Flash McCoy

ol' big balloon

8/26/2023 11:42pm

"You just can't do it with less than five. It's gotta be a star," I told the Captain.

There wasn't any way out of this mess except telling the Captain everything. He had me to rights, but said he'd let it all slide if we could just call up another pumpkin.

"Well then you just get Beans and Mickey and Larissa back here," the Captain said. "And then their parents won't have to get involved either. I suspect they can all make it back by nightfall."

I gave it some thought.

"The only thought you need to give it is how much your pa will tan your hide if I let him know you've been terrorizing ol' Herb."

"Terrorizing ol' Herb? HE'S the one out here you need to be worried about."

"You just show me this pumpkin trick and let me worry about Herb," said the Captain.

ol' big balloon

3/7/2022 11:44pm

Living in the Chocolate Flats sucks. Except for this.

Beans and Mickey and Larissa are up ahead, pushing their rovers to the limit. Hettie's right behind me, in the slipstream between all the chocolate dust I'm kicking up. She's never seen it before. But tonight we're going to make it happen.

It's old Herb's secret. The thing that keeps him going out here. But the Olds are too stiff to believe it. Not enough chocolate in their bones.

Herb's secret is his demon.

Beans and Mickey peel off to the left, their chocolate dust rising in the triple-moon light. Larissa heads off to the right, then pulls her brake and drifts into a smooth 180. She's ready to start the churn. Counterclockwise.

I give it a gun and Hettie follows, taking up our place in the spin.

Pretty soon all five of us land out points on the star. All five equidistant and flooring it in a counter clockwise spin around Farmer Herb's chewcumber patch. Pretty soon we've got max power and we're all drifting, churning up the chocolate dust in a big counterclockwise tornado.

Sure enough, up starts the howling.

I look back at Hettie to take a look at her face as she sees it for the first time. Of course there's too much chocolate dust and Hettie's got her mask and goggles on anyways. So I look up and take it in for myself. It's as terrifying as the first time I saw it.

The giant screaming pumpkin head in Herb's back yard.