... but I'm posting it anyway, in honor of the Day of the Dead yesterday. This is from the current novel-in-progress, Sixteen Miles from Everywhere:

Last year, on the day after Halloween, Julio and Mariana's kids had made a mask for Noah. It was for a holiday from Mexico they still celebrated, even though they now lived here in America most of the year. The mask was too big to fit over his head, but Anna just laughed and said he could grow into it. Noah was already almost as tall as eight-year-old Cristobal.

They called the holiday that Noah and his family never celebrated the Day of the Dead.

The mask that was too big for him was painted all the colors of the rainbow, mostly yellows and oranges and blues, and it was longer than his whole arm. Narrow and spooky-looking, it was shaped like a half-moon. And the mask seemed to change shape when Noah glanced at it on his desk next to his Hot Wheels and action figures and books.

The thin man standing in the cave doorway had a face like that Day of the Dead mask.