Submission (#1015) Approved

It was a week before the hallowed night, a home alive with the movements of two friends going about preparing for Halloween. Jasper was setting a sheet of plastic over the counter and setting up the cleaned pumpkins as Skully went about hanging up some sticky spiders in the windows. She made sure they were pressed against the glass before turning her attention toward Jasper as he laid out the carving tools. “Did you find all of the old ones I kept away? And can you hand me the ghost on that stool. I want to hang it on the door,” she asked.

“Yeah! Managed to dig through the drawers and found where you stashed them,” He chuckled “And sure!” He grabbed the ghost and hopped around the counter to pass it over, then went to start looking at which pumpkin to claim as his own. He debated between the one that was wider or one that was taller. He eventually tapped the wider one, deciding to carve in a little desert scene to display. He glanced over as Skully opened the door to place the ghost made of little strips of shiny plastic on a hook. She peaked back in, shivering a bit from the chilly night air.

“Ho… I can’t believe it is so cold out already!” She went over to grab one of the markers Jasper had left out, picking it up to mark out where to take the top off the pumpkin. “I always disliked removing the guts… reminded me of slimy seaweed that has washed up on shore for too long.”

“Ha! I love it. I guess it makes my fur all matted but then I have an excuse to wash up.” He yanked the top off, having cut into the pumpkin at an angle so he could have it sit in easily. Jasper added a small notch as well to mark where it lined up so everything would be seamless. No light was seeping out the top on his watch! He gave the thing a solid pat before glancing to Skully who was struggling, the knife always slipping free of the pumpkin flesh and stabbing back in making little mistake holes. Jasper took her hand in his and helped her find the rhythm so she wasn’t dragging the knife out as far anymore. “There you go! That will help and we can always use something to patch the little holes so light doesn’t shine through.”

“Thank you. I haven’t done this a lot.” She gave him a gentle smile, eventually carving out a simple pumpkin face with triangle eyes and a jagged grin. With Jasper’s much more elegantly carved scenery, the two worked nicely off one another. Once placed on the front porch the two went their separate ways, awaiting the day when trick-or-treaters roamed the roads.