Submission (#1116) Approved

Squishy never got out much, especially during the fall and winter holidays. It was far too cold for them to venture out and they didn’t have very many people to hang out with. However on this fateful day, something unexpected happened. On the front porch-area of where they called home, sat a very medium-sized, bright orange pumpkin. It was placed there with care, almost as if it was left there intentionally.

Squishy took a few steps out to look around to find the culprit of the dine-and-dashing pumpkin placer. With no luck, Squishy turned back to the little friend sitting in front of them. They looked at it questionably and squatted down to get a closer look. The pumpkin was a very pretty, vibrant orange color all the way around. The step was a beautiful brown and green color too.

As they went to pick up the pumpkin, underneath it was a small, shiny carving knife. It caught them off guard and they almost dropped their friend. They walked inside and came back to get the knife.Picking it up, and taking it back inside. They closed their door behind them and walked back to their table. They removed their festive tablecloth decor to avoid it getting covered in pumpkin.

They sat down in their chair and wondered what they were going to do? The frown on their face showed no excitement, but on the inside they were glowing with excitement. First they took the knife and started to cut the top of the pumpkin off, and once they were done with that, then they took the top off and placed it on the table and peeped inside.

To no surprise, there were tons of pumpkin seeds and pumpkin.. flesh? They didn’t know what else they were expecting honestly. And now, their least favorite part was here. They had to reach into the top of the pumpkin and remove the seeds and pumpkin guts.

They took a moment to focus and reached into the pumpkin. It felt cold and slimy and so gross. They scooped handfuls of pumpkin from their hand and into a separate container to keep it as clean as possible afterwards. After a grueling 10 minutes of scooping, they finally emptied the pumpkin.

Squishy, albeit satisfied, washed their hands and dried them on their coffin-shaped sink rag. They sat back down and picked up their carving knife. Carefully, they started to carve a little face in the pumpkin. They couldn’t decide if they wanted a happy or unhappy pumpkin, and they ended up deciding on a sad pumpkin to match their own face. Sad on the outside, yet happy on the inside.