Jack-o-Lantern

Scout snorted with frustration, stabbing his knife into the wooden crate in front of him.

"What is wrong, little Scout?" Heavy asked, peering over from his seat on the porch. The old, disused house of the Harvest base sat at his back, wooden walls creaking in protest of the giant's leaning. Next to the porch, Heavy's teammate stood leaning against a crate, a pumpkin sitting atop it, a large bowl next to it, and one of Spy's knives, likely stolen, jammed into the lid of the crate. Scout had a sour look on his face.

"I can't get this right. I'm outta practice at pumpkin carvin'."

"Why are you cutting up pumpkin? You have insides already in that bowl. Is it not time to go make food with what you have scooped out?"

Scout stared long at Heavy, unsure if he was kidding. "'Cause Halloween's in like three days an' there's like a jillion pumpkins here but no jack-o-lanterns, man! How can ya have Halloween without a jack-o-lantern? At least one."

Heavy sniffed. "Halloween. I forget they celebrate such things here. Did not take you for pagan."

"I ain't no devil-worshiper, man! You sound just like the freakin' priests back home. Halloween's awesome! You get to dress up in costumes an' have parties and if you're a kid, you get to go trick-or-treatin' an' get free candy from your neighbours! Everything's spooky, with bats an' black cats an' spiders an' shit! It's fun!"

The giant chuckled, seeing child-like glee wash over his friend. Scout clearly had a passion for the holiday, judging by how excited he was getting. "You must miss home and celebrating."

"I miss celebratin' it, sure. Wish we could do a Halloween party or somethin'. Bob for apples, gorge on candy, drink apple cider, eat ourselves sick on all kinds 'a pumpkin food, dance around in costumes an' shit.”

Heavy smiled, considering Scout's ideas. That sounded like a fun time, actually. “You were going to make things with pumpkin anyway, da?”

“Yeah! Ma taught me how to make all kinds 'a stuff with pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, apple-pumpkin muffins, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin butter, pumpkin oatmeal, tons more. I love the stuff. We had to find some use for it all, considerin' my uncle would get me an' my brothers each a pumpkin to carve every year.”

“That is a lot of pumpkin.”

“You ain't kiddin'. So, since I was the youngest, I helped Ma out cookin' it all. Separatin' out the seeds is a pain, but they make good snacks, so I bake 'em up with some salt, too.”

“Well, if all of these pumpkin foods will be made, it would be shame not to share it. Show off your skills a little? Maybe get some apple cider, gather team, put on music? I know of new candy store in town that has opened.” The giant smiled, obvious in where this was leading.

Scout smiled broadly. If he had Heavy on his side with this, there was no way the team would say no. “What about costumes?”
“Spy has makeup and disguises, Engineer has tools, Sniper is good with sewing, and Pyro has much glitter and paint.”

“An' we got extra bed sheets. I'm gonna be a mummy!” Scout announced, excitement fueling him. “I gotta get started if I'm gonna get it done by Halloween!” He hefted up the bowl full of pumpkin guts and dashed into the farmhouse-turned-base with a shout of, “Tell the guys not to slack off, alright? I'm gonna look awesome, so they better, too!”

Pushing up from his seat, Heavy trundled over to the crate and half-finished pumpkin carving Scout had abruptly abandoned in a fit of inspiration. The pumpkin's face was lop-sided, a pair of triangular eyes sitting above a too-wide, crooked, gap-toothed grin that wasn't completely carved out yet. He smiled. Scout was right; it really wasn't a very scary face, was it?