Of Pumpkins and Labradors

         When I was a kid, I would climb the highest tree on our street, which just happened to be in Jena’s yard, and gaze out over the wild kingdom below. Okay, I didn’t gaze so much as spy, and the wild kingdom was really Jena’s bedroom window. But, I was 11. That should excuse anything. Now, I am a mature 12 year old boy on the verge of manhood. Besides, Jena moved away for college two months ago.
         So, that was just a random thought.
         This morning while I was eating my completely gross oatmeal that tasted faintly of pumpkin, it suddenly dawned on me that today was Friday the 13th! And even better, Friday, October the 13th! Yeah, I don’t know why that makes a difference but it does sound more sinister. It even looked more sinister when I wrote it out and stuck it on the refrigerator door in dripping ketchup, secured with a pumpkin magnet.
         “Nathaniel!” My mom. She likes to call me Nathaniel. That way she can draw out all the syllables in my name so that it sounds like this, “Naaa…thaaan…ielll!” I prefer Nat.
         “Mom, it’s Friday, October the 13th today!” I shout out in a warning as I head toward the door. “Watch your step and black cats.” I snap my fingers. “And dogs, too! I’ve been noticing more and more of those lately and black dogs are way harder to avoid than black cats.”
         “Nathaniel!” Oh, the short sharp one that makes my name sound like a foreign word. She’s wearing a black apron with dancing pumpkins. Then she smiles at me. “You forgot your pumpkin.”
         “Huh?” What the heck was she talking about? And she hands me little round pumpkin and walks away. Weeeird...
         I shrug and jam it in my backpack as I slam the door behind me. Then I feel myself falling down the stairs. I trip to a halt. “Whoa.” I shake my head and look behind me. A pumpkin? I tripped over a pumpkin? Who put that there right in front of the door? There was some oddness going around today.
         Woof, woof, woof.
         “Hey, Mr. Wong!” I give a shout out to our neighbor’s black Labrador.
         Woof, woof, he answers.
         “Nat!” That’s my buddy, my comrade, Sylvester. He has the Coolest. Name. Ever. Mostly because I get to call him Sly.
         Sly falls into step beside me with the biggest black Labrador I have ever seen.
         “Where’d the dog come from?”
         Sly shrugs. “He showed up this morning and won’t stop following me.”
         “Well, that’s a little freaky.”
         “Not as freaky as my sister wanting pumpkin flavored eggs for breakfast.”
         “Yeah, that’s freaky all right. Who puts vegetables in their eggs?”

         We make it to school just as the bell rings. Lined up along the sidewalk are pumpkins standing in a row like soldiers in formation. Our furry shadow barks a greeting at all of them as we pass.
         “Well, Sly, it’s Friday, October the 13th,” I remind him as we stand in the main doorway. “We’ll be lucky if we make it out of here alive or at least with no broken bones.”
         “Students, please note the slight menu change for today’s lunch.” Mrs. Blue sing-songs over the loud speaker. “We will be having Pumpkin Hamburgers with Pumpkin Fries and don’t forget to grab your Pumpkin Juice!” Mrs. Blue is very happy all the time.
         Sly and I look sideways at each other. “I hope you brought your own lunch, “ I say and Sly grimaces in response.
         “Hey, the dog,” I suddenly remember as we stop near our lockers. “He’s still following us and no one has said anything to us.”
         “Look!” Sly exclaims. “Mr. Malloy has a black Labrador with him, too! And his has a pumpkin hat!”
         “I want a pumpkin hat for our dog!”
         Our dog licks my hand in response and suddenly, I want pumpkin pie.

         Sly and I separate for our classes and the dog follows him. Each hour gets weirder and weirder. Weirder is hard to say a lot of times in a row. In Science, Mr. Malloy had a small pumpkin on each person’s desk and no one thought this was strange? The pumpkins were everywhere; in every class. And the principal, Dr. Zooma, patrolled the halls with a black Labrador dog wearing a pumpkin tie. Yeah, the dog was wearing the tie. He really needed a hat, too, though.
         This was pretty much the best Friday, October the 13th! Freaky was fun and freaky was everywhere. I skipped the Pumpkin Hamburgers, though. Sly fed his to the dog. I had a craving for pumpkin pie, which wasn’t on the menu.

         Sly and I meet up in the hall after the last bell rings and we grab our stuff from our lockers. As I jam my Math homework in my bag, the pumpkin my mom gave me rolls out across the hall and suddenly, it’s mass chaos with all the shuffling feet in the hall and one runaway pumpkin. When the dust settles, I see at least four bodies lying prone on the floor. I cringe. Someone was going to be wearing a cast tomorrow.
         Sly and slip away unnoticed.
         “Huh,” he says.
         “Huh,” I say.
         Woof.

That night, it’s business as usual as I finish my homework and head off to bed, not a pumpkin or dog in sight. But, I fall asleep around midnight with the day’s events flashing through my head. And my dreams? Can you guess it? Of Pumpkins and Labradors.