Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Just a Rotten Pumpkin!

    The Scribe (my nine-year-old) is a lot like me.  She told me one of her theories yesterday, and I swear it's made of gold.  
    "When you make something, art or music, part of your soul goes into it," she said.
    I nodded; I've told her that many times.  When I really play my violin, or when I sit down and write something important, I might as well just pry open my ribs and show people what makes my heart beat.  (Sorry for the visual, but Halloween is coming after all!)
    "Well, that's why I'm worried about my pumpkin," she said.
    "Why?"
    "Because, I drew the face on it, and even helped with the carving.  I loved that stupid thing and now my soul went into it."
    "When I said your soul went into your work, I didn't mean it like that."
     "But, Mom, I can feel my soul IN the pumpkin!  I bet that's how Voldemort felt with those horcruxes.  He spent loads of time making them, when all he needed was a few pumpkins."  
    I managed to hold a straight face.  "You know, if you can feel it . . . maybe you're right."  I didn't want to ruin the moment because she obviously felt very smart AND proud to be even more intelligent than a famous villain.  I looked at her then and smiled feeling proud too.  The Scribe is such a tomboy.  
    She stood like the toughest baseball player and folded her arms.  "I'm just worried.  My soul went into that thing.  When the pumpkin starts getting old and rotting, if it still looks happy, that means I'll have a good soul.  If it rots and ends up looking scary or sad . . . well, that means I've always had a bad soul."
    "Scribe, that isn't how it works."
    "Don't try to make things better now that I know," she said. "I'm old enough to see what kind of soul I'll have when I grow up.  I've seen it time and again.  Tommy is a great kid; his pumpkin smiled when it rotted.  But Tawnie, I don't want to spread mean things, but her pumpkin looked worse than a grumpy, old frog."
    "She has a bad soul?"
    "Not yet, Mom.  That's what her soul will look like when she grows up.  It's kind of shocking since she's so nice now, but you never know how kids will turn out unless you have a pumpkin, or time to just watch 'em grow up.  
    "Anyway, all kids have good souls.  Didn't you know that?" she asked.
    "It makes sense."       
    "Of course it does," she said.  "All true things make sense.  So, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens when my pumpkin rots.  I hope it'll still be smiling.  I'd hate to be an evil adult.  I'd probably be a bad driver if that happens and then people would roll down their windows and yell at me all of the time, like in the movies."
   
    So, last night we googled "Rotting Pumpkins."  I've realized, when it comes to pumpkins, The Scribe can spot a bad soul from a mile away.  
    "See," she said pointing, "whoever carved that one was really bad.  And whoever did that, is an angel in waiting."
    Here are some of the pictures we saw:


Photobucket
    "A really sweet person carved that," the Scribe said about this picture, "probably an old lady."
    "Because all old ladies are nice?"
    "Most of them," she said, "the ones who like baking."



    "What about this one?" I asked.
    "That's a perfect example of someone who has a bad soul.  Poor kid, I bet they don't even know what's coming!"



Photobucket
    "And this?"
    "That's one of the angels in waiting I told you about.  The kid who carved that is probably even nicer than I am right now!"




Photobucket
    "That person was okay, not really bad or good," she said.
    "Why?"
    "'Cause it's not smiling or frowning."
    "Like a fence-walker," I said.
    "What's that?"
    "Well, imagine a big desert where all of the good people are on one side and all of the zombie-ish, bad people are on the other side.  Picture a big fence going between the two sets of people.  Someone who doesn't know if they're good or bad is a fence-walker."
    "I don't like fence-walkers.  If someone can't decide if they want to be good or bad, they probably aren't good at all.  Nice people want to be that way just because it's right.  
    "Can a bad person hop the fence and become good?"
    "Sure," I said.
    "Wow, I hope a bunch of the bad guys will hop the fence.  That would be terrible to just be mean and yucky all of the time."
    "So it's better to be bad and turn good, than to be a fence-walker?"
    "Oh, yeah," she said, "at least the bad people knew what they wanted."
    It was a deep conversation I didn't want to get into, so we continued looking at more pictures of pumpkins souls.
Photobucket
This picture showed up under the "Rotting Pumpkin" search.  While with the Scribe, I scrolled past it as fast as I could.  Then, after finding it this morning, I had to laugh because it's real name was: "Evil Two Leg."  Wow, now I'm really scared--not!


Photobucket

    "And that," the Scribe hushed when she saw this last picture, "was carved by the most evil soul around."
    "Seriously?  Why?"
    "It doesn't even have a face!  The thing fell in on itself because the evil was too strong."
    I suddenly felt ill.  This same thing happened to my pumpkin LAST YEAR!  I'd carved the sweetest little face.  The mouth only had one tooth.  It looked goofy and happy, but then it crumpled after a few short weeks and I was very sad.
    I didn't want to tell the Scribe any of that though, so I smiled at her, praying all of our pumpkins will end with smiles.  
    I love her cute theories and the fun way she looks at life.  There was no way I could set her straight.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  I looked outside this morning, and our pumpkins are already starting to rot.  Wish us luck!  Like the Scribe said, "I'd hate to be an evil adult."
    So, can you remember what your rotten pumpkins looked like last year?  What does your soul really look like?

25 comments:

  1. I hate to admit this, but Peanut had a baby pumpkin that she painted a face on last year. It was about the size of a small grapefruit. Well, the thing rotted on our front porch for the past year and there's still a tiny bit of it left...no way to tell if it's smiling or not...gross? Yes, yet I walk by it every day.
    That is so wrong!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL! I just told the Scribe about Peanut's pumpkin. She said, "Peanut is so awesome, the pumpkin couldn't even judge her." That must mean she has an AWESOME soul! :) I just laughed so hard. These kids =D

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is such an interesting way to think of things. The innocence on kids cracks me up! But, who's to say that they aren't right? Imagine our souls really were based on how horrible our pumpkins rot! Sigh... I never even carved a pumpkin before. I'm REALLY screwed now.. haha

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! Love this. My 4yo comes up with all sorts of wild theories too... I may pass on sharing the scribe's not sure I'm up for all the cosmic guilt!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So am I royally screwed if I always went and smashed my pumpkins before they could rot? Maybe that's why I'm so crazy, my soul is getting back at me because I didn't let it show me whether I'm good or bad, I always did like a little mystery though..haha...love how kids think.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I turned ours into pumpkin pies, so I guess we'll never know.

    MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. lol The Scribe cracks me up! You better put some toothpicks in your pumpkins to keep them smiling when they crumple. After all she doesn't have to know right now that the theory is flawed. Mine caved inward last year because of the wolves I had carved into it. Does that mean I'm self centered and egotistical? That blows..

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great post. Kinda makes me want to go into pumpkin taxidermy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I busted up over the Voldemort comment! Oh how different Harry Potter would have turned out! LOL I am with Melynda on putting toothpicks in those smiles to keep them upright and as far as Joshua goes...serial killer!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Okay, now I'm cracking up over here. Just had tea come out of my nose. Thanks, Princess.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh gosh! You have me laughing. Love this post. So what does it mean if we don't carve faces but turn our pumpkins into little houses for our garden fairies each year? Of course they don't last long since they turn fuzzy inside fairly quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tell The Scribe that she's way up near the top of my list of favorite pumpkins--I mean FAVORITE PEOPLE!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. So cute what kids make up. I can't remember if last year's pumpkins smiled or not in the end. I wonder what your daughter would say about the ones that don't get carved. Spooky!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh, Elisa! This is ever so precious. You and your young daughter are such good souls, I wish the whole world were made up entirely of people like you. Now, I'm holding thumbs like CRAZY that those pumpkins don't let you down!

    ReplyDelete
  15. That is priceless. Harry Potter has forever altered kid's minds. The pumpkins I carved never rotted because I always threw them away before they got a change to. Perhaps that says more about my personality than my soul..

    ReplyDelete
  16. I like how she felt smarter than "a famous villain." Very cute post. It also made me want to carve a pumpkin with my love...I've never carved one!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Poor, poor Voldemort and The Scribe. Luminos!

    Love,
    Lola

    ReplyDelete
  18. The things kids come up with! The Scribe's got some good ideas, though.

    I haven't carved a pumpkin in a few years but I don't remember any of them rotting. Not sure what that means...

    ReplyDelete
  19. I bury them before they rot. So the soul can be free of it's worldly possession, and so the racoons don't come a grazin'. :)

    Actually, one year we didn't carve it because we had A LOT of squirrels... so we just had it out. When I found it behind the garage the following spring it had petrified itself. Weird... but so COOL!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'd be so making all of them smile before she got out there prying toothpicks and straws where necessary. ;) The Scribe is a thinker, no? Wonderful post as always. :D

    ReplyDelete
  21. This is the funniest and sweetiest post! I'm glad you wrote it down so you can share it with her when she's an adult! I'm sure she'll be lovely no matter how her pumpkin rots. :)

    I can't remember how my childhood carved pumpkins rotted and I'm still young so I guess only time will tell, yikes!

    My favorite part is when The Scribe said all old ladies who like to bake are nice. When I was little I thought the baker old ladies were the ones who wanted to toss you in the oven and eat you too, hahaha. I blame Hansel & Gretel for that idea, LoL!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Between rotten eggs and rotten pumpkins - you guys have a lot going on around there! I am praying that she has a good pumpkin - she sounds like a great kid.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Your young one seems wise for her years. Our daughter was the same way. I'm guessing like ours she'll be a real handful as she matures.

    BTW- #3 looks a lot like me before I got lasered.

    ReplyDelete
  24. lol. She's so cute and smart! :)

    ReplyDelete