Smashing Pumpkins (standard:drama, 679 words)
Author: Allen, Kira	Added: Sep 20 2009	Views/Reads: 3127/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Entry to a 24 hour short story contest, evil lurks in a small town.

Short Story Contest TOPIC 

Weeks of obsessive tending and gentle turning ensured a blue ribbon for
his biggest pumpkin next weekend. His chest puffed with impending pride 
as he fantasized about the envious stares of the other town folk, 
especially that pretty, stuck-up woman next door, who always looked 
through him, not at him. 

The cold wind started again and he shivered, watching the sky darken too
quickly. As bright, painted leaves rained on his crop, he instinctively 
turned his head toward an infant's cry. At the top of the hill, under 
the old Maple, his stuck-up neighbor was shielding a bundle from the 
wind, fumbling with her blouse... 

________________________________________________________________ 

Robert was absolutely positive that his enormous pumpkin would win a
blue ribbon at the state fair next weekend. Every gardener in the state 
would envy him, especially the stuck-up woman next door who always 
tried to win with her oddly shaped, dirty, normal sized pumpkins that 
looked more yellow than orange. She always envied Robert's perfect 
pumpkins; she offered bribes such as fertilizers, special seeds, and 
mineral infused water, which he always rejected because, seeing her 
strange pumpkins, he knew none of her gardening supplies worked as she 
had promised they would. This year, however, she had offered nothing 
which surprised and worried Robert; what was she up to? He let that out 
of his head as he tried to focus on the upcoming week, making sure his 
pumpkin was as close to perfect as possible. He tended it obsessively 
over the past months and needed to be certain that he would win that 
drooled-over, glorified blue ribbon. The cool breeze blew Robert's 
scarf away and after it rose up so high that the only thing that would 
be able to reach it would be a helicopter, he decided to get another 
one from his house. As he opened his back door, he saw her. The 
stuck-up next door neighbor was in his house, holding his 14 month old 
daughter. She turned around and saw Robert. She ran, with the baby in 
her arms, towards the basement stairs. She extracted a large knife from 
her coat pocket and placed it to the baby's neck. 

“Don't come even an inch closer, or I'll kill her and throw her down the
stairs!” yelled the woman. “I will give you your daughter back, but 
only as soon as you give me something. I want your pumpkin. If you want 
your precious little girl to live, you'll go get the pumpkin right 
now.” 

Robert, of course, wanted his daughter to live, so he darted towards his
pumpkin patch. He grabbed the wheelbarrow and started to attempt to 
lift the pumpkin onto it. This pumpkin weighed over 400 pounds, and 
Robert was not very strong. After about ten minutes of trying to lift 
the pumpkin onto the wheelbarrow, he was close to losing hope. But 
then, he got an idea. He would have to ruin his largest pumpkin, but he 
would be able to save his daughter. He found a shovel and started 
bashing the large pumpkin. He kept smashing it until it would be of no 
use to the crazy woman. The next largest pumpkin he had was just over 
100 pounds, so he lifted it onto the wheelbarrow and headed back 
towards the house. He took the pumpkin from the wheelbarrow and brought 
it into the house. He placed it at the woman's feet and asked for his 
daughter back. 

“This is not your largest pumpkin! Get me that one!” she screamed. 

“My other pumpkin seems to have rotted, when I tried getting it on the
wheelbarrow, everything that touched it smashed it in.” She eyed him 
suspiciously, but placed the baby on the floor and took the pumpkin 
from Robert. She left Robert's house and went to her own. 

The next day, Robert packed up all of their stuff and moved to a town
400 miles away. He stopped growing pumpkins and never entered another 
state fair. He also never saw the crazy woman again. Until he started 
growing zucchini. 


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