AN: Except for the names given in the series, the names of Chin's family members used in this story are the creation of the author.

A Very Special Pumpkin

By: Book 'em Again

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the pumpkin my children had picked out. To say it was a large pumpkin was an understatement. If we hollowed the pumpkin out, Tilda easily could have fit inside.

There was no doubting it, if I took this pumpkin home, Lin was going to kill me.

The problem was there were eight sets of eyes looking at that pumpkin with wide-eyed delight.

"It's perfect, Dad!" Thomas Kelly shouted as he jumped up on the top of the pumpkin waving an imaginary sword. "Avast ye mattes, this here be my ship and anyone who approaches will walk the plank."

"Don't be silly," Amy declared with the confidence of a six year old. "It's Cinderella's carriage!"

Tilda yelled, "Cinderella!"

Thomas exchanged a look with his older brother Gabriel who both simultaneously said, "Ugh."

"Mom did say to make sure we home a couple pumpkins that were big enough so she could make pumpkin pie," Alia reasoned.

Tim snorted. "We could make enough pumpkin pie to feed my whole High School with that."

"Not the way your friends eat," Alia teased.

Alarmed, Maria run forward and wrapped her arms around a side of the pumpkin. "Don't hurt my beautiful pumpkin!"

"We can't destroy Cinderella's carriage!" Amy added.

Recognizing that things were rapidly getting out of hand, I stated softly, "We haven't decided on this pumpkin."

Their fight instantly forgotten, all eight children immediately turned and looked at their father. "Please, Daddy!"

My children had gotten too good at begging in unison. I swear they must practice or something.

Laying one hand on the pumpkin, I realized on thing: Maria was right, it was a beautiful pumpkin. "It's a nice pumpkin," I admitted. "But it's too big and too expensive."

A collective groan rose from my children; that skill they didn't have to practice.

Suzy looked at the pumpkin thoughtfully. "Daddy, you said that we could pick out a small pumpkin each. What if instead of buying eight small pumpkins we agreed to buy this big one?"

"Yeah," a chorus of voices shouted.

I looked over at the three teenagers. "I know why your siblings want this pumpkin, but what would you do with it?"

Tim didn't hesitate. "We'd have the biggest pumpkin in the neighborhood! All my friends will want to see it."

"It's groovy," Alia said.

Suzy smiled. "I like it."

Tilting my head to side, I looked again at the pumpkin again. If this was the only pumpkin I bought it wouldn't much more expensive than letting the children each get one but that didn't solve the problem of my wife. Lin would not be happy to see a huge pumpkin sitting in their yard.

But Lin hadn't seen the smiles on their children's faces or they way their imagination was engaged by the sight of this large orange squash. In my mind's eye, I could see my children spending hours outside transforming the pumpkin into whatever they desired. It would be just like when the kids were younger and they had more fun playing with the box than the toy in the box.

My mind made up, I announced, "We can get it."

"Woohoo!" Gabriel hollered as the others added their own cheers.

The farmer was thrilled as we asked for help in moving the pumpkin into the back of the family van. The children chatted excitingly about their pumpkin. A joy filled me as I watched family bound over something so simple.

As I was paying for the pumpkin, I spotted a bucket of miniature pumpkins next to the teller and a memory from many years ago rose to the surface of my mind. Reaching down into the bucket, I picked out a pumpkin. "This one too."

The teller smirked. "Buying our biggest and our smallest today?"

I nodded and paid the man, placing my precious pumpkin in my pocket.

On the ride home the children decided that they wanted to surprise their mother and I privately thought that they didn't need to do too much to surprise her, but I agreed to park quietly and help the teenagers unload the pumpkin from the back.

Once the pumpkin was unloaded, Gabriel and Thomas raced inside the house to get their mother. The door reopened and I have to admit that I enjoyed watching my wife's face as she spotted the very large object now resting in her front lawn."Oh, my!"

Amy pulled on her mother's dress. "Isn't it amazing, Mom?"

"It's…" Lin hesitated. "It's big."

"I know," Thomas declared joyfully. "We got the biggest ever!"

Lin shot me a glare and I knew that I was in trouble. Leaving the children to enjoy their Halloween treat, I followed my wife to the kitchen. Deciding it was best to speak first, I explained, "The children loved it and are going to spend more playing with that pumpkin that then would have making jack-o-lanterns.

"But the cost," Lin protested.

"It was only little more than we would have spent originally."

Lin wasn't convinced. "And how am I supposed to cook it if the children are in love with it?"

I froze for a moment. I had forgotten that Lin was planning on cooking with a couple of the pumpkins. "Well…"

"You forgot."

"Yes," I admitted. "But I did get you a pumpkin."

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out small yet beautiful pumpkin that that nestled perfectly in the palm of my hand.

"Chin," Lin gasped. "It's just like the one you gave me in High School."

Smiling, I remembered that moment. I had been a young kid wanting to get my girlfriend of a few weeks a present for Halloween. I didn't have much money so I bought the smallest and cheapest pumpkin I could. Lin had thought that it was so cute that she treasured the small gift, carrying it around for weeks.

"Do you remember what happened after I gave that little pumpkin?" Chin asked playfully.

"Of course," Lin replied as she wrapped her wrapped her arms around me and reenacted our first kiss. "Happy Halloween, my love."

Not wanting the moment to end, I kissed my wife back, amazed that after eighteen years of marriage the kiss was just as marvelous as it had been so many years ago.

Unknown to the kissing couple, outside an argument had broken out between the boys and the girls over what the pumpkin should be when Amy noticed her parents in the kitchen. Gesturing towards the window, the young girl announced, "I told you it was a carriage. Cinderella's getting kissed!"

PAU