Until Fred, Vera and Craig showed up Sunday afternoon with a harness contraption, the pumpkin weigh-off hadn’t seemed real to Louise.
The men unloaded lengths of wide heavy-duty straps with chains and hooks on the ends and carried them into the garden. Next they dragged out a heavy tarp and set it near the pumpkin cage. Vera went over to talk to Louise, Alice and Jane, who stood at one side of the cage, watching.
“When Craig came by the store with the equipment to get the pumpkin ready to move for next weekend, I thought I’d come over to see what they’re going to do,” Vera said. They watched the men lift the tarps off the pumpkin. “I think it’s larger than when Alice and I left last week.”
“It’s still growing, but not as fast,” Louise said. “Jane and I tried to measure it yesterday. We came up with one hundred and sixty-six and a half inches, which is larger than last week.”
“If you’re not all field-tripped out, will it still be all right for me to bring my class to see it?” Vera asked.
“Yes. If you’d like, bring them Friday morning and watch the men move it. That should be quite a sight.”
“Good idea. We’ll give you a royal send-off,” Vera said.
Louise turned to watch the men remove the cage they’d built to keep out raccoons. “How are you going to get that equipment under the pumpkin?” she asked.
“We’ll have to rock it side to side,” Craig said.
“Like the way we make a hospital bed with the patient in it,” Alice said.
“I hope you don’t have any patients this large,” Fred said, “but I expect it’s basically the same idea. We’ll slide the tarp and winch straps underneath one side, then roll it over and pull them through.”
Louise wondered how they would accomplish that, even with all of them pushing and pulling.
“Don’t worry about the pumpkin,” Craig said, as if he’d read her mind. “I called in reinforcements.”
A truck pulled into the driveway and parked next to Craig’s truck. Sam Bellwood and his oldest son Caleb got out.
“Howdy,” Sam said, coming into the garden. “Looks like we got here just in time.” The two men looked so much alike, no one could mistake they were father and son. Sam stood an inch taller than Caleb, but both men were tall by any standard. They came over and grabbed the sides of the cage. With all four men helping, they lifted it away from the pumpkin patch.
The women folded the tarps and blankets while the men carried the cage to the far side of the harvested garden.
“We need to be very careful of the stem,” Craig said, moving to the head of the giant pumpkin. “It’s brittle by now. Louise, if you could help us free it up,” he said.
Louise went to the main vine and removed leaves and tendrils that were caught on other vines and tendrils. Jane helped her loosen the vine connecting the giant pumpkin to the main plant.
They carefully lifted and adjusted the vine while the men rolled the pumpkin to one side. The sand underneath helped cushion it. As the men offered directions, Alice and Vera folded the ends of the straps and carefully arranged them beneath the pumpkin, pressing the chain and hook down into the sand to prevent them from harming the pumpkin, then they did the same with the tarp. Alice and Vera stepped back.
“Ready?” Craig asked.
“As ready as we can make it,” Alice said, holding up her crossed fingers.
Louise held her breath as the men slowly rolled the pumpkin back. She glanced at Jane, who was likewise holding her breath. Jane caught her gaze and gave her a reassuring smile. She let out her breath. “It’s going to work,” Jane said.
“I hope it works for Craig’s sake. He’s put a great deal of time and energy into helping me,” Louise said.
“Watch the stem,” Craig said. “We’re going the other way now. Alice and Vera, get ready to pull the straps and tarp through.”
The men grunted as they pushed and pulled. Trying to roll a thousand-pound pumpkin slowly was a strain, even for four strong men.
“It’d be easier if this baby was perfectly round,” Sam said. He was turning red in the face. “Pushing one of my bales of hay is easier than this.”
“Hold it there for a second,” Alice said. “We’ve almost got it.” They pulled the tarp through and up over the pumpkin, giving the ends to the men, who held the pumpkin with the tarp.
“Hang on a little longer,” Vera said. She and Alice dug into the sand and freed the straps. They spread them out, so they crisscrossed in the middle and fanned out like spokes in a wheel.
“That should do it,” Alice said, standing back. “Let her down gently.”
The men repositioned the pumpkin, letting it roll back slowly to its original place.
“How did the stem do?” Craig asked, coming to examine it where it attached to the pumpkin.
“Fine,” Jane said. “Great job, guys. Now what?”
“We’ll put the cage back over it and keep it under the blankets at night to protect it. We’ll cut it free Thursday night and load it to move Friday morning.”
“How will we transport it?” Louise asked.
“Fred is lending us his truck with a heavy-duty trailer. We’ll strap it on,” Craig said.
“I reserved two rooms in Baskenburg,” Louise said. “I think I got the last two rooms in town. Evidently, this is a very popular event.”
“Good. It’ll be just you and me,” Craig said. “I promised we’ll take lots of pictures. By the way, Jane, there are other categories, if you want to send something. They have tomatoes, long gourds, cantaloupes, watermelons and squash.”
“If they had a category for the smallest or lightest or maybe the best-tasting vegetables, I might have a chance,” Jane said. “They’re looking for size and weight, aren’t they? Most of my vegetables are the miniature varieties. I prefer them for flavor and cooking.”
“How do you plan to lift this giant out of the garden?” Alice asked.
“I thought we’d bring my front-end loader over,” Sam said.
Louise frowned. She’d seen his loader at their farm. It was very large. “How will you get it into the garden?”
Sam looked around. “The gate’s not wide enough.” He walked over to examine the back of the fence, where it bordered the field behind their yard. “I could come in this way. We’d need to take down part of the fence and remove a couple of posts here.”
Louise glanced at Jane, who showed no reaction, but Louise was hesitant. She’d already disrupted her sister’s garden enough. She shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“We can put it back when they’re done, Louise,” Jane said.
The men looked at each other helplessly. “Let us think about it,” Fred said. “We’ll come up with a solution.”
“Yeah. We’ll think of something,” Caleb said. “Trust us,” Craig said. “Just be ready to go Friday morning.”
“All right. We’ll see,” Louise said, crossing her arms to emphasize her determination. She intended to be in the garden early Friday morning, to keep any damage to Jane’s garden to a minimum.
“How’s the training coming?” Alice asked Jane as they stripped beds Monday morning.
“I’m doing better since I started running with Eleanor. She’s a terrific coach. I’ve enjoyed getting to know her a little better too.” Jane had been out early for stretches and a short workout. After school, she’d meet Eleanor to run together. “It’s interesting to think of her and Vera as college roommates. They’re very different.”
“The serious student and the athlete. Vera was a bit of a tomboy growing up, though.”
“Really? I suppose that doesn’t surprise me. She likes to exercise. The two of you walk all the time.”
“True, but our walking isn’t all that athletic,” Alice said. She tossed a handful of linens in the laundry pile. “We talk as much as we walk.”
Jane laughed. “Well, I’m glad that you were so successful in providing for her Aunt Agatha. You and Vera make an invincible duo. And I’m sure you were both praying about it.” Jane picked up the pile of sheets and towels. “I’ll take these downstairs.”
Jane heard the phone ringing as she descended the stairs. She hurried, but Louise had picked it up before she got there.
“Oh dear. All right, I’ll tell her,” Louise said into the phone. “Take care of yourself and get well.” She said goodbye and hung up. “That was Eleanor Renda. She sounds awful. They had a track meet out west of Harrisburg. She said it was cold and foggy. She caught bronchitis, so she won’t be able to run today.”
“Poor Eleanor. I’ll have to make her a batch of chicken soup as soon as we’re finished cleaning.”
It was still dark outside when Louise entered the kitchen Friday morning. Jane was standing at the sink, washing vegetables.
“Good morning.”
Jane set a zucchini on the drain board and turned to her. “Morning. How come you’re up so early?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“I never can before a trip either. What time will you leave?”
“Not until this afternoon. Am I crazy to do this? We have a full house this weekend.”
“Alice is here. We’ll be fine. I wish we could go with you.” Jane reached for two coffee cups. “Want some coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
Jane poured two cups and handed one to Louise. “What time are they coming to load the pumpkin?”
“Not until nine. That’ll give me time to help serve breakfast.” Louise stirred her coffee.
“We have lots of time before that.”
The door from the hall opened and Alice came in. “Morning,” she said. “I didn’t realize you were up, Louise. Have you been out running already?” she asked Jane.
“No. I’ll go later, after the pumpkin is loaded. The water’s hot. Have some tea.” She thin-sliced the zucchini and an onion on a cutting board.
“Can I help you? What’s on today’s menu?” Louise asked.
“Zucchini and mushroom frittata with gorgonzola, acorn squash latkes, plus plum and pear compote and apple fritters. If you’d like, you can slice a loaf of cinnamon bread and wrap it in foil to heat.”
Jane got her coffee, which was getting cold, and sat at the table. “I’m curious to see if our former guests enter pumpkins in the weigh-off. Harry Gladstone was nice, but I’d love to see you beat Delmer Wesley. You have to call and keep us posted, Louie. We want to hear every detail.”
“I’ll let you know, but I’m not expecting to win anything. I’m doing this for Craig and Lloyd and Fred. I just don’t have that competitive streak,” Louise said. She saw the blush of red on Jane’s cheeks and wished she could recall her words. Poor Jane was supersensitive about the upcoming charity run against her old schoolmate. Personally, Louise was much more concerned about Jane’s race and her rival’s coming to stay at the inn the next weekend than she was about the pumpkin weigh-off looming ahead.