I'll tell this here tale like it's told in the shows and in the book and leave my own style out of it. It'd be hard to improve none on such a fine piece of history.
Once upon a time, in a land that seems far away now, but isn't if you're closer to it, there lived a man named Sammy. There were other men with different names and women and girls and boys too. But we're here to talk about Sammy Pumpkinseed. Today all the folks know about Sammy Pumpkinseed, but back in those days the name Pumpkinsed was still respected and wholesome. Sammy and his family owned a bit of land in that area of Indiana known as Plum valley and Plum hills.
One fine spring day when the Plum trees were in full blossom, the folks in that area decided to come together and they built a school and a church and had themselves a proper town. They decided to call it Plumton, and have a spring festival when all the plum trees are in bloom, and a fall festival when the Plum "Juice" was done. That was the plan for Plum Paradise and everyone was happy. Everyone that is except, Sammy Pumpkinseed!
Sammy was furious and nearly orange with rage! He vowed revenge on the happy residents of Plumton.
He rode into town and up the stairs of the church and reared his horse up and shouted,"People hear me! The Pumpkinseds have made this place what it is today! We demand you name this town out of respect for us!"
"What?" shouted back one of the crowd. "You bunch of pumpkinseeds is a bunch of orange trash. You got carriages on blocks of wood everywhere around your "farm". Are you ever going to fix them? Or are you waiting for them to grow wheels/!"
Then another one joined in,"If they did, that'd be the only thing yous ever growed! How's the rock crop this year?" Then another,"Go pump a pumpkin!"
A hush crashed down on the crowd like thunder from a feather. Only the stars in the sky can count how many schoolyard fights that had started over those words, and to say them to a Pumpkinseed was sure trouble. The crowd pulled back quickly from the one who had hurled that epitaph. Sammy was reaching for his gun when the sheriff rode into the arena.
"Now you just that back in it's holster there Sammy Pumpkinseed! You just get back home until you've cooled down. You've got Pumpkinseed Knob named after your bunch, just like the Peaches got Peaches Valley. Your family may be populace, but since you all live in one farm house, it ain't like your influence is widespread. Everything's going fine around here. We're all happy and if youse and yourse don't like it, just head on down the pike!"
A thunderous like applause broke out for the sheriff! (Thunderous for the 20 people who were there.) Sammy Pumpkinseed rode off vowing his revenge.
Time passed in Plumton and the summer had been a good one. The harvest had been gathered and the Plum juice was at full boil. It was time for the harvest fling. It was held under the Harvest moon. There was plum pies, plum cakes, peach cobbler and peach "juice" too from the Peaches family. A lot of the men folk had been lucky and there was deer roasting, rabbits baking, and fish frying. Everybody had on purple clothes and they were all exceedingly polite to one another, using perfect English like the teacher had taught them to use.
Then as the evening turned to dusk they crowned Miss Plum. Just as Juicy, er I mean Lucy Peaches was accepting her flowers, all the lanterns went out and the candles too. Some even say cigars and pipes went out. Juicy screamed, and then her screams turned to barely perceptible, high pitched, squeaks. In the commotion, somebody lit a torch and the crowd let out a collective ,"eeeeeew!" Lucy Peaches was standing there with a Pumpkin Head! Not just any Pumpkin Head, but a likeness of the Great Pumpkinhead!
(to be continued)
(c) 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment