Red Herring ✔️

35. Panic! At the Pumpkin Patch

10 Days to Halloween

"I NEED this pumpkin! It is the cutest pumpkin in the whole field!"

"Well, MY pumpkin is the biggest pumpkin in the whole field!"

"It's called a patch, girls. Let's go!" For a solid fifteen minutes, Mazie tried fruitlessly to corral the twins back to the main red barn to pay for their pumpkins, hand picked gourds, and bushel of red apples that Mazie mostly replaced with low hanging apples on the trees because the twins wanted to pick up all the apples off the ground. Meanwhile, Amelia snapped dozens of pictures where Mazie normally looked pissed while Winter and Willow beamed with pride at their pumpkin picks, handful of gourds, and pretty shining apples. 

"I can't carry mine!" Winter whined. 

"Me neither!" Willow harrumphed. 

"That's because they weigh as much as you do," Mazie muttered under her breath, hitching a huge pumpkin onto her hip to carry with one arm. 

"Your piss poor attitude is showing," Amelia whispered to her as she removed the pumpkin from Winter's arms to carry along with Mazie. Winter and Willow sprinted ahead with their gourds hanging out of their jacket pockets. 

"I bet I can beat you!" Winter yelled, shoving her sister out of the way. 

"No, I'm faster!" 

"I'm the fastest!" Competing with one another, the girls jetted off through the field, carefully avoiding large pumpkins, spoiled pumpkins, creeping vines, and overgrown tufts of grass. 

Mazie brushed the hair out of her eyes and slumped off after the girls with a huge pumpkin in her arms and the bag of apples hanging off her shoulder. "Imagine if we brought Chandler."

"I'd play in traffic," Amelia mumbled, bearing the weight of her pumpkin while sidestepping around muddy areas in the patch.  

"Speaking of, we better catch up before they run in front of car or something." Picking up the pace, Mazie glanced over her shoulder to ensure Amelia was following close behind. It had been her idea to cart the twins off for a fun day at the pumpkin patch. Which, she found out, was fun for the four-year-olds and not so much for herself. She thought she might have died by now if Amelia didn't tag along. 

Breathing heavily from lugging Willow's pumpkin around, Mazie yelled out, "Girls! Don't run in the road!"

They didn't listen. 

"Fe will kill me if they die."

"Keeping little humans alive is hard work!" Amelia complained, throwing her head back and groaning. 

"I'm never having kids," Mazie said, finally making up her mind. Living with three kids did not equal in any way, shape, or form taking them out for fun outings and keeping track of both of them to ensure neither ran off with a stranger, ate something they shouldn't, or stole something. It was Felecia who suggested she only take the twins and leave Chandler at home. She said it would be a nice break from all three kids and she would enjoy the quality time with her youngest. However, Mazie nearly insisted, wanting to spend time with all three Wellington children. 

Thank THE LORD Chandler didn't tag along. She might have lost her mind by this point. 

"Mazie!! I have to go potty!" Winter wailed, crossing her legs and hopping up and down dramatically. 

"Me too! I have to go really bad!" Willow repeated after her sister.

"We have to go really really really bad!" Winter clarified, exaggerating just how badly they needed to relieve themselves.