I rang the bell of the house with the pirate flag, a lady with dark makeup came to the gate. Behind her were skulls on each stair. Something told me her favourite colour was black.

“I don’t mean to disturb you,” I said “but the pirate flag on your roof, well, I thought it was part of the church!”

“Oh no, no” she said with an embarassed smile, “my roommate is obsessed with skulls”.

“How does it feel being sandwiched between two churches? Which would you say has the better choir?” I asked.

She laughed and shrugged, “well, it doesn’t bother me or anything, I don’t know if there is a choir…” She seemed eager to get back to what she was doing. She didn’t seem that surprised about my inquiry, maybe there were others asking the same?

I thought it would be funny if, for halloween, their gate was decorated monstrously gory, but the skulls on the stairs were sign enough that their house held up to the expectation set by their waving pirate flag.