Pump-kin Time by Kris P. Kreme
Readers Scare Month takes readers on a family road trip, where the family is about to find that sometimes a little drive into the country can bring everyone closer than they ever imagined.
Fear of the unknown is far too common, and Ryan is taking his blended family to an unknown destination. Found on a flyer at a gas station, the event is proclaimed to be “Pump-kin Time” where the biggest attraction is “Da Annual Pump-kin Judgin.”
There’s hardly any pumpkins there though, but a few sips of cider has them seeing all new reasons for sticking around.
There are plenty of fears to have about being cooped up together for a family road trip, but one blended family is about to find their fears met with pleasures in a whole new extreme.
Ryan loves his wife Brooke, even if he and his son Noah certainly don’t love the new health kick Brooke’s daughter Jamie has pulled her mother into. The two of them are quite constant in their exercising and eating and drinking right lately, something that even persists on a family travel across country for their fall break.
Leading the family, trying to further the bonds they have, particularly since his son Noah recently started college and his stepdaughter Jamie is a senior in high school. Life is moving fast and so a nice steadied trip by car seems the perfect solution, especially when opportunities come up like the one Ryan spotted at a recent gas station pit stop.
Unfortunately Ryan is the only member of the family that finds excitement in driving off into the unknown rural countryside, seeking out a local annual pumpkin festival.
Besides the bickering between the lovely yet hardheaded Jamie and his admittedly chauvinist son Noah, even Brooke is getting car cramped and the bad back roads are certainly not raising spirits any.
Finally, and just in time to save some sanity, the four find themselves pulling into the country event they were seeking, the large banner near tents and a barn proudly proclaiming Welcum ta Pump-kin Time!
Everyone seems to be at the event, crowds flocking to the entrance, many of the friendly locals happy to see some newcomers, quick to talk about how amazing their local cider is, even quicker to offer some to Brooke and her daughter.
As Brooke and Jamie insist on having the cider put in their own water bottles, just for safety and sanitary reasons, Ryan and his son are too busy noticing some distinct oddities about this October festival.
For one thing, there are hardly any pumpkins to be found, and for another, there are some fairly aggressive looking public displays of affection taking place, and often with large age gaps between the couples.
Just what is the secret behind Pump-kin Time? Could there be more to the odd way they have printed the words in their banners than just local lingo? The truth will be more shocking than anything, but for Ryan, no stop on their trip will bring the family quite so close together in quite as competitive a way.
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