The pumkins and the scarecrow
As the wind blows across the front yard on an unseasonably cold October, John and Carol pull up in front of the home that they had just bought after looking at pictures. At first they thought that it was a different house, because the pictures showed a house with a lived in look. They had been expecting to see the house as it was in the pictures even though they were rather old and beat up looking.
Instead of the house looking as it did in the pictures, it looked run down and looking as if it hadn’t been lived in, for many years. At first glance they thought that someone had played a trick on them by giving the wrong address due to the house the way it was which reminded them almost of a Halloween haunted house. As they made their way up to the front steps they noticed Three pumpkins each of a different size but in general the same shape, which was, more tall than round and arranged by height.
When they got to the top step the door opened and the realtor appeared that sold them the house. The realtor welcomed them and insisted that they go look around their new home and said that it would be nice to have someone living here again after all the years that it went without residents. With that John asked the realtor how come she never let them know the real condition of the house when they checked into it where they lived so far away.
The realtor responded by telling that there were a couple reasons as to why they were not told the truth about the condition of the house. She said that the first reason was that the last owners left it to the town when they passed on and the second reason is the land that it comes with along with the land that the town has decided to throw in as a consolation. The realtor went on to say that the town will not charge you any property tax for the first few years you live here so you can put the money toward fixing the house and provided a notarized document for them to keep.
While walking through the house that they had just bought, they were uneasy with every turn thinking the worst as they went, when it came to the looks of the house. By the time they got back to the living room where the realtor was waiting, the house didn’t seem to be as bad off as they first thought.
The realtor then told them about the land that came with the house, explaining that the original plot of land includes the house and about five or so acres behind it that is somewhat hidden by the neighborhood and a small thicket on either side the house and along the back side of the neighbors properties which for a number of years served as a small farm for the community. Then she went on to explain that the town had decided to throw in the extra land which was another five acres on top of it for your trouble which had reverted to the town due to having tone gone unused for a few generations. They then headed out the front door following the realtor as she was trying to explain where the property lines were for their new home.
As they were walking down the steps to the sidewalk Carol asked what’s with the pumpkins on the porch making sure that they were still there as she asked. When she looked at them she noticed that they looked a little different than she remembered from when she first looked at them but didn’t know why. The realtor said that they are there, come the first of October every year and are gone come the first of November, with no one in town knowing who put them there but that they are from the pumpkin patch that grows wild down by the well on the back side of your land.
John and Carol then looked at each other a little perplexed with her response to the question and asked if they could be shown where it was so that they new where it was and the easiest way of getting there. The realtor not seeming to hear them at first continued with what seemed to be a very well rehearsed tour of the property, with it sounding like she had given it many times before. They then asked again about the pumpkin patch and the realtor looked at them rather annoyed but agreed to show them the area of the property that the pumpkin patch was on.
The realtor said follow me and headed down what looked to be a dirt path that started by their new home that if you were not looking could have passed as a small clearing between a few trees. As they walked behind her, they noticed that after a few yards it seemed to open up enough for a small car or a small wagon but that it was like a wall of trees on either side of the path.
As the John and Carol walked trying to catch up to the realtor while walking down the dirt path, it seemed to go on forever. The further down the dirt path they walked, the rockier it got to the point that there were boulders mixed with the trees along both sides of the path. After a while, Carol came out and asked, with how long of a walk it is how come we didn’t take one of the vehicles, the path looks wide enough to have a small car drive down it?
The realtor then stopped, turned to the lady and said in somewhat of an angry voice that there are a few spots that could and would break an axle if you’re not careful. The realtor then turned back around, while mumbling something under her breath and started rubbing what looked to be some sort of key ring as she picked up her pace. John and Carol then just looked at each other for a few seconds then started walking again as fast as they could to catch up to the realtor.
As they were approaching the end of the dirt path it seemed to get darker as they walked, with John and Carol taking notice of the fact that there appeared to be more trees and closer together. When they finally caught sight of the end of the dirt path, it appeared like a really bright backdrop to the surroundings. When they got to the clearing that was at the far end of their property, they seen a short distance away the well and the pumpkin patch. The realtor as they were walking told them that as soon as they got to the well and the pumpkin patch, she could not stay and rest due to having to go to another property she has for sale.
As they got to there, they went right to the well to sit on the edge of it to rest. They turned to where the realtor should be so they could ask her to take the time to rest, but instead she wasn’t there. They however did hear her say, if you want me you know how to reach me but failed to see where her voice was coming from, even thought she had been beside them all the way there.
While they were there they noticed on the wall of the well itself there were what appeared to be blank grave markers on the top where the bucket would sit. After noticing the grave markers, they looked down to see if they could see any disturbed ground but the growth on the ground from the pumpkins was too think to see with any certainty whether or not there was any graves there.
Looking at the sun as it looked like it was getting ready to set, the Carol said to John that she felt it was time for them to head back. They then decided not to walk back along the dirt path that they had walked down to get there and instead decided to walk out in the open in the fields where there was more sunlight. As they started on their way, the guy ended up saying that where they had so many pumpkins, he would be given the chance to perfect his pumpkin recipes and create some new ones with having some pumpkins left over.
While walking they surveyed their new property as they went, after a while of walking they noticed something lying on the ground a little ways away. Not realizing what it was they hurried to see what it was and when they got close enough to see the shape of it they thought that it was a person laying face down in the dirt. After hurrying to get to what they thought was someone lying in the dirt, they get there only to realize that it really wasn’t a person but rather just a scarecrow that had been taken off of its wood supports and left there on the ground.
For a couple minutes they just looked at it while it laid there, they were amazed at how life like it was and from what they could see it had been there a long time going by the indentation in the ground. When they had their fill of seeing the scarecrow in the position he was in, they turned him over and found that it had an almost life like face which they had not expected and it ended up startling them. What startled them the most was, how, good the scarecrow looked given the depth he was in the dirt.
They noticed a couple minutes later that the wooden support for the scarecrow wasn’t too far away, even though it looked a lot more weathered then he did, John told Carol we should put him back up where he belongs. Once they had him back up on his support, they then continued back towards their new home dreading it to some degree. They dreaded it due to what little they seen being so run down that they were almost afraid to return to it.
As they walked back the after putting the scarecrow back up where he belonged they kept feeling as if they were being watched not knowing why they had that feeling. Not knowing that they were really being watched, the whole way back after putting up the scarecrow, the subject stayed on the scarecrow and how life like it was. They could help but think that who ever put it together had to have done a great job at putting it together since it was so life like even after all those years face down in the dirt.
When they finally got back to their new home they walked up the stairs of the back porch only to find the door locked and the lock feeling as if it had been rusted in place. So they decided to sit on the love seat sized decorative wooden bench and relax that was right by the door. After about a half an hour they went back out front by this time it was almost dusk and as they walked up the steps of the front porch they noticed that the outside of the house in particular the porch area didn’t seem to look so old and beat up. When they got up the stairs they seen the pumpkins that they had seen earlier and noticed that they looked different in some way but they could not place why.
After looking at the pumpkins for a few seconds trying to figure out what was different, they went inside and got a big surprise. They walked in to their new living room which they expected to be in shambles and instead of it being in shambles it looked as if it just needed cleaned and some relatively minor fixes to the fire place and mantle piece in it. As they walked through their new home room by room they were more and more surprised as they went, for as they went they it almost looked like their new home was very slowly fixing itself ever so slowly almost unnoticed as if it were waking from a long slumber to welcome them.
After a few hours, they settled down in the kitchen for a little while before calling it a day on their first day in their new home, afterwards they made their way upstairs to look at the condition of their bedroom to find that there was an old beat up bed there that was in need of replacing but figured for the time being it would be good enough as they called it a day and tucked themselves in.
Over the next few days as they started to take stock of what was needed in terms of fixing their home and what they wanted in the way of decorating for their home, John got to cooking and with the multitude of pumpkins they had over on the far side of the property in back. As he cooked he found that they were the best pumpkins that he had ever worked with, he made so many pumpkin-based foods that he started donating the food to the places that were willing to take them.
As their first month started to come to a close, they noticed that the smallest of the pumpkins had changed the most out of the three. The larger two pumpkins just ended up primarily in the shape of the faces of the guy and the lady that bought the house but the smallest of them looked like someone had carved it and instead of a face meant to be funny or scary, it was a carving of a baby. A baby that looked only days old in a bassinet, so the lady got out her camera and took a picture of the pumpkins to show people what she was talking about. The pumpkins somehow knew that she was expecting their first child even though no one in the neighborhood could have known which both of them found odd.
