Edited: 6 June 2017
Disclaimer: I do not own Peanuts or its characters. Peanuts belong to Charles Schulz
~0~
The day was nearing, the day that all little kids looked forwards to; the last day of October, also known as Halloween. But to children, the day you get to dress up and collect free candy from neighbors.
But for one boy, it meant waiting in the pumpkin patch and waiting for a hero to show up.
Linus was sitting at the table with several sheet of paper and a pencil in his hand, getting ready to write his wish list to the Great Pumpkin for the year.
'Dear Great Pumpkin,
It appears that another year has gone by, and as the date approaches, I know you are getting busier with your work.'
He paused his writing as he noticed his sister, Lucy, come by and rest her elbows on the table next to him silently to read his writing. He brushed it off and continued scribbling on the paper.
'So, I'll try to keep this letter short enough for you to read quickly. This year, instead of asking for world peace or no drama at school (because we all know that that would be impossible), I'll ask you for more simple things. I'd like that new bike in the front of the bicycle shop, to replace my old one. I'd also like the Monster Truckster 3000, which is a remote control car.
I think I'd like a new copy of my bible, as it is getting ripped in the corners and had some pages fall out. A few dollars would be nice, too, so I could buy myself candy or ice cream whenever I feel like it. And lastly, I would appreciate it if I could go a day without having Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally, bug me by calling me her 'Sweet Baboo.'
I do hope, that this year you will choose our pumpkin patch and come see me, as I have been waiting for you for a very long time now.
Thank you for your time,
Linus Van Pelt.'
Linus signed his name at the bottom of his second page, and heard Lucy give a loud groan beside him.
"I can't believe you still try to get that dumb pumpkin to get you gifts. He doesn't exist!" Lucy shouted.
"The Great Pumpkin does exist, he just hasn't chosen our pumpkin patch yet," Linus responded calmly.
"Yea, right," Lucy scoffed. "You're like, 12 now! Let it go already! He won't come!" She continued shouting.
"I'm 11, you're 'like 12'. Aren't you getting a bit too old to be going trick-or-treating?" Linus countered.
"No, I'm not. Plus, we're going to going to Violet's party, so it technically doesn't count." Lucy replied smoothly.
"It technically does," Linus mumbled under his breath.
Lucy growled, "What did you say?"
Linus faked a smile, "Nothing, sister dear!"
Linus then grabbed his letter and tucked it into his envelope, heading outside to the mailbox. He felt Lucy follow him, but ignored her as she didn't say anything else.
Years ago, he needed his blanket to reach up to the handle of the mailbox, but now he could reach it without any help.
He safely placed the envelope into the metal compartment and flipped the flag upwards. He turned to go back inside, but noticed that Lucy was not following him back. He shrugged it off; she could do whatever she wanted.
Lucy stood next to the mailbox and watched as Linus made his back inside. After waiting a minute to make sure that he had gone inside, she quickly opened the small metal door and pulled the envelope out, tucking it under her arm. She left the flag of the mailbox up, so Linus's suspicions didn't rise. She had to be careful around him.
Quickly, she rushed inside again, so no one would figure that she took it, and ran to the home phone.
Picking it up, she dialed a number, and waited as it rang.
"Hello?" A voice answered.
"Hey, it's me," She replied in a hushed tone, "I got it, get everyone at your place now."
"Ok, see you in a few," They responded, and Lucy placed the phone back in its place to end the call.
Lucy then went towards the door again, this time grabbing her purple coat and red hat. "I'm going out!" She shouted down the hall and it echoed into the house.
"Ok!" She heard her mom shout back to her.
Taking her clearance, Lucy head out in a hurried pace to her destination not too far down the block. She swiftly knocked on the door, and it promptly opened to show a short blond girl in a bright pink dress.
"Hi Lucy! Everyone's here, so come in," Sally greeted with a smile.
"Good, let's get started," Lucy said, as she maneuvered inside to hang her coat and hat.
Sally led her to the family room where many of their friends were sitting around on the floor and on the couch, waiting for something to happen.
Lucy stepped up to in front of them all, "Hello everyone. First of all, thank you all for joining me here today. Also, thank you Charlie Brown and Sally for letting us gather at your place." Charlie blushed and Sally grinned.
"Now then, let's get down to why I asked you all to join me here today," Lucy said, "As I am sure, you are all aware that Halloween is coming up in about a week." She paused as many of them nodded or stated their approval, "And there's another thing that is associated with Halloween. Anyone want to guess what it is?"
Pig-Pen raised his arm first, "Is it Trick-or-Treating?"
"Dressing up in costumes?" Frieda asked right after.
Lucy shook her head at the answers that were incorrect, "No. The Great Pumpkin."
Many groans erupted as soon as the words escaped her mouth.
"Don't tell me you've started to believe in that fraud too, Lucy!" Violet spoke up, appalled.
Lucy scoffed and shook her head, "As if, and stay quiet if you want to know what I'm planning," She quickly snapped and everyone hushed to hear. "Alright, so Linus has just written his letter to the Great Pumpkin. And this year, we're going to make him appear," She finished, grinning.
"What? How're we going to do that?" Franklin asked, surprised.
"Well," Lucy smirked, "with a carefully thought out plan that's Linus-proof, we can get to the Pumpkin patch, greet Linus, give him his gifts, and get back to Vi's party before he even suspects it!" Lucy declared with a smile.
They were silent, mulling over the plans she explained.
Patty opened her mouth with a frown on her face, "Why should we do anything for Linus, anyways? It's not our fault he believes in something fake," She said and turned up her nose.
Lucy growled and punched a fist into her palm, "If anyone here believes that, then you can get out! But not before I pound you!"
Some of them shrank back, fearing the consequences of leaving, and stayed silent.
Lucy grinned, "Great," She pulled the envelope out of her pocket, "Here is Linus's letter-"
Shermy gasped suddenly, interrupting her, "You stole that from him?"
"No you blockhead!" Lucy cried, "I took it when he left. It's not stealing," She stated and continued, "Anyways, here it is, and I brought it so we could go buy what he wanted for him."
Charlie Brown slowly raised his hand, as if afraid to ask, "Are we going to be paying for them?"
Lucy shook her head, "No, I got my dad to give me money, so don't worry, you can all save your money."
Some of them let out a breath of relief.
"Ok, I'll read the letter out to you, and then we can start planning." Lucy said and began reading the letter out loud. As she finished, they began developing a plan with the help of her friends to get Operation Linus and the Great Pumpkin done.
~0~
Halloween Night
Lucy pulled her hat on her head and fixed it in the mirror. This year, she was a witch. Linus came into the hall behind her and stood there in his normal attire.
"Are you ready?" He asked her.
She glanced at the mirror once more, "Yup."
Lucy grabbed her bag and followed Linus out the door. They silently made their way to the Pumpkin patch, and Lucy spoke up.
"Well, you have fun. But I bet he's not even going to come this year. I'm going to Violet's now. Bye," She lifted her arm to show a wave and walked away from the patch.
Linus sighed and plopped down in front of a pumpkin to lean on it. He wrapped his blanket around himself, as it was a little chilly out. He stayed silent as his night long wait began.
Linus glanced at his watch. It had been exactly 2 hours since he got there. What had he done all that time? Well, he played Tic-Tac-Toe in the dirt by himself and tried to count the stars in the sky, too.
But Linus wondered why nobody had come to visit him this year. Usually Sally or Snoopy would come and see if anything had happened. And annoying as she may be, he was starting to miss the company of someone.
He sighed and stood up to stretch his legs a bit, they were getting cramped.
Suddenly, he heard a whoosh. Not a natural wind, but like someone was making that sound on purpose. He looked around but didn't see anything.
He was about to ignore it, when the leaves started crunching. He snapped his head to the direction it was coming from. Slowly, a large circle like shape rose up between Linus and the moon.
"T-T-The G-Great P-P-Pumpkin!" He stuttered out, as he realized it was not a circle, but a large pumpkin. "It's you! It's really you! And nobody believed me!" Linus started dancing around.
Linus jumped as he heard a loud booming sound, and turned to face the Great Pumpkin, "Oh, sorry, sir. I brought you some pumpkin shaped cooking and milk." He offered, and slowly advanced to place it in front of the pumpkin.
He went back to his place, and watched as the Great Pumpkin grabbed the brown bag and dumped it inside it mouth, then give a thumb's up with his stick fingers.
Linus grinned brightly, "Thanks!"
The Great Pumpkin reached down and pulled an envelope out and handed it to Linus.
He grabbed it and looked at it, "Oh, can you not talk? Well, that's alright, you wrote it all down? Thanks Great Pumpkin!"
The Great Pumpkin looked as if it nodded and then looked to Linus's left side. Linus too looked in that direction, and almost fainted as he saw the new bike at the store window being wheeled forwards magically.
"No way! You got me the bike I wanted!" Linus yelled happily as he ran towards it.
Linus glanced at the Great Pumpkin and saw that it was now looking to his right side. He too looked in that direction. Now, a large box with orange pumpkin gift wrap was floating towards the patch.
"Woah!" He ran to it and grabbed it, carefully opening the wrap, he wanted to save everything The Great Pumpkin gave him.
"The Monster Truckster 3000! You got it for me! Thanks so much Great Pumpkin!" Linus yelled, again, happily.
He looked at the Great Pumpkin, and saw it raise his hand, like he was waving.
"Oh, you have to go? Well, ok, bye! And thanks a lot for everything!" Linus grinned and waved as it shrunk back down and disappeared.
Linus stood to himself and looked down at his things in disbelief. He touched the bike again, just to make sure he hadn't just imagined everything. Suddenly, he jumped up and started leaving the patch. He would go show Lucy and everyone that the Great Pumpkin was real, and he had gotten him gifts!
~0~
"Come on everyone! Turn on the music, hide the props, make it look like we were never gone!" Lucy shouted, as they all entered Violet's house scrambling.
Lucy was sure that Linus was going to come to prove to everyone that the Great Pumpkin was real, so they had to hide all evidence. Lucy quickly scanned the room to make sure everything was hidden.
"Fix your costumes people!" She shouted, and watched as many of them turned to mirrors to fix them.
They settled down into the music, when the bell rang.
"Quick! Relax people!" Lucy whisper shouted.
Violet brushed her fairy dress and opened it, to reveal a panting Linus with the bike next to him and box under his arm. "Oh! Linus, what are you doing here?" She asked him faking surprise.
He ignored her and began to wheel the bike into the house.
"Don't bring that into my house!" Violet was quick to shout.
Linus sighed and backed up the bike to lean it against the wall of the house, but took the package inside. He spotted Lucy at the apple bobbing area, and went to her.
"Lucy! Guess what! The Great Pumpkin came!" Linus cried, "He gave me what I asked for!"
Lucy rolled her eyes as she turned to him, "As if you blockhead." She widened her eyes as she spotted the box, "What? Are you sure? Do you have any proof?"
Linus held the box to her, "Here's the proof! There's no way I could've bought this myself!"
Lucy inspected the toy, "Hm, well I guess you were right this time." She crossed her arms and turned her back towards him.
"Yes! Everyone, The Great Pumpkin does exist! You were all wrong!" Linus cheered and started dancing.
Lucy rolled her eyed and secretly grinned, "Yea, yea."
~0~
Linus rushed inside and threw off his hat, hearing Lucy follow at a slower pace.
He rushed to the table and opened the envelope the Great Pumpkin gave him. It explained that he had chosen his pumpkin patch and gotten his gifts. He also added a $10 bill for his treats. He happily put it away for the night, as their mom called them all to bed.
The next morning, Linus opened the letter again to re-read it at the table.
He read it and smiled and was about to put it back, when something caught his eye. Something in the way his name was written at the top looked very familiar. He picked it up and took the letter to his room. He took kept looking at the name and sat down on his bed, thinking about it. His backpack, which was on his bed, fell on its side next to him, and he glanced at it before looking at the letter.
He registered what he saw and did a double take. Pulling his backpack closer, he looked at it. Lucy had written his name on the front of the bag for him. Linus placed his letter next to the bag.
A perfect match. Well, not perfect, but close enough to say that the same person wrote it.
Linus frowned. Did Lucy write this as a joke? But wait, The Great Pumpkin handed this to him. So… Lucy was the Great Pumpkin? No, that wouldn't make any sense.
Linus had to figure it out, so he went to the door and pulled his coat on.
"I'll be back soon, mom!" He called out, and left as soon as he got the ok.
He directed himself to where he had camped out last night, the pumpkin patch. He retraced his memory and stood where he was when he met the Great Pumpkin. He went up forwards where the Great Pumpkin stood, and began looking at the ground around the area.
He spotted it, a palm-sized sphere shaped rock. The kind that only Charlie Brown got on Halloween. He saw something else, too. A small Snickers bar, the mini kind that were special for Halloween.
Linus sighed sadly and dropped to the ground. It him like a pound of bricks. He was fake, the Great Pumpkin was fake. Fake, fake, fake. None of it was real. He couldn't believe it. Lucy duped him. He bet that she was laughing right now.
But Linus stopped. He remembered how Lucy was acting. It had been strange, but he hadn't noticed because he was so excited.
So Lucy had done that for him? To be… nice?
Linus was baffled, but grinned as he thought over it.
Maybe his sister did care for him.