by Holly Stacey –
“Hey girls, we’ve got a Halloween pumpkin!” Lily and Rose’s mum shouted towards the house when she got home from the store.
“Oooh!” squealed Rose, running headlong into the front yard to help carry it back. It was five times the size of her head, so all she could do was stroke it like it was a cat.
“Look,” he said, turning to Lily, “we’ve got a Halloween pumpkin!” Lily smiled and helped her mum bring in the rest of the shopping. She loved Halloween but pumpkin carving was far too messy for her liking. The best bits were the pie made from the leftover pumpkin flesh and the roasted seeds. Her mouth started watering just thinking of it. Her four year old sister, however, relished diving both hands into the squishy goo of an open pumpkin and spreading it everywhere.
“Lily, can you help Rose carve the pumpkin after dinner?” her mum asked as they finished bringing the last of the shopping inside.
Lily groaned, but she nodded to her mum. It would be worth it in the end if they all got pumpkin pie. Even a gooey mess was worth it if there was real whipped cream on top, too.
Soon it was carving time. Lily tried to put it off; she even offered to help with the washing up after dinner. “Don’t worry about that,” said her dad, “I’ll do the washing. You just focus on that pumpkin. It’s Halloween tomorrow and we want to have the scariest looking pumpkin for trick-or-treaters.”
“Yay, pumpkin goo,” laughed Rose. She was wearing her overalls – still stained from the last ‘art’ experience they’d had in the house. Lily was entrusted with the carving knife. She angled the cut so the top of the pumpkin would come off easily. Rose nearly dove inside the hole with both hands. “Goo! Goo!” she shouted merrily.
Lily rolled her eyes and pushed the empty bowl closer to the pumpkin in hopes it would encourage Rose to help clean up quickly.
“It’s gots lots of seeds,” said Rose. She put her hands into the slime and squeezed her fist. Loads of seeds went pinging in all directions.
“Let’s just get the guts out so we can carve the face.” Lily really wanted the goo to go.
Once the pumpkin was scraped clean, she and Rose drew out the face they wanted—slanted eyes, crooked eyebrows, a huge and toothy grin, and two tiny slits for the nose. As Lily got started, she glanced again at the pumpkin. She couldn’t be sure, but it looked like it was laughing at her. Lily shook her head and continued carving. The chunks of pumpkin flesh were whisked away by her mother who started stewing them for pie.
“Look, look, he likes it!”
“Rose, step back from the pumpkin.” Lily was sure the face moved. She’d nearly finished carving it—just the slits for the nose and it would be done. With a few more cuts it looked horrifying.
“Let’s get the candle!” Rose shouted, jumping up and down and clapping.
Just then Dad came into the kitchen. “Woah! Now THAT’s a scary looking jack-o-lantern. Let’s get the candle!”
“No!” shouted mum over her shoulder. “We’ve got to wait until tomorrow night.”
Rose and Dad looked sullen. “And the pie, when will that be ready?”
“It will be ready tonight, but it’s not for eating until Halloween.”
Now Dad really looked sad. But the pumpkin’s teeth moved just slightly, as if it were making a munching motion.
“Did you see that?!” Lily jumped back. “It just moved again, did you see it?”
“Don’t be silly,” said Mum. “You’ve made such a scary pumpkin that now you’re scaring yourself.” She laughed and went back to adding cinnamon, nutmeg, and egg to the stewed pumpkin. Soon the kitchen was enveloped with the whizzing sound of the electric mixer.
Lily glanced back at the pumpkin. She was sure it had moved. Its expression looked like it was still laughing at her. Frowning, she put the seeds in a bowl of water to soak and left the kitchen.
That night, she pulled her quilt up to her chin. Noises kept coming from the kitchen and she dreamt the pumpkin came alive and was hopping, snapping its jaws at her ankles, and laughing.
She awoke with a start. Someone downstairs was shouting. “I left the pie here to cool overnight. Now it’s gone. Exactly how do you explain that?” floated her mum’s voice from the kitchen.
“Maybe it was the girls,” Lily heard her dad say defensively.
“Don’t be silly, there is no way those girls could have polished off an entire pie in one night!”
Lily rushed downstairs. She saw Rose’s bedroom door still closed and when she saw the clock on the wall, she knew it was very early in the morning.
“Not only that, but where did the seeds go?” Lily saw her mother put her hands on her hips and glare at her father.
Lily’s dad hated pumpkin seeds – only Lily and her mum ate them, and Lily wouldn’t touch them unless they were roasted first.
“Well, I guess we’ll have no pie tonight!” Lily’s mum threw her hands in the air and stormed out of the kitchen. Lily and her dad looked at each other. The scent of pie was still strong in the kitchen, but the pie tin only held two small crumbs of crust.
“Did you?” Lily asked her dad. He shook his head. “You?” he asked her. She shook her head. Together, the turned and looked to the window. There was a small trail of crust crumbs leading from the pie tin to the pumpkin.
“Impossible,” she heard her dad whisper. Lily crept a bit closer to the pumpkin. It defiantly was laughing at her now. There was a small trace of whipping cream over the two slits for a nose she’d carved.
Together they turned their backs and walked out of the kitchen. “Dad,” said Lily, a little unsure of what she’s just seen, “be careful when you put the candle in the pumpkin tonight.”
the end.
Question Time:
- Why didn’t Lily like carving pumpkins?
- What made her uneasy about the pumpkin?
- What happened the next morning?
- Who ate the pumpkin pie?
