Sitting in the Pumpkin Patch With My Sweet Baboo

by iloveromance

A whole year has passed since Sally spent Halloween in the pumpkin patch with Linus, waiting for the Great Pumpkin. This year, she's determined to make up for missing out on the Halloween party and trick-or-treating. But somewhere along the way, she realizes there is something more important... or rather, someone. A follow up to "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

1. Chapter 1

A whole year had passed. She was a year older; no longer a student of Miss Othmar's, but Mrs. Reynolds. Charlie Brown was a year older too. Soon he and Sally wouldn't even be going to the same school! What was she going to do then? She shuddered and tried not to think about it.

Instead she looked around the cafeteria and smiled. There he was, sitting across from her big brother. They were the only ones at the table. No one liked her brother and she couldn't figure out why. He was a sort of okay baseball player. It wasn't his fault that his team lost every game. Not all of it was his fault, anyway. But she wondered if that was why no one would sit by him. No one except for Linus, that was.

She sighed dreamily. Her sweet Baboo was so wonderful. But she couldn't help noticing how sad he looked. Come to think of it, it seemed like he'd been sad for a long, long time. Ever since….

She thought back to last Halloween, when she and Linus had spent Halloween night in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Not only had the Great Pumpkin not come, but Sally missed out on everything; tricks or treats and the Halloween party. Not to mention cookies and money and candy apples and gum! She cringed just thinking about it. It was too horrible for words. But she was still thinking about it when she went back to her class.

That afternoon, Mrs. Reynolds handed out materials for the class project; orange and black construction paper, glue, scissors and crayons. Sally didn't have to guess what the art project was going to be.

It was the middle of October and that could only mean one thing. Halloween was right around the corner and they were going to make pumpkins to hang on the wall. They could decorate them any way they wanted with their crayons. She was so excited and she couldn't wait to get started on it.

But when she looked across the room and saw Linus sitting at his desk, just staring sadly at his art project materials, she put down her scissors and stared at him. Suddenly making a construction paper pumpkin decorated with crayons didn't sound fun anymore. Her heart just wasn't in it.