By Hannah Hemingway
It was a dark, windy Halloween night, with the moon peeking around the clouds. Children were running in all directions, laughing and collecting candy. But all of the children carefully avoided the pumpkin patch. They had heard stories since they were little about how, on Halloween night, all of the carved pumpkins in the pumpkin patch came alive. Most of the older children figured this wasn’t true; it was just a myth to keep them out of the pumpkins. Little did they know that on every Halloween night, the pumpkins did come alive. They would move around, talk, and play games. But no one knew because everyone avoided the pumpkins that night. So, as soon as it grew dark outside, the pumpkins started to stir, awakening from their year-long slumber.
“It feels like forever since we’ve moved around!” one of the carved pumpkins exclaimed to his friend, who was waking up beside him.
“No kidding, Steve. It’s been a year,” the other pumpkin, Jerry, sarcastically replied.
“You know, Jerry, I heard some kids talking about something called ‘candy’ last year. Apparently, it’s sweet, and it makes everyone happy. Maybe we should try to collect some of this candy?”
“Steve, anything can be better than sitting here all night. I’m in.”
So Steve and Jerry started to roll out of the pumpkin patch, ignoring the rest of their friends asking where they were going. They rolled down a hill before stopping right in front of a house.
“There!” Jerry exclaimed, pointing to a kid who had dropped a piece of their candy from their Halloween basket. “The candy is hiding in those little baskets! Let’s get them!” Jerry started to move towards the children before Steve stopped him.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Jerry. Those kids aren’t just going to give us their candy. We’re going to have to take it from them.”
“That’s all great in theory, Steve, but how will we do that?”
“We wait until they set their candy down, then we take it!”
Jerry agreed, and the two of them impatiently waited for a child to set down their candy. Finally, after thirty minutes of waiting, the pumpkins got their wish. A group of twenty kids had left their candy unattended in order to ride on a hayride. The two pumpkins jumped into action, taking as much candy as possible before quickly leaving.
“Quick!” Steve frantically called to Jerry. “We have to get back to the pumpkin patch before the children realize their precious candy is missing.”
With that, Steve and Jerry, burdened down with candy, made their escape back to their pumpkin patch. Once they arrived, they were instantly questioned by their other friends, asking where they had gone. Steve and Jerry proudly showed their candy stash, and the pumpkins sat there in confused silence, not knowing what it was.
Steve sighed in exasperation, “It’s called candy. It’s supposed to be amazing.”
Although greatly curious, the other pumpkins didn’t make a move for the candy. With another annoyed sigh, Steve ate some of the candy.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever had!” he exclaimed, eating more candy.
That’s all the help the other pumpkins needed. They rushed towards the candy and started to eat it. They ate their candy and talked until the sun began to rise.
Jerry yawned, “It’s time for us to settle back down.” With a nod of agreement, the other pumpkins returned to where they were at the beginning of the night. They each slowly drifted off into their sleep until the next year.
So, if you ever have a little less candy, don’t assume it’s your parents or siblings - it might just be a pumpkin, like Steve and Jerry, off on an adventure.
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