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Chapters (38)
  1. Copyright Notice
  2. Dedication
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  38. Newsletter Sign-up

“I’m not going to need it anymore. I’m going back to college.”

Grandad smiled.

“Genius…,” then he placed a hand on Marty’s shoulder. “Come on, boy. It’s time.”

Marty and Grandad jumped into the pumpkin. Grandad had his hand on the engine, and Marty raised the sail. There was a slight breeze. The crowd on the quayside was shouting. There was even a helicopter overhead.

“Three! TWO! OOONNNNNE!”

The crowd quieted down and watched with bated breath as Colin the milkman revved the engine and started reversing. They gasped as the milk truck started picking up speed as it sped toward the sea. Then they let out a huge cheer when, at the water’s edge, Colin jumped out with a massive grin on his face.

“Hold on, Marty!” cried Grandad, and smooth as you like, the van rolled into the water and sank away into the depths, leaving Grandad and Marty bobbing about on the surface. Marty clung onto the sides of the pumpkin for dear life, and Grandad laughed until he ached. They couldn’t actually hear anything anymore since the crowd on the quayside had gone quite hysterical with cheering.

“This is the best day of my life!” cried Grandad. Then he started up the engine.

The pumpkin bobbed and tilted, wobbled and jerked until eventually the motor built up a nice rhythm, and, suddenly, they were moving! They were sailing out to sea. Grandad shook out the sail. Caught the direction of the wind, and off they went. It was weird: Although they couldn’t hear a thing by the harbor, once they were only a few hundred yards out to sea, it got drastically quieter. Like they were bobbing into the unknown, but there was one voice, one voice that kept shouting.

“Wait! WAIT!”

Marty was sure it was coming from above. He looked up and saw the helicopter hovering over them. It was blue with a red stripe. A coast guard helicopter, in fact. Marty squinted his eyes; it was making the water choppy for the pumpkin.

“What’s it doing?” asked Grandad.

“There’s someone dangling from a rope!”

Sure enough, the helicopter was dangling a figure in a life jacket toward the pumpkin.

“It’s Gracie!” beamed Marty, and it was!

Grandad steered the boat so she could fall into the pumpkin unhurt. She landed with a thud and an “I’m all right!”

Marty hugged her.

“What on earth…”

Gracie righted herself and puffed out her cheeks.

“Don’t even ask!”

TWENTY-EIGHT