Halloween

We took Jon to work this morning (our other car is getting fixed). While driving back to take Adara to school, we heard a big THUMP, like someone banging on the car. I looked around and saw nothing - no other cars, no pedestrians, nothing in the to road.

"Maybe the trunk is open," I thought, but I couldn't stop right there (I think there were train tracks). Then we heard the thump again, and as I was looking for a place to pull over, we heard three thumps that sounded for all the world like a big scary guy banging on the back of the car.

But no one was there. And I was freaked out. There was still no sign of anyone or anything else on the road except us, and all I could think was that the thumping was coming from *inside* the trunk. We were in an industrial part of town, by the train tracks and there was no way I was getting out of the car at that point. I just hoped no one was attached to the bottom of the car or something gruesome.

But then I remembered the pumpkin. I had thought Jon had taken it out when we dropped him off, but what if he hadn't? I decided that was probably what was making the noise and justified myself in driving home without checking to make sure everything was ok. When we got out of the car at Adara's school, I checked the pumpkin. The stem had broken off from the impact of bouncing around the trunk. But why it would have made three very rhythmic thumps when we were driving down a level street is still a mystery.