 Suddenly a bolt of lightning flashed out of the sky and hit Larry Square in the face. He crumpled to the ground in fear and his screams reached the ears of Queenie who came racing out of his milk bar to help him.
She leant down and reached over to Larry who was hiding his head in shame. Queenie pushed his hands away gently and recoiled slightly as she noticed that his once full and lustrous head of hair was now standing up like Medusa and was starting to fall out in clumps. She soon got over the shock however and tenderly stroked what was left of Larry’s hair. “Don’t worry,” she said, “You still look beautiful to me.” He smiled shyly up at her and the two locked lips and kissed their first ever kiss. One of passion and longing. At that moment another streak of lightning flickered down from the sky and aimed right at Larry. As if in slow motion, Queenie pushed her beloved out of the way of the fork of white-hot lightning but was struck herself on the head. As the crowd that gathered started to push in to see what had happened, Larry took one look at the sizzling mess that was Queenie’s hair and fainted. Larry was still, as still as the dead and many in the crowd started to cry – the greatest living person in the town was dead! What a tragedy and just as he had found true love. Shame! Queenie bent over her beau and stroked his cheek. A single tear fell from her eye and miraculously Larry opened both his eyes, smiled weakly up into the beautiful face and said, “Hallo Queen.”
The crowd cheered, Larry was alive!  After he had been released from hospital where he had been kept for 3 and a half months, 7 days and 48 hours suffering from concussion and delusions of being Prince Charming, Larry moved in with Queenie and they lived happily ever after.
Larry was made Mayor of Sunset Cove in honour of his generosity to the town and his continued support of charities and needy folk and the taming of the Hells Bikers. His first public proclamation was to call October 10th a holiday in honour of the two lovers cheating death and proving that lightning can indeed strike twice. He called the holiday Halloqueen as a salute to his wife and his several concussions and delusions.
And so that is how Halloqueen came to be in Sunset Cove. We all get to dress up like Queenie and boy that woman has taste! She loves pearls and sequins, short frilly skirts and fishnet tights, neon pink nail polish and lycra cycling shorts. Men, women and children dress up just like Queenie and parade down the High Street for her to choose the Queen of Halloqueen. I am proud to say that I won the honour for 15 years in a row. People said that it was just because I looked uncannily like Queenie (well she is my mother!) Then there’s a great bonfire at the beach and we all throw off our pearls and fling them into the flames, howl at the moon and make thunder noises with our feet on the sand. After a BBQ and chocolate sundaes (kindly donated by the Princess Diner) the townsfolk head over to the High Street again for Drag racing. That’s when all the guys dressed up in drag have to run down the street and slowest one wins the prize – a year’s supply of hair product in honour of the singed manes of Queenie and Larry all those years ago. And then the grand finale, a re-enactment of that fateful night when Queenie and Larry were struck down by lightning, lived to tell the tale and found true love – and the night ends with the crowd shouting “Hello Queen” as Queenie and Larry take their bows and exit stage right. | 
HOW HALLOQUEEN CAME ABOUT…
Larry gave up his job as a milkman and started up the first milk bar in Sunset Cove, the Queen’s Head and it was a great success. Larry was welcomed into the town by all and he got on particularly well with the Big D and the Hells Bikers who made sure that no trouble took place in this drinking hole. They had a particular love of milkshakes and smoothies – no one could rustle up a better banana smoothie than old Larry.
I really love to dance at the beach under the stars and it is best when the waves are crashing up around my ankles and the wind blows my hair. The sand is a great dance floor and if you can get the seagulls to join in then you almost have a show worthy of the West End.
Picture this – Sunset Cavern on a Sunday afternoon. All the residents in their finery after a stroll along the beach. Sure they have sand in their hair and up their nostrils but it all adds to the atmosphere.
Shane stops only to make sure that everyone is watching him as Madame is taken away in an ambulance and then we twist again, twist ourselves into a whirlwind of sequins and spangles.
Dogs with jobs
