Maybe Pumpkin Is Tastier Than Honey
Written by Ruth Holmes

It was a crisp sunny morning. A cool breeze gently rustled the leaves on the tall trees and a bird chirped his morning song. He lazily moved from branch to branch. A twig silently dropped to the forest ground. The air smelled fresh, clean and cool with just a hint of pine. It was the beginning of a perfect Fall day.  

 At the bottom of a hill in the woods, there was a stream where the forest animals gathered to drink fresh water. Most days deer, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and moose visited. The animals hung around after drinking fresh water and ignored one another. It was peaceful. 

 Today was different because two new visitors came to drink the crystal-clear water. Two bear cubs separated from their mom arrived. They were thirsty, hungry, and very curious. 

 The cubs loudly drank water until their bellies were round and then noisily tried to catch some fish swimming in the stream…without luck. They clumsily jumped into the water and their big paws splashed water all over as they attempted to catch a meal but came up empty-handed.   The more they tried the hungrier they got. 

 Usually, the cubs spent their day eating berries and bugs like termites. Sometimes they were very lucky and found a beehive and then they would fill their tummies with fresh sweet honey. Yum! Yum!  They got very sticky but very happy. Today mom wasn’t around so they could explore all day.  

 They looked up the hill as they sat on their rumps taking a break from trying to catch a fish or two. Hmm, what’s up there? they thought. So, being very curious they started climbing the hill. They were so very hungry but forgot about food for now because they were playing a game. Who would reach the top first? 

 They started to climb the hill and found it was steeper than they first thought. One paw, then another, up, up they climbed. The ground was very wet and very slippery. It was like muddy mush. The cubs took one step up and slid down two steps. Ever persistent and by now muddy and wet they got back up and climbed some more and then slid down again. Still racing and laughing. Each time they inched a bit closer to the top of the hill. Neither had ever climbed this much before. Finally, a bit out of breath, muddy, wet, and very hungry they reached the top. Whew! They had raced and reached the top at the same time.  

 When the tired cubs reached the top, they felt the grass so very soft and welcoming. The cubs couldn’t resist so they rolled over onto their sides and drowsily rested. Aaah! It felt so good. They fell asleep and dreamt of buckets of honey that were filled to the top. They easily dipped their paws in and ate and ate until they were stuffed.  

 Unknown to the cubs, Timmy lived at the top of the hill.  He was very excited because Halloween was coming soon. Every year Timmy and his family carved the funniest face on his pumpkin. First, he visited the pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin. He ran up and down the rows looking at each one until he found the winner. This year he picked a huge, very, very orange and almost too big to carry pumpkin. But he managed to barely put his arms around his pumpkin and carry it home. He was so careful making sure his prize didn’t fall and break into little pieces. 

 Once home, Timmy carefully cleaned out the pumpkin and carved a funny lopsided face. Big goofy eyes and a huge silly grin. He stepped back and admired his pumpkin. His workmanship this year was extra good. He was very excited to show off his creation. As evening arrived, Timmy proudly carried his pumpkin to the front porch, so the neighbors could admire it. 

 Grrr, grr, their tummies grumbled. The cubs were reminded they were hungry and decided to get up to see what they could find to eat.  

 They walked around exploring the area. They found a lot of bushes, grass, and trees. Over to the side of the hilltop sat a house with an enormous front porch. The cubs had never seen a house before, so they weren’t sure what they had found but their curiosity was peaked as they climbed slowly up the porch stairs. Neither was sure what they might be getting into, but they kept moving forward. In the corner sat a huge, orange pumpkin! It was looking directly at them! It had a funny lopsided grin.  The cubs stared at two round goofy eyes, a lopsided grin, one top tooth and two on the bottom. They didn’t know what it was, but it was funny looking and staring right back at them. So, they stared back too! 

Then they tiptoed forward carefully and slowly to get a better view. The pumpkin didn’t move a muscle, but he continued to stare them down in a goofy way.  When they got close enough, they discovered the goofy face smelled delicious. The cubs were so hungry and thought “maybe it’s tastier than honey”. Apparently, they both had the same thought and each rushed to take a big bite. “Oh, this is so yummy.” Munch, crunch, munch was all they heard. The pumpkin had just about disappeared, but the cubs didn’t notice.  

 Their tummies were full, and their mouths were overly stuffed with delicious pumpkin. As they sat on their rumps, they reached for the last of the pumpkin but before they could take another mouthful they heard footsteps. The porch floor creaked with the weight of each step they heard. Creak, creak. The fur on the back of their necks stood straight up. They froze. They looked at each other and with hearts pounding and mouths filled with pumpkin scrambled up. In their rush, they smacked into each other then turned around and skedaddled back to the hill.  

 The cubs rushed to hide and awkwardly slid down the wet muddy hill, rolling over and over. They tried to stand up and kind of boogie board down the hill without success. They slid all the way down on their rumps. Finally, they reached the bottom of the hill and felt safe. 

 Timmy stood on his porch and looked at what was left of his pumpkin and was surprised. A few chunky pieces of pumpkin were left scattered where his pumpkin had sat.  He looked around to see who had eaten his pumpkin, but no one was around. The evening was silent except for one lonely cricket chirp. Chirp. 

 Timmy ran inside to tell his family his pumpkin had been eaten. He said, “maybe a Halloween ghost ate most of my pumpkin and I frightened him off when I went outside.” Surprisingly Timmy wasn’t sad, he just thought, “now I can carve a better pumpkin face.”  

 At the bottom of the hill, the muddy, wet cubs were looking at each other with bits of pumpkin covering their faces. They smiled and giggled and said, “tomorrow, let’s go back and see if we can eat more pumpkin! It was tastier than honey”.

The End.