Food Fights

Pumpkin Panic

So what's the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of Halloween? Witches? Ghosts? Candy? Pumpkins? A full moon that looks like it has a face? (yeah, I generally see some sort of face when the moon's full – I have a really good imagination) Whatever you might think of, Halloween is well known for all those things and more. For me, Halloween is a time when I go out and have fun with my friends and eat lots of candy. Oh, wait, you might not know who me is (intros are so forgettable). Hi, my name is Nerina Barnard, and I live with my family in a neighborhood somewhere in Michigan that I won't bore you with. I'm ten years old and I have long, dark brown hair. Usually I hang around with my brother, Jordan. He's eight and has brown hair. We only recently started doing things together, all because of a frightening experience in a grocery store. Although we keep our eyes open, we haven't seen anything else. Yet.

I'm very proud of my Halloween costume. This year I'm being a fairy. Jordan is a ghost (he's always a ghost: I think it's because all he has to do it cut holes in a white sheet). It's really too bad you can't see it, so I'll do my best to describe it for you. Its made from white material that I glued sparkles on, the wings are made of material fitted over wire frames and have straps so that it fits like a backpack. I have my hair up in a bun and am wearing slippers to match with my shirt and short skirt.

Jordan skips into my room – even though I told him specifically not to come in. "Come on, Nerina! Let's go!" His sheet flaps about like laundry in a tornado while he skips around me.

You might as well come along, Reader, since you obviously have nothing better to do than read this. We are hitting just about every house on the block, so I'll have plenty of candy to share with you (if I can share candy with a person in my head). The sky is dark and stars are winking down at us: I think that stars are angels' eyes and rain is their tears.

Almost every house has its front porch lights on but its still kind of creepy out. The moon is a big old ball up in the sky, and I can see the man inside it . . . Jordan never can, instead he claims the moon is made of green cheese, which is ridiculous because the moon isn't green.

We stop at Miss Marble's house first, as we always do. She has the coolest decorations in the entire neighborhood. Every year she has three rows of pumpkins sitting out in front of her house, each has a different face that glows from a candle she puts inside each hollow pumpkin. She carves the faces herself into real pumpkins, which is more than most people do. Lots of people just buy plastic decorations – cheapies.

Tonight something feels strange as we walk up her short driveway and up to her front porch. Jordan notices it before I do. "Hey, she only has two lines of pumpkins!" he exclaims.

I look once then double check my looking. Yep, only two rows, each made up of four pumpkins. "Maybe the store ran out of pumpkins," I tell him as I knock on Miss Marble's door. No answer. Strange, usually she answers immediately.

"Maybe she's out buying that last row of pumpkins," Jordan suggested.

What a stupid idea. Brothers can be so brainless sometimes.

The door slowly opens and I look up, expecting to see Miss Marble's friendly face. The door is open and my eyes meet the dark pits of a pumpkin, carved face and all, covering Miss Marble's entire head. Nice costume, but if she wants to scare someone she'll have to try a little harder.

"Hi Miss Marble," Jordan says friendlily. "I like your hat."

She sticks her hands out like a zombie and moans. Classy but not scary. Strange, yes, scary, no. She suddenly lunges at us, lurching like she's had too much sugar. We scamper out of the way and she drops to her porch like a gunnysack of bricks. I've heard of people being drunk, but this is the first time I've actually seen it. I grab Jordan's hand a pull him back as Miss Marble slowly drags herself to her feet, still moaning.