Farmgirl

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The weeks passed, growing colder and chillier until finally it was the night before Halloween. I was carving my pumpkin with my mom in the kitchen. I scooped out the pumpkin guts, giggling, as we picked out the seeds for later use. My mom looked incredible as always, her light brown hair streaked with gray tied up in a loose ponytail, strands falling out to frame her face, which was slightly prematurely lined, but she still looked beautiful anyway. She'd gone through so much when we'd lost my dad. It was a long, hard battle for him. I could still remember the day he'd told us about his diagnosis, two years ago, at Thanksgiving. He told us he would fight, and he did, for over a year. Things were going well, we really thought he'd beat it.

Then the cancer moved into his brain. The doctors told him he had about a month left to live. He didn't survive a week.

I remember that day very clearly. I was in class, quietly doing my work. The teacher answered the classroom phone, and her eyes glanced towards me and filled up with tears. She put down the phone, walked towards me, and quietly said that I was to go to the office, bring my stuff, and that I was not required to do my homework for the next week. I slowly got up, and left the room. The walk down the school hallways was eerie. I could hear everything echo through the empty halls. The tapping of someone's feet, my breathing, the slight patter of rain from above. Everything slowed down. I tried to convince myself that there was a different reason, but deep down I knew - he was gone.

I got to the office and opened the door, and my mom was there, sobbing. No one knew how to comfort her. I looked her in the eye and she nodded, and we fell into each other's arms, crying.

She looked like a disaster then, messy hair and no makeup and the expression of a woman whose life had been stopped. Today, she was calm, perfect hair, but grayer now than it was then. Her green eyes sparkled as we worked on our pumpkins. She was a little bit sad today, because Dad had always carved the pumpkins, but still - we carried on.

"Your pumpkin looks great, sweetie." My mom said, leaning over to glance at my pumpkin. I'd chosen a decent sized pumpkin this year, and I was carving a pretty silly face, to try and cheer myself up.

"Thanks, Mom. You did a really good job, too!" My mom, always an artist, had gone with an extremely detailed horse for her pumpkin. I was glad she was getting back into happier art. She did a lot of painting, and after my dad died, the work room had been full of dark, depressing stuff. But the other day I walked by to see a painting of a sunny meadow, and another of a beautiful daffodil. It was nice to see thing going back to normal.

My mom smiled at me, and picked up her finished pumpkin to put it out on the porch. She came back in a moment later, her cheeks pink from the chilly evening.

"So, Mom," I started, "I'd like to have Sierra over tomorrow for trick or treating. Would that be okay?"

"Sure! Do you want me to get you guys anything? Snacks, decorations?"

"No, we should be okay. I'll have her come over early, while it's still light out, and we can take a walk through the woods and just hang out, since it's supposed to be nice tomorrow. And then we'll come back for trick or treating. Does that sound alright?"

"Sure thing, just watch out for any poison ivy, okay?"

"Got it." I said, and thanked her. I called up Sierra just to let her know our plans were confirmed, then I told my mom I was going for another walk in the woods and I grabbed my hat and gloves. On the way there, I texted Abigail to let her know I was coming.

She was waiting at the fence for me when I arrived.

"Hey," she said. Her cheeks with bright pink underneath the freckles. It was a cute look.