The Pumpkin Who Kept the Light. A story

A Galena House Audio story, written with intention.

There was once a pumpkin that grew beside a little house at the bottom of a hill. He was not the biggest, or the roundest, but he was orange, and he was a very good listener. Every morning two brothers came through the garden. Then summer became September, September became October, and the boys said he was ready.

A story about keeping things: a face drawn with one eyebrow higher than the other, a light placed inside, an envelope above the kitchen sink, and the difficult part of growing things, which is that you cannot hurry them by watching.

Written for Jeremiah and James, who will grow, and change, and still always know the way home. There will be a book, with pictures, when the pictures are done.

⌂ The rooms of the house: averylanemaxwell.com/sky · the films and every episode: averylanemaxwell.com/podcast

♫ The Galena House playlist: open.spotify.com/playlist/55wkYr82P02Tsr4zgKZubw

A note from the house: this is a personal podcast. Avery tells these stories as he remembers and understands them, from his own life and perspective. When other people wander into them, he protects what belongs to them; some details are changed or left out for that reason.

• (00:00) - The Pumpkin Who Kept the Light.
• (00:47) - Every morning, two brothers came through the garden.
• (02:09) - Summer became September.
• (03:04) - The house was warmer than the garden.
• (04:04) - Then came Halloween.
• (06:14) - For several nights, the pumpkin kept his place by
• (06:53) - The next morning, the pumpkin was carried back
• (07:31) - Winter arrived.
• (08:04) - Spring took a long time.
• (09:31) - The little pumpkin sat in the morning sun.

The Pumpkin Who Kept the Light. A story by Avery Lane Maxwell. For Jeremiah and James, who will grow, and change, and still always know the way home. There was once a pumpkin that grew beside a little house at the bottom of a hill. He was not the biggest pumpkin in the garden.

He was not the roundest. One side of him had grown against a stone, so he leaned slightly to the left, as though someone had just told him an interesting secret. But he was orange. Very orange. The kind of orange that seemed to collect all the warm parts of the day and keep them after the sun had gone down.

Every morning, two brothers came through the garden. Jeremiah came first. James came immediately after, unless James had discovered something important along the way. A beetle. A stick.