The Spinach Café Display...A Short Story

I'm back. I took a couple of weeks off on the weekly writing prompt (things have gotten a little crazy around here...), but today I thought I'd jump back in. Here's my little story from the prompt that can be found at this website: HERE. 

The rules again, 500 word max, must be done before Wednesday. Five words must be used in the story. This week's words are: 

Dictionary

Ladder

Sparrow

Spinach

Cafe

So, here it is!

The Spinach Café Display

     Jimmy loved autumn, even though, as a seven-year old, he called it fall. “Jimmy,” his teacher would say. “The correct term is, autumn, not fall. “That’s a dictionary word,” Jimmy would tell her. “I like fall better,” to which the teacher would say nothing.
    The season arrived early for Jimmy, which filled his heart with innocent delight. The leaves, the friends talking about Halloween, even putting on a jacket to go to school didn’t bother the child. At this time of the year, kids are kings.
    “Did you see this year’s display in front of the Spinach Café?” Jimmy’s best friend Bobby said in school eight hours earlier.
    “No, not yet. Is it cool?”
    “It’s really scary,” Bobby told his excited classmate. Like Macy’s at Christmas, The Spinach Café just west of the city library prided itself on a Halloween display unrivaled in at least three counties. “The best part is a big full-sized ghost guy all in black! You gotta go see it!” Jimmy agreed and thought of nothing else as the torturous time clicked slowly on until the bell rang announcing the end
of the school day and freedom to 357 trapped souls.
    “Mom!” Jimmy yelled as he burst open his front door.
    “It’s nice to see you too,” Jimmy’s mother said as her son raced into the kitchen.
    “Mom! We gotta go to the Spinach Café and see the Halloween display! Can we go now? Can we? Please? Please!”
     “Oh, Jimmy,” his mother said with a fallen heart. “Mrs. Miller is coming over right now. I promised her I’d show her how to make a proper pecan pie. She’s coming over right now.”
    “No! Not Mrs. Miller,” Jimmy cried. The name of his prattling neighbor translated to a four or five hour visit.
    “Maybe after we could go for a drive.”
    “Okay,” the dejected youth said as he left the room, head bowed. Moments later the doorbell rang. The neighbor had arrived. As Jimmy entered his bedroom, a light of inspiration hit the boy and clouds of despair immediately disappeared. With Mrs. Miller over, his mom would be busy for the next couple of hours, at least. If he could just get his scooter out of the garage without anyone knowing, he could ride the 10 blocks, see the display, and be back before she’d even know he was gone. It was perfect!
    Stealthily, Jimmy tiptoed down the hall and out the front door. He entered the garage from the side door, being careful to climb over the ladder his father had used to clear the fallen leaves from the rain gutters. He retrieved his scooter and closed the door behind him.
    As Jimmy fastened his helmet atop his head, he saw on the ground a dead sparrow, its decaying body being consumed by ants. “This is going to be the best day ever!” the boy said to himself as he began his quest to the unholy shrine.