring the inn,

Speaker 1 bringing the ballroom back to life,

Speaker 1 and even

Speaker 1 rehabilitating the dumb waiter in the hall.

Speaker 1 We were returning

Speaker 1 another tradition

Speaker 1 to this old place.

Speaker 1 For years,

Speaker 1 the original innkeeper

Speaker 1 had thrown a giant party

Speaker 1 every Halloween night

Speaker 1 and invited the whole village to come.

Speaker 1 This year,

Speaker 1 in less than an hour, in fact,

Speaker 1 our guests would arrive

Speaker 1 for this new,

Speaker 1 old

Speaker 1 celebration.

Speaker 1 I came around the desk

Speaker 1 and leaned down

Speaker 1 to plant a kiss on Sycamore's head.

Speaker 1 Let's light the candles in the pumpkins.

Speaker 1 He leapt down beside me

Speaker 1 and meowed excitedly

Speaker 1 as we came out into the hall.

Speaker 1 We'd gone all out for this.

Speaker 1 Giant spider webs stretched up the staircase

Speaker 1 all the way to the third floor

Speaker 1 and on each step was a carved pumpkin.

Speaker 1 Ghostly gauze was draped over mirrors and chandeliers.

Speaker 1 The stairs were delightfully creaky as we climbed.

Speaker 1 And I smiled, thinking that the house

Speaker 1 was playing its part in the spectacle.

Speaker 1 I'd first thought

Speaker 1 of putting real candles in the pumpkins.

Speaker 1 I wanted them to flicker

Speaker 1 and smoke just a bit

Speaker 1 for the authenticity.

Speaker 1 But Chef,

Speaker 1 ever the more logical of us,

Speaker 1 pointed out that all it would take

Speaker 1 was a misplaced shoe on the stairs

Speaker 1 to send a flaming pumpkin down into the hall

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 the fire department would have to be called

Speaker 1 while I liked the image of that flying grinning gourd

Speaker 1 very

Speaker 1 headless headless horsemen.

Speaker 1 I guessed they had a point.

Speaker 1 And now, as we turned the landing at the second floor

Speaker 1 and made our way, puffing slightly,

Speaker 1 up the last flight,

Speaker 1 I realized hand-lighting all those candles

Speaker 1 would have taken the whole night.

Speaker 1 Chef had found some battery operated lights

Speaker 1 and kindly charged and situated each one

Speaker 1 and given me a remote.

Speaker 1 I took it from my pocket as we stood

Speaker 1 at the very top of the stairs

Speaker 1 and looked down through the gloomy, webbed flights

Speaker 1 and into the dark hall.

Speaker 1 Sycamore poked his head through the railings,

Speaker 1 and I could feel his tail curled around my ankle.

Speaker 1 I pushed the button on the remote,

Speaker 1 and the whole space lit up

Speaker 1 with a flickering orange glow

Speaker 1 that was spooky,

Speaker 1 yet beckoning.

Speaker 1 I hoped it would be irresistible to our party guests tonight,

Speaker 1 drawing them up to the ballroom

Speaker 1 where chef's punch cauldron would be bubbling and smoking

Speaker 1 and the band playing,

Speaker 1 enticing them

Speaker 1 to reach for a partner

Speaker 1 and join the dance macabre.

Speaker 1 Now

Speaker 1 into our costume sicky.

Speaker 1 Not much time left.

Speaker 1 And we hustled down the hall to our room.

Speaker 1 Sycamore had considered several costume options.

Speaker 1 He'd considered going as a jaguar,

Speaker 1 slinking through the crowds,

Speaker 1 as a big and powerful cat.

Speaker 1 But,

Speaker 1 you know, in his mind,

Speaker 1 that was already who he was.

Speaker 1 So he wouldn't have even needed a costume, which

Speaker 1 isn't that fun.

Speaker 1 I'd suggested he could go as Velcro,

Speaker 1 since he's black and sticks to stuff.

Speaker 1 I'd been picking some of his fur

Speaker 1 off my collar when I'd made that suggestion.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 he just turned away

Speaker 1 and sighed.

Speaker 1 In the end,

Speaker 1 Chef found him a sort of onesie

Speaker 1 with glow in the dark paint

Speaker 1 that made him look

Speaker 1 like a kiddie skeleton.

Speaker 1 And when we tried it on

Speaker 1 and flicked off the lights,

Speaker 1 he'd watched himself prowling in front of the mirror and purred.

Speaker 1 I helped him into it now,

Speaker 1 rubbing his ears

Speaker 1 as I snapped it up the back.

Speaker 1 I thought about all the silly fun

Speaker 1 we had together.

Speaker 1 How had I ever lived without him?

Speaker 1 Then I turned to my closet

Speaker 1 and took out a vintage dress,

Speaker 1 an apron I'd found

Speaker 1 at the resale shop.

Speaker 1 I didn't know the name

Speaker 1 of the other innkeeper.

Speaker 1 Didn't know how old she was

Speaker 1 when she started or stopped.

Speaker 1 But I felt a kinship with her.

Speaker 1 And just like I'd dressed as my heroes

Speaker 1 when I went out trick-or-treating when I was young,

Speaker 1 I was dressing as her for the party tonight.

Speaker 1 It was strange, actually.

Speaker 1 We'd found lots of pictures of the house

Speaker 1 at various times in its life.

Speaker 1 But we'd never found a single shot of her.

Speaker 1 Well, Well,

Speaker 1 there was one

Speaker 1 I'd found in the back of a closet.

Speaker 1 But her face was a blur.

Speaker 1 She must have been moving too fast for the shutter to catch her.

Speaker 1 I could relate.

Speaker 1 It seemed I was always needed somewhere in the inn.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 I'd based this costume

Speaker 1 on that blurry image.

Speaker 1 A pale dress with full cuffs

Speaker 1 and a dark apron.

Speaker 1 Like me,

Speaker 1 she'd worn sensible, flat shoes

Speaker 1 that would make going up and down the stairs possible

Speaker 1 and speedy.

Speaker 1 And though I couldn't tell in the photo,

Speaker 1 I'd guessed she'd tucked her hair up in a neat bun.

Speaker 1 So I twisted my own locks into place

Speaker 1 and secured them

Speaker 1 with bobby pins.

Speaker 1 Sycamore lay glowing in front of the full-size mirror in the dim light

Speaker 1 And as I stepped in front of it

Speaker 1 I felt the air

Speaker 1 fade from my lungs.

Speaker 1 I don't know why,

Speaker 1 in some ways,

Speaker 1 I was dressing up as myself.

Speaker 1 But in the mirror,

Speaker 1 I saw a different version of me,

Speaker 1 a woman who had known

Speaker 1 even more

Speaker 1 of the secrets of this old house.

Speaker 1 And it felt like saying a word

Speaker 1 that had been on the tip of your tongue for years.

Speaker 1 A bell

Speaker 1 rang over my door

Speaker 1 and I jumped,

Speaker 1 startling myself out of

Speaker 1 whatever sort of daydream this was.

Speaker 1 I laughed and looked down at skeletal sycamore.

Speaker 1 That's Chef

Speaker 1 letting us know

Speaker 1 that guests are arriving, Sy.

Speaker 1 Let's be good hosts.

Speaker 1 I peered at myself in the mirror one more time

Speaker 1 and said as I turned to the door

Speaker 1 Or

Speaker 1 good ghosts,

Speaker 1 sweet dreams.