Out of Season

It was a brisk fall day in New England. School buses all over town, crossing guards on every corner. Scarlet, uncharacteristically nervous, looked out for children before backing out of her driveway. As she drove, she thought about the troubling assortment of gourds in her trunk.

As if the Fall Festival wasn’t cliché enough for a small town, Scarlet was employed by the school PTA with decorating it. “I might as well stop off for a pumpkin spice latte while I’m at it,” Scarlet scoffed while catching sight of the pumpkins in her trunk through the rearview.

Then the thought struck her - inside-out jackolanterns! Streamers made of strings of pumpkin guts! Pumpkin seed pastry only! Vinegar donuts! Maybe the festival could run from 1am to 5am!

She quickly made a note of all these wonderful ideas so as not to forget a single one. This would be the most amazing festival in all of history, assuming this manic episode of hers continued long enough for her to get it all done. She wouldn’t need much sleep, of course, so

cutting up all those pumpkins would be done in no time. It would take a while to string the pumpkin guts all over the festival, however. Just as she finished a marathon carving session and had a garbage bag full of fresh, stringy seeds, the festival coordinator called her.

"Hello?" she chirped. "Hey, Scarlet," said Mrs. Lin, "I'm glad you're jazzed about the festival, but don't you think some of the decor's a little early?" Her hands began to tremble. "What do you mean?" she said, fighting a rush of angst. "Scarlet," Mrs. Lin said, "it's July 4th."