Eyes on the Prize

by Sunni Jeffers

  “Not until nine. That’ll give me time to help serve breakfast.” Louise stirred her coffee.

  “We have lots of time before that.”

  The door from the hall opened and Alice came in. “Morning,” she said. “I didn’t realize you were up, Louise. Have you been out running already?” she asked Jane.

  “No. I’ll go later, after the pumpkin is loaded. The water’s hot. Have some tea.” She thin-sliced the zucchini and an onion on a cutting board.

  “Can I help you? What’s on today’s menu?” Louise asked.

  “Zucchini and mushroom frittata with gorgonzola, acorn squash latkes, plus plum and pear compote and apple fritters. If you’d like, you can slice a loaf of cinnamon bread and wrap it in foil to heat.”

  Jane got her coffee, which was getting cold, and sat at the table. “I’m curious to see if our former guests enter pumpkins in the weigh-off. Harry Gladstone was nice, but I’d love to see you beat Delmer Wesley. You have to call and keep us posted, Louie. We want to hear every detail.”

  “I’ll let you know, but I’m not expecting to win anything. I’m doing this for Craig and Lloyd and Fred. I just don’t have that competitive streak,” Louise said. She saw the blush of red on Jane’s cheeks and wished she could recall her words. Poor Jane was supersensitive about the upcoming charity run against her old schoolmate. Personally, Louise was much more concerned about Jane’s race and her rival’s coming to stay at the inn the next weekend than she was about the pumpkin weigh-off looming ahead.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Craig’s here,” Jane said, poking her head through the dining room doorway, where her sisters were clearing the table. One couple was still eating breakfast. “Excuse me,” Jane said to their guests. “It’s likely to get noisy around here. We’re about to load my sister’s thousand-pound pumpkin onto a trailer, and a busload of schoolchildren will be arriving any minute to watch.”

  “My goodness. We don’t want to miss that. Is there a good viewing spot?” the young man asked.

  His wife set down her napkin. “I’m just finished. Let me get the camera.”

  “I’ll get it,” the man said, dashing from the room. They heard him racing up the stairs two steps at a time.

  “There’s no hurry. I’m sure it will take a while. You can go through the sunroom. The garden is off to the right at the back of the house. The children will be on the lawn,” Jane told the wife. “Is there anything else I can get you? More coffee?”

  “Oh no, thank you. Our breakfast was delicious.” She stood, then headed for the doorway.

  Jane hurried to the kitchen with her sisters. “I have cookies and apple cider here for Vera’s class when the time comes. Let’s go watch.” Jane removed her apron and hung it by the door as she grabbed her windbreaker. The nights had turned cold. There’d been a suspicious sheen of white on the grass when she first got up.

  Craig turned the rig around and backed up to the fence. Jane wondered how he planned to move the pumpkin. Louise had been adamant about not moving the fence.

  Craig entered the garden and began removing the blankets covering the pumpkin cage. Fred and Sam showed up and went to help him.

  Jane heard the deep rumble of a large engine. She looked around in time to see Caleb Bellwood coming along Chapel Road, driving a large flatbed truck with an excavator secured in back. Caleb carefully maneuvered the truck into position near the garden as a school bus drew to a stop at the end of the driveway. Jane saw Vera and a crowd of young students ready to descend from the bus. The children ran across the yard. Jane stepped out on the lawn to stop them. She didn’t want them near the heavy equipment.

  Vera came over to the sisters, who were standing in the middle of the lawn between the children and the garden.

  “Wow! You really know how to put on a show,” Vera told Louise. She laughed at Louise’s stunned expression.

  “This is really something, isn’t it?” Jane said, joining her own laughter with Vera’s.

  Carlene Moss came striding across the lawn, followed by Lloyd, Ethel and Craig. Caleb climbed out of his truck and made ready to off-load the excavator.

  Movement at the side of the house caught Jane’s eye. She glanced over. The inn guests stood watching from the corner of the house. It looked as if half the town had joined them. Rev. Thompson and Henry and Patsy Ley were walking from the direction of the church. Carlene’s camera clicked several times in succession. Louise’s pumpkin was a celebrity.

  “Louise may shoot me later, but we brought streamers and signs to decorate the trailer,” Vera told Alice.

  Alice chuckled at the image that popped into her mind of Louise and Craig driving down the road with streamers flying and cans rattling like a car with “Just Married” written across the back. “Louise doesn’t have a violent bone in her body, but she may wish she did,” she said.

  Alice looked at the crowd of school kids. Two chaperones were talking with them, keeping them contained. So much energy.

  Louise went over to the huddle of men to learn what they planned to do. She found them in a huddle. They talked, then pointed to the garden, then talked some more.

  Jane joined Alice and Vera. “This could take a while. Let’s break out the cookies and cider now.”

  “All right. I hope we have enough.”

  “I have plenty for the kids, but I’m not sure about the rest of the town. I made extra though. Let’s go see what we have.”

  Louise stayed outside “to keep an eye on the fence,” she’d told Alice and Jane.

  “We can pour the drinks outside,” Jane said, taking a stack of paper cups out of the pantry.

  Alice arranged frosted pumpkin cookies on a tray. Jane pulled a square plastic container out of the refrigerator.

  “I made these apple-cranberry bars last night for us and our guests. Let’s pass these out now and I’ll make more this afternoon.”

  Alice glanced out the window. “Caleb is going back to the excavator. We’d better get outside.” She picked up the two trays of goodies. Jane opened the door and followed her with two jugs of cider.

  Grabbing handholds, Caleb hoisted himself up into the cab of the big machine. It rocked side to side when it rumbled to life. The sound of the engine drowned out their voices. Alice beckoned to several of the students to help pass out cider and cookies. Then she did the same. Caleb was missing out on the treats, but Alice suspected he was enjoying himself, commanding that big machine as he moved it into position.

  The machine’s long arm slowly unfurled and stretched out and up, then pivoted and swung over the fence until the bucket hovered a few feet above the pumpkin, its stem now neatly removed. When it stopped, the crowd let out a collective sigh.

  Craig, Fred and Sam entered the garden. Louise started to follow them, then changed her mind and went back to the yard. The men rocked and moved the pumpkin to the center of the blue tarp beneath it, then wrapped the tarp over the pumpkin and raised the hoist straps. It took a bit of maneuvering, but they finally attached all the chains and hooks over the teeth of the excavator’s bucket.

  “Stand back,” Sam yelled.

  The men stepped back away from the pumpkin, but stayed in the garden, ready to move in if needed. Caleb raised the bucket a few inches. The chains grew taut. The pumpkin moved. The crowd gasped. Alice looked around. Louise was watching with pursed lips. Everyone stared at the pumpkin and the giant arm above it.

  Inch by inch, the big arm rose, then stopped. Fred and Sam went over to check the pumpkin. Craig stood far enough away to watch and tell them if anything was amiss. They tested the straps. When they were satisfied, they stepped out of the way. Sam gave Caleb a thumb’s up signal.

  Alice could see Caleb shift a gear. The wrapped pumpkin package began to rise. It dangled and swayed like a giant blue wrecking ball.

  “Oh, I can’t look,” Louise said, turning away from the sight, but she turned back a second later.

  When the pumpkin dangled ten feet off the ground, the arm s
lowly extended, stretching out toward the far fence and the trailer parked on the other side. Sam stood to one side, giving Caleb hand signals. The pumpkin rocked and bobbed on the end of its tether. Craig and Fred went out to stand on either side of the trailer. The other men surged forward, ready to help do whatever was required. Cameras flashed and clicked.

  “Move-it, move-it, move-that-pumpkin,” the children began chanting in unison. The guests and townspeople took up the cry.

  “Move-that-pumpkin. Move-that-pumpkin. Move-that-pumpkin,” reverberated in the air.

  Cars pulled to a stop on both sides of the street and people got out to watch. Alice looked overhead, almost expecting to see a news helicopter, but the sky was clear.

  The pumpkin cleared the fence and the arm began to lower. It swung out, then back, nearly snagging on the top of a fence post.

  “Stop!” Everyone screamed. Sam made a chopping motion with his hands and the arm stopped. Alice released her breath. Another inch and the pumpkin would have been impaled on the top of a pointed fence post.

  The men gathered around the base of the dangling pumpkin. Caleb climbed down out of his machine and went to investigate.

  Alice and Louise went to see what was wrong. Jane stayed with Vera to keep the children from surging forward to see better.

  “I need another foot of stretch space, but the arm is extended to full length,” Caleb said.

  “If I can move my truck, I can get the trailer closer,” said Craig.

  “Give it a try.” Sam clapped his hands together as encouragement.

  Craig got in his truck to reposition the trailer. Half of the men stood on each side of the truck, hollering directions as he backed it up closer to the pumpkin. Alice wondered how he would manage with all the help, but he did.

  Craig jumped out of the truck and ran back to help Fred position a large pallet under the pumpkin, making sure it was square to the sides.

  Sam watched, his hand in the air, holding Caleb off as six men got behind the pumpkin to push it away from the fence. When he got a nod from Craig, Sam yelled, “Lower away!” as he motioned downward with his hands.

  “Here we go,” Alice said. She held her breath as the pumpkin lowered in slow, jerky motions and the men pushed against the dangling pumpkin to position it.

  “Touchdown!” someone yelled.

  The blue tarp made contact with the pallet. The trailer moved beneath the weight of the pumpkin as the arm lowered it, until the cables were slack.

  Craig and Fred scrambled up onto the trailer and removed the cables from the bucket’s teeth. They spread open the tarp and checked the pumpkin for damage. Louise stood next to the trailer, clasping her hands together while the men ran their hands all over the pumpkin. Finally Craig turned toward Louise and the waiting audience. He raised his hands in victory and gave them a huge grin.

  “Perfect landing,” he yelled. “Not a scratch on ’er.”

  Cheers, whistles and applause erupted from the backyard, side yard and street.

  Louise’s shoulders dropped and her hands unclasped. She smiled and thanked the men, then turned to find her sisters.

  Looking relieved, she went over to Jane, Alice and Vera. “I’m never growing anything again,” she said. “The stress is just too much.”

  Alice and Vera laughed. Jane gave Louise a hug. Then everyone crowded around to congratulate her, while the spectators cheered and cameras continued to click.

  Slowly, but with a great deal of noise, the crowd dispersed. The schoolchildren descended upon the trailer like a swarm of bees. Vera and her helpers went to supervise. When they stepped away, several minutes later, bright orange and red and purple streamers were attached to the truck and trailer and crisscrossed over the pumpkin, which Craig had secured with straps. A big sign was propped against the back of the pumpkin. The Monster Pumpkin of Acorn Hill, it announced.

  Alice read the sign and smiled. Louise and Craig would make quite a sight, rolling down the highway with the pumpkin in tow. She wished she could follow along behind to watch the spectacle.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Louise looked about as she and Craig rode in his truck to the pumpkin festival Saturday morning. Evidence of the event decorated every lamppost and storefront. Banners stretched across the street overhead, announcing the Baskenburg Fall Carnival and Great Pumpkin Weigh-off. She’d been too excited to eat breakfast. The cup of tea in her hotel room hadn’t helped.

  Craig pulled into the Baskenburg fairgrounds where they’d unhooked and left the trailer the night before. She hadn’t known what to expect, but at least thirty trailers with huge pumpkins and squash and watermelons had already arrived. An official-looking man had told them where to park.

  The fairgrounds buzzed with activity. The colors orange and green predominated, with displays of pumpkin paraphernalia, pots of chrysanthemums, banners, ceramic jack-o’-lanterns and cornucopias filled with gourds and Indian corn. Booths sold pumpkin doughnuts, spiced cider, caramel popcorn, hot dogs and breakfast foods. Vendors offered whimsical wind chimes and whirligigs, bottles of barbecue sauce and fancy pickles, aprons, hats, T-shirts and handmade jewelry. Off to one side, the seats of a Ferris wheel creaked in place, empty in the early morning hour. All the carnival rides stood still. Colorful flags and banners flapped in the breeze as if to invite would-be riders to join the fun.

  They went to a registration table to sign in. Louise filled out an entry form and paid her fee, while Craig moseyed around, looking at the various giant vegetables. He came back as she got a number. Then they went to the trailer and waited. A worker arrived on a forklift. He maneuvered its tines into the palette and lifted Louise’s pumpkin as if it weighed just a few pounds. It bounced as he drove over and set it down beside a row of other pumpkins on palettes. An official then attached an entry number to the orange giant.

  “That’s it. Now we wait. Let’s go find some coffee and something to eat. I’m starved,” Craig said.

  “Me too. We should have eaten breakfast.”

  “Couldn’t. Too nervous,” Craig said. “Besides, I love carnival food.”

  “Me too. Silly, isn’t it?” Louise said. They walked over to a booth selling homemade baked goods and coffee.

  “Good morning,” a lady said. “I saw them unload your pumpkin. Looks like it might be our winner, unless someone shows up later with something even bigger, but they only have forty-five minutes before registration closes.”

  “Really?” Louise looked around. There were so many huge pumpkins, it was hard to tell which one looked the largest.

  “I haven’t seen you here before. Is this your first year?”

  “Yes,” Louise said. “This festival is amazing.” She bought a cup of coffee and a square of crumb cake.

  “Come back later, after you win a ribbon. We’ll have bratwurst with sauerkraut or chili and the best blackberry ice cream you ever tasted.”

  “That sounds very tempting indeed,” Louise said. “I love anything made with blackberries. I’ll be back, win or lose.”

  “Welcome to Baskenburg’s Twenty-Seventh Annual Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off,” a voice announced over the loud speaker. “Gather around the weighing station. We’ll start with the giant squash.”

  A small band with accordions, guitars, a banjo and a drummer had set up on a side stage. They played a lively polka. Some of the audience began clapping in time. After a rousing few minutes, the music stopped and the weighing began.

  Louise noticed that none of the entries was round. Some of the vegetables looked like they were covered with warts, but beauty wasn’t the point. Only size mattered. The forklift carted one palette after another to the big scale.

  Seventeen squash later, the winner, weighing 671 pounds, was announced. An elderly man hobbled up to the front to a polka tune, accepting his trophy before a cheering crowd. He posed for a picture, grinning broadly.

  The audience had grown. The big draw of the day would be the giant pumpkins, but there were still lots of other vege
tables to be considered.

  “You could grow any of these at your nursery,” Louise told Craig. “You should try.”

  He clicked a picture. “And take the pleasure from that old man? I don’t think so.”

  Next on the scale were watermelons. The winner was a beauty at 176 pounds. The music played, and a middle-aged woman accepted her prize as her family cheered for her.

  The long gourds fascinated Louise. Jane grew gourds for decoration, but she’d never grown one like these. Louise preferred the bulbous shapes and variegated colors of Jane’s gourds. Sometimes she painted them to look like dolls and donated them to fund-raisers in Acorn Hill. These gourds were long and dark green and looked like giant zucchini squash. The winner was ninety-eight inches long, about three feet taller than its grower.

  They watched the tomato competition. A large crowd enthusiastically clapped and cheered for every entry, no matter what it weighed.

  Louise had to admit that a three-pound tomato was impressive. It also looked tasty.

  Finally, after the cantaloupe, they started weighing the pumpkins. Louise heard her name called by someone behind her and she turned around. Reba and Harry Gladstone stood behind them. He had on a bright orange ball cap with a pumpkin on the front and she wore an orange straw hat.

  “I was wondering if you’d come,” Harry said. “Which one is yours?”

  She pointed out hers. “I gave in to pressure,” she said, glancing at Craig, who smiled. She introduced them. “Did you bring anything?”

  “I brought a squash and a watermelon, but neither one placed.” He shrugged. “Maybe next year.”

  “We do better every year. We come mainly to see friends. The giant growers are great people,” Reba said.

  “Everyone’s been awfully nice,” Louise said, looking around. “Are your friends here?”

  “Haven’t seen them yet, but I’m sure they’re here. Delmer wouldn’t miss it,” Harry said.

  “I think he has a big one this year,” Reba added. “Good luck.”

  “Thank you.”