The clock beside Lucy's bed struck 4am, bringing her out of a sound sleep. She wanted to slug that clock for interrupting her dreams of ghosts, goblins, endless Halloween parties and buckets of Halloween candy. However, when she realized that it was no longer Halloween, her eyes flew open and she climbed out of bed.

She padded down the hallway to his room and when she peaked inside her fears were confirmed. The room was empty, his bed still made. That could mean only one thing.

Wearing her yellow coat, red hat, blue scarf and blue slippers, she walked outside, braving the cold morning air. The sky was still black and purple when she arrived at the pumpkin patch; the one that her brother Linus insisted was the most sincere. And it was there that she found him, lying on the ground, shivering under that stupid blue blanket.

He barely woke as she coaxed him to stand and put her arm around his shoulders, guiding him into the house. When they reached his room, she took off his shoes and socks and then tucked him into bed. She was grateful that Halloween had fallen on a night when they didn't have to worry about school the next day. But she wasn't exactly happy about being woken up in the middle of the night to drag him back into the house. If he had been smart, he would have joined them for tricks or treats and the Halloween party. Instead, that blockhead convinced Sally to sit with him in the pumpkin patch to wait for the Great Pumpkin. And, of course, since there was no Great Pumpkin, the Great Pumpkin never came.
He'd never learn.

As she went to take off her coat, scarf and shoes and returned to her room, she sighed. Once again, Linus missed out on all the fun ( like Violet's Halloween party where they bobbed for apples, and danced to Schroeder's piano playing, tricks or treats where they went from house to house to get candy, money, cookies and all sorts of things and everything) all because of the stupid Great Pumpkin. What was wrong with him? Aside from Christmas Eve, Halloween was the greatest night of the year!

But as she drifted off to sleep, she thought of all the nice things her little brother had done for her. Bringing her homework when she'd been home sick from school, doing the dishes for her so that she could watch her favorite program, and he'd even cheered her on when she hit a home run during a baseball game last summer.

Yep, she'd never tell him in a million years that he was a pretty good little brother. What would he think of her? But she couldn't wait until he woke up, so that she could give him the bag of candy and tell him that it was from the Great Pumpkin.

So what if there was no Great Pumpkin? If Linus believed that there was and he wanted to drag around that stupid blue blanket, it was okay by her. And maybe, just maybe, next year she'd sit in the pumpkin patch with him. After all, isn't that what were big sisters were for?

~Fin~