life miserable at that very moment That’s it sis Fill up on all that food you got there on your plate so you can keep getting nice and fat because Ma Samantha yelled Knock it off Nicholas Leave your sister alone and let her eat Mom said Of course Samantha screaming was always his fault Whether or not his sister was wrong didn’t matter it seemed that he’d be the guilty one In fact Nick knew that even if she stood on the dinner table and kicked the plates full of food to the floor with his parents witnessing the whole event he’d still be the guilty one accused of making her do it Yeah okay I know it’s my fault Even though she called me snot-face I’m the one who’s guilty Nick gestured using his hands to show his frustration Whatever Nick watched his father come in while he argued I don’t care much who’s at fault what I want is for everyone to stifle it and eat your food understood He sat down at the head of the table Ma have a seat and join us He looked to his left Nick and Samantha not another word out of you two or you’re both grounded
That’s what Nick wanted to hear fairness His dad was harsh when it came to disciplinary things but he also was fair Nick could reason with him on occasion and he liked that Oh by the way his father said looking confused I was coming in from the rain and noticed the jack-o lantern on the steps out front is missing Anybody know where it went He knew his dad wanted an answer from him by the stare he sent deep into Nick’s eyes The Stare of Death Nick felt singled out again Sure Dad blame it on me Score another win for Sam Nick heard the drops of water as they exploded on the roof Loud tapping sounded against the windows from the windswept rain Halloween is tomorrow Maybe one of the local punks in the neighborhood took it to use as a flying projectile I don’t know Nick figured that since eggs were hard to come by on Halloween especially for kids his age it had to be a teenager who’d stolen their pumpkin to toss around instead That would make a nice mess on some unsuspecting neighbor’s driveway Then it hit him Here was his chance to find out who may have taken the carved-out pumpkin and just maybe assist in the apprehension
of the punk After eating most of his dinner Nick excused himself from the table and ran up to his room to gather a few items He shut his door surprised his parents didn’t question his early departure from their nightly dinner ritual Not even an evil eye glanced his way from his mom That had certainly made him feel better No need to get on Mom’s bad side There was another good reason to venture out and start his investigation to be far away from his sister She was trouble Besides there was a mystery to solve the case of the missing pumpkin and he figured he’d start by checking to see if any of his neighbors were missing their pumpkins The new mystery reminded him of the stories he’d heard among his classmates the urban legend of the Pumpkin Thief He’d cut out an article about this legend from the school’s newsletter a few years ago when he’d first heard the story intrigued by the creepiness of it all Nick wanted to read the article again He went to his desk and rummaged through his stack of papers until he located the piece of tattered print written by some kid a Jeffery Beamer in the Journalism Club He’d certainly done his research on the urban legend Nick re-read
the whole thing while standing Legend of the Pumpkin Thief by Jeffery Beamer One thing that truly amazes me is urban legends I’ve heard a few good ones over the years some from watching TV others from Googling urban legends So when some of my older friends in school shared with me the Pumpkin Thief legend I just had to do a little bit of research And this is what I found Legend has it that around Halloween this evil creature the Pumpkin Thief a tall green-bean-thin figure in a black suit and large orange tie with a massive orange pumpkin for a head and carved-out eyes nose and jagged mouth would sneak into a town of his choosing and snatch up the pumpkins at night He’d collect as many as he could hold then he’d carry them away to a secret location Why did he snatch up all the pumpkins Well my dear readers folklore said it had to do with him trying to stop the townsfolk from using them to ward off evil spirits You see without the pumpkins to protect their homes they were prey to all the ghosts ghouls and goblins that float around on Halloween having fun on the one night when they get to celebrate all things horror They run amok and frighten trick-or treaters It’s their night and the Pumpkin Thief does what he can to allow
