October 22nd 2020

Chapter 296
Their Spooking of Pumpkins

"I told you we shouldn't have named them," Lucas smiled, much as he tried not to, as he watched Maya, kneeling among their pumpkin patch. She looked like didn't want to disturb a single inch of their small harvest.

They hadn't had much in the way of expectations when they had started off this project, months ago. Maya had presented the idea at last year's Halloween, and there had been temptation to hear her say 'we're going to grow pumpkins' and think that they'd never actually go through with it. But then they had done research, and they had found an ideal spot, had prepared it and planted the seeds of their hopes for this very moment.

As diligent as they had been in tending their garden, there had been days of staring at nothing but earth, hoping for a sign of something, anything that looked like the first sprouting of their pumpkins. The day it had finally happened, Maya had spotted the small leaves from up in the attic, looking through the window, and she'd dashed back down to their room, waking Lucas by just about pouncing on him. And then when those little leaves had grown, and grown, and grown, and flowered, and at long last they found the definitive signs of very small pumpkins, starting to show… Oh, that had been ridiculously rewarding.

From there, they had watched the little things grow larger and larger. They had five of them in total, and neither of them had expected so many to grow like this, figured they might have a few duds along the way, but they had five, and they all looked to be as perfect as any pumpkins could be. Lucas only needed to get one look at Maya sitting on the ground one day, sketching the patch, to know that she would have gone and named each of their growing pumpkins. When prompted to reveal these, she'd just grinned to herself before sitting up and pointing each one out.

Carrot, Clementine, Ginger, Marigold, and Sweet Potato… Lucas had to laugh, while Maya was beaming from ear to ear.

Of course now here they were, and much as they had tended their quintet over the last few months, now the time had come for them to leave the comfort of the ground where they had grown, and Maya was looking at them all like she was about to kill them.

"But I had to name them… It was right there," she shrugged, looking up with eyes much too woeful.

"Because they're orange?" Lucas smiled, and Maya responded by patting Sweet Potato and giving him a nod. "You know we won't be doing them any favor by leaving them out here either," he finally pointed out, and she huffed, hardly encouraged by logic. Of course, they were going to have to do it, but she didn't have to like it.

"When we open them up, we take some of their seeds, and we put them aside, with their names, so we can plant them again in the spring, can we do that?" Maya asked him.

"Yeah, of course," Lucas confirmed, then, "So… Carrot II, Clementine II…"

"Exactly," Maya moved to stand, accepting Lucas' hand to help her up when it was offered.

"So… are we ready?" he asked, nodding to the pumpkins. She let out a breath. Yes… They might as well get on with it.

Pumpkin angst aside, they were both very happy to find themselves rounding up on the end of October, for so many reasons. After so many years where the end of one month and the start of another was marked with a celebration of their love, their relationship… It was as though the deeper they dug their way into autumn, the happier they'd get for little to no reason. And now that Halloween was just a few days away… Oh, they had just about hit the pinnacle.

"I think…" Maya trailed off, looking at their row of pumpkins, once they had been carried up through the back door and on to the kitchen table. The dogs were all standing about, curiously looking to the orange things that smelled like the ground. "I think Sweet Potato should go to your parents, and Marigold to mine, and then… Ginger to the Sandersons?" Maya turned back to Lucas for his opinion. This would leave Carrot and Clementine for them.

It had been decided, somewhere about the time when the pumpkins had been named, that they would go ahead and 'spread the wealth' to the other families. They hadn't told them of this plan, just in case it all went bad, or they just changed their minds, but now that they looked to their little harvest, with so much pride between the two of them… It kind of felt right.

"Sounds good to me," Lucas agreed with the choices. "You up for a delivery run?" he asked, checking the time. It was just after dinner on Friday, and there was no doubt that they'd all be home.

So, the three pumpkins were cleaned up and loaded into Lucas' car, as securely as could be, so as to prevent 'backseat pumpkin pie,' as Maya called it.

The first stop was an easy one, just up the road from their own house. Pulling up the Sandersons' drive, they could see Missy sitting on the house steps along with Kai Avelino, the two of them chatting along with postures and gestures that suggested they were doing what they loved to do together, which was to talk about zombies. With Halloween approaching, they could be said to be at the heart of prime walking dead season. They looked up as one when they became aware of the car, and they stood up, curious for this visit from their art teacher.

"Still zombies this year?" Lucas asked as he got out of the car.

"Yeah, but we're not telling yet what we were before," Kai told him, as Missy joined this statement with a shake of the head.

"So that's how it is, huh?" Maya smiled.

"You can't mark us down for it either," Missy noted, to which Maya raised her hands in 'surrender.'

"Fine, fine. Anyway, we're not here to take anything away," she told the girl, looking back to Lucas as he pulled Ginger the pumpkin from the backseat.

Missy was very familiar with the pumpkins, as she'd insist on checking on them whenever she was over at the house for any reason or another. Between that and the addition of Trooper to the farm's 'population,' it had only felt natural to gift the Sandersons with one of their first pumpkins. They brought it into the house, where it was received with many thanks by Missy's parents and grandparents. Much as Missy would check on the pumpkins when she was at their house, Lucas and Maya both made a stop over at the stable to look in on Trooper whenever they were by the farm, which they did now.

"Hey, Troop," Lucas smiled, seeing how the animal reacted to his and Maya's arrival. He had been doing well since they brought him out here. He hadn't exactly gone and regained years upon his life, but anyone who had been around him in the last weeks and months before his move would say that they hadn't seen the horse look so spry in a good long while.

After leaving the farm, Maya and Lucas got back on the road, making now for the Hunter Hart house, deciding it would be best to go that way first, the better to catch the kids before they went off to bed. One thing was for certain, as they arrived, and it was that the family was very much looking forward to Halloween. The decorations were all over the place, in a good way. With Marigold the pumpkin in hand, they headed up to the door, where Maya rang the bell before using her key to let herself and Lucas in.

"Hello?" she called out, a moment before a tiny werewolf sprang into view with a 'mighty' roar. It was a good thing it was cuter than it was terrifying, as it kept the pumpkin good and secure in Lucas' arms, while Maya aimed for a more playful response, pretending to be terrified, at the mercy of MJ the werewolf as he 'pounced' at her. "Gotcha!" she finally hugged him close, making her brother give up the game and just melt into giggles instead. "I like your costume a lot, very convincing," Maya told him.

"Good!" MJ pronounced, standing up now and batting his hairy hands about his face.

"A little hot in here, huh? Too much hair?" Lucas asked him, and the boy turned a nod up to him. When he did, his eyes went wide with awe over the pumpkin. It was one of their larger ones, larger than the ones presently on display outside the house.

MJ was helped out of his costume by his big sister, while the pumpkin was brought over to Katy and Shawn. They were in the midst of helping the girls with their own costumes, and they welcomed the break. From the looks of it, Haley had chosen to be a bird, going by the many feathers being sewn on by her mother while she kept a watchful eye. Meanwhile, the twins were working on their plan to go as 'a mirror image.' Their costumes had been made to be the reverse of one another, and now they moved as though a mirror sat between them. When Nellie raised her right arm, Gracie raised her left, when one jumped, so did the other. It actually looked easy to them, much to their father's smiling fascination.

The large pumpkin, along with its bearers, brought all these proceedings to a pause. Shawn and Katy were both thankful for the gift, while the kids were all very interested to find out which of the pumpkins they had received. They all knew the names, too.

"Why do I have a feeling they're going to have an even harder time about cutting it open than you will?" Lucas teased as he and Maya finally got back in the car for their last stop. She gave him a 'disapproving' look, for as long as she could keep it going without breaking into chuckles.

Arriving last at the elder Friar house, Maya elected herself to carry Sweet Potato the pumpkin, so Lucas led the way, opening the door for her. When he looked back to find her burying down a laugh, he made a few signs to ask what that was about, but she only shook her head. Never mind. Whatever it was about, it was set aside for the time being, as they were greeted by Thomas Friar, rising from the living room couch at the sound of the door.

"That is a good looking pumpkin," he declared with a slow nod.

"Thanks, made it ourselves," Maya grinned over to Lucas, who laughed at the bright look on her face.

When Melinda Friar found not only the visitors but also the reason for their visit, she wasted no time enumerating the many uses for the pumpkin and debating which ones she wished to explore the most. Looking at her now, it felt good to see and be reminded of how things had changed, how they had returned more or less to the way they were before the kitchen fire. She had regained the ease she'd once had in that room, where for a time she'd been made so nervous and uncertain because of what she and her husband had gone through. Lucas suspected this was in part the reason why Maya had wanted to bring her the pumpkin. It would feed her excitement for the holidays rather than her dread, recalling those darker times.

"I think we need to try for even more than five next year," Lucas breathed out as they drove on for home.

"How many more?" Maya wondered. "We only have so much land to use," she reminded him.

"As much as we can, I guess."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners