At first light this morning I checked out our west windows to see if yesterday’s rumor was true.  Sure enough!  There they were!  Bright orange pumpkins scattered artfully along Territory Road!  Oysterville’s Great Pumpkin had indeed arrived last night.

We had heard in the early afternoon that he was headed our way from the Puget Sound area with a truck load of pumpkins – 800 pounds of them!  If I could have alerted Linus and the rest of the Peanuts gang, I surely would have.  Here was their chance to see the Great Pumpkin in person.  When it came right down to it though, we didn’t see him either.  His pumpkin delivery must have been swift and silent.

I don’t remember if this is the third or the fourth year that Oysterville has magically sprouted pumpkins during the first week of October.  We all love them – such a bright and cheerful addition among the falling leaves.  Unfortunately, some of the visitors to Oysterville seem to love them, too.  If this year follows the same pattern as the last few, there will be scarcely more than half the pumpkins remaining by the end of the month.

`The pumpkin snatchers come in the night presumably when the village is sound asleep.  Usually, only one or two pumpkins disappear at a time – at first so gradually that you wonder if you’re memory is playing tricks.  Out and out thievery!  It’s annoying-to-the-max and fosters all sorts of devious plans for payback – lying in wait with a shotgun full of rock salt or planting each pumpkin in a pile of fresh dog poop or setting up infrared cameras to get license numbers.

What amazes me is that the Great Pumpkin continues to favor the village with his bounty.  It’s a true gift to all of us and to all those who enjoy coming to our little village.  What a pity that there are Pumpkin Grinches in this neck of the woods.  If only Linus and the Gang would come to the rescue!