“BOO!” wrote the witch, as witches will do.

“Oh!” squeaked the pumpkin, seeing what the little girl could not.

The little girl felt the newly plucked pumpkin tremble. She stopped where she was in the middle of the pumpkin patch, and listened.

“What was it?” whispered the little girl after a moment had passed.

“A witch,” answered the pumpkin, forgetting that he was not supposed to be able to talk.

“Was she scary?”

“Oh yes,” the pumpkin shook some more, “very!”

The little girl looked up, holding her breath with anticipation.

But the clouds had already gobbled up the witch’s word and made it their own. The witch’s “BOO!” had vanished.

And the witch, having flown on, looked as un-supernatural as the fluttery black silhouette of a bird.

“I don’t see anything,” the little girl said.

The pumpkin, having remembered that he was not supposed to be able to talk, did not answer.

The little girl pondered for a moment, then smiled, her heart doing a little dance. This, she thought, is going to be a fun Halloween!

# # #

Words and illustration by Kara Pomeroy, 2009©