I recently went to the movies with my son Jack. He’s a big fan of scary films that make you jump in your seat and grab the person next to you, even if they are a stranger. I am easily scared. I always have been. My mom’s sisters and brother liked to watch the Twilight Zone on TV and even if I hid under a blanket I could still hear the screams and spooky music.
One particular episode was about a house that had a horrible ghost upstairs… from that day on I was afraid of “upstairs.” Fortunately we did not have a second level in our house so it wasn’t a problem at home but my Grandma had two “upstairs” in her house and it was torture when we visited! My mom would tell me to go to bed and I would panic and cry. Even to this day I am a little leery of staircases. Funny how a 30-minute TV show can scare a person silly for years and years.
I prefer suspense to gore….movies like the Panic Room are fun for me but not Saw (I, II or III) and I definitely don’t like spook houses. Spook houses are right up there on my list with being tickled…no thank you. I am way too jumpy and I would pity the people who would be next to me; I would probably use them as human shields and scream in their ear the entire time. It wouldn’t be a good experience for anybody.
Fall has so many blessings besides a scary holiday. We can enjoy beautiful colors, cooler weather and best of all, pumpkins. Unlike its terrible, pushy cousin, the zucchini, the pumpkin is pleasantly round and orange and sweet. Nothing sneaky about a pumpkin… they don’t hide under leaves, they sit proud in the garden just waiting to be selected for the perfect pumpkin pie or Jack-O-Lantern project. And you never find people trying to secretly put pumpkin into brownies and perfectly good lasagnas like they do with awful, disgusting zucchinis!
What more can I say….If there were a squash contest between the two and I was the judge, pumpkins would win…hands down! Zucchinis are like the zombies in a horror film—they just keep showing up over and over. Hard to kill and there are more than you can count!
Stick with planting pumpkins and you will have a peaceful fall.
I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and
have it all to myself, than be crowded
on a velvet cushion, with a zucchini.
Henry David Thoreau
(modified slightly by S.M. Holthaus)
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