The Secret Society of The Great Pumpkin Read online

  Chapter 6 – The Pumpkin Patch

  “Where are you and your nutjob cadet friends heading, junior Cadet Marshal?” Allen asked no one while driving his car on Highway 21 heading west, sure to keep Marshal’s gray F150 pickup truck in his view up ahead. “Where are WE going?”

  Allen glanced down at his road map. He was thankful none of the cadets knew what his car looked like. He drove, listening to a book on tape, one of his favorites, The Hobbit. Two hours later the gray pickup he followed turned right into a large farmer’s market in Austin, Texas.

  Allen parked his car. Dressed in regular every day street clothes and with a baseball cap low over his eyes, he watched the cadets also dressed in street clothes walk through the market. He kept his distance.

  The three cadets made their way straight to a display area with a farmer, a woman selling pumpkins. A sign read, “Nora Jean’s Pumpkin Patch.” In the center of her area, she had made a display of a giant pumpkin. Several people lined up to take their picture next to the giant pumpkin.

  That’s the biggest fucking pumpkin I’ve ever seen, Allen said to himself.

  The cadets measured the giant pumpkin with a carpenter’s tape measure. They handed the woman a pile of cash. One of the cadets hugged her. After a few minutes, Marshal backed up his pickup truck to the pumpkin patch. The cadets then assembled some sort of wench and lifting arm to the back of the truck. They secured straps around the pumpkin and began lifting the giant pumpkin into the bed of the pickup truck. Once they had the giant thing loaded, they drove away, slowly.

  “I guess they must really like pumpkins,” Allen said to the woman.

  “I guess so,” she said. “Every year they buy my biggest pumpkin and they pay good for it too.

  “Do you know what they do with it?”

  “Hell if I know,” she replied.

  “Do you know them?”

  “I know they’re cadets from A&M. I grow giant pumpkins and they always buy my biggest one. They always show up throughout the year to help me out as volunteers on my farm.”

  “That’s very nice of them,” Allen said.

  “They are the sweetest young men,” she said. “Now can I help you find a pumpkin?”

  “No. I wanted to get my picture with the giant pumpkin.”

  “Well come back later, sugar. I’ll have another giant out here in a less than an hour.”

  Allen smiled. “Alright. I’ll come back.” He then walked quickly to his car and drove away, headed back to College Station. Within a few minutes, he had caught up to the slow moving pickup hauling the giant pumpkin in the back.

  Allen stayed back far enough behind the truck as it drove east now on Highway 21 headed back to College Station. Once in College Station the truck continued south on Highway 6 until it later arrived at a farming community in the vicinity of Navasota. The truck eventually turned down an unimproved road, and Allen had to pull off to the side of the highway. There was no way to turn down that same road behind the truck without the cadets knowing another vehicle followed them. Allen checked his map.

  The roadmap showed nothing. Allen waited a moment and then continued driving south down Highway 6 until he saw a turnaround. He made a U-turn and then pulled off to the side of the highway and waited far enough away to be inconspicuous, but still close enough to see if the truck might come back out the same road.

  He waited. An hour passed. He listened to the rest of The Hobbit during that first hour until his eyes got heavy. Then he turned off the radio and shuffled through the note cards he made in preparation for the major Psychology test scheduled for Monday. He looked at the clock. Two hours passed. The sun began to set over his left shoulder. He stared again at the last three cards in his deck.

  Biological Evolution: Changes that take place in the genetic and physical characteristics of a population or group of people.

  Adaptive Significance: The effectiveness of behavior in aiding organisms to adjust to changing environmental conditions

  Culture: The sum of socially transmitted knowledge, customs, and behavior patterns common to a particular group of people

  His eyes grew heavy again. Then in a flash, he saw a car turn down the same road the pickup truck turned down about two hours earlier. He watched the road as two more cars turned down the road. Now, he had a chance.

  He started his car, sped up, and made the turn down the road. There was some chance anyone noticing would think his car was just another car in a string of cars.

  The rough two-lane road meandered in the fading sunlight. Cars in front of him kicked up dirt, and rocks and left a trail of dust that was easy enough to follow. In the dim light, he saw bright red taillights as the cars applied their brakes, stopping at a T in the road. The three cars each turned left and continued down the next road.

  Allen waited, at the T, hoping the cars ahead of him and to the left didn’t see his car behind them. After a full minute, he turned right, went down about a half a mile, did a K-turn, parked his car facing the T, and then turned off his car. Now in total darkness, he waited. He looked at the glowing dial of his watch.

  “Shit,” he said. “I’m supposed to meet Cano for another double date. I can’t be late. I can’t miss it. Shit.”

  He got out of his car and opened his trunk. There in the dark, he changed from street clothes into combat tactical clothing. He laced his boots tight, closed the trunk, locked the car, crossed over a barbed wire fence, and then took off running in the woods. He stayed close enough that he could see more cars going down the road on his left, but no one would see him in the dark. He counted 15 more cars passing to his left. After about a mile, the cars all turned right into the improved drive of a very large and impressive ranch house.

  Allen checked his watch. He made his way around to the back of the ranch house. There he saw more than 50 cadets gathered around the giant pumpkin drinking what might have been some sort of alcoholic punch from a large intricate crystal bowl. They had those large pickle jars with them, filled with what Allen assumed was vile disgusting stuff. A cadet tossed dry wood onto a small bonfire. Several other cadets were off to the side, making, building something that looked like a wooden cart. Someone, Allen couldn’t make out, started saying something that sounded official. The cadets all stood and chanted. The leader then cut into the top of the large pumpkin with an Aggie ceremonial sword.

  Allen moved a few feet closer to get a better view and pushed aside a low bush blocking his way. Then he saw four dogs with the cadets. Two of the dogs perked up their ears and turned in his direction. He froze in place. One of the dogs seemed to look directly at him, though the woods, through the trees, through the darkness.

  He looked down at his watch and then he backed slowly away from the ranch house. The dogs found other things to pay attention to. Allen then turned and ran as fast as he could back to his car. Once there, he started up the car and drove back to College Station. He made it back just in time to get cleaned up for his date.

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