Mallow flew out of his cave, waved goodbye to his mama, then flew to Penny and Coco, twirling and flipping in the air along the way. “Where are we going today?” Mallow asked the two when he arrived.
“Over to Mochi Meadow,” Penny replied. She spun around, trying to keep her eyes on Mallow as he flew above them in a circle.
Coco giggled as Penny spun around and around. Soon, Penny got dizzy and started swaying from side to side. Mallow began to copy Penny, thinking it looked fun to sway in the air. “Come on, it’s this way!” Coco beckoned Mallow through the forest to the meadow.
Mallow was very excited. He had never left Mochi Forest or Moonlit Mountain before. He wasn’t old enough to go out on his own, but his mama said it would be ok for him to go with his friends. He flew between the branches as his friends walked below him. They walked a little too slowly for him, but he did his best to stay with his friends.
Soon, the trees began to clear and Mallow could see the hills rolling out to Bubble Beach. “Could we go to Bubble Beach one day?” Mallow asked. “I really want to see where you live!”
Coco smiled. Now that Mallow wasn’t playing tricks on them all the time, she began to like him. She liked how excited he was about everything he saw. He asked so many questions about them too. “We have something special planned for you today,” Penny replied. “It’s just over there!”
Mallow looked at where Penny was pointing. There was a dark blue picnic blanket sitting with a pumpkin on it. “What is that?” asked Mallow.
“This is the pumpkin we told you about, remember?” Coco answered. “We’re going to carve it into a jack o ‘lantern.”
“Where did you get the pumpkin?” Mallow asked again.
“Over at the pumpkin patch,” Penny answered. “Next year, we want to grow our own pumpkins, but there are plenty there for everyone in Mochi Meadow.”
They arrived at the blanket and sat down. Penny pulled the pumpkin to the middle of the blanket and Coco grabbed the knife. “What do you do with the pumpkin when you are done?” Mallow asked, flying up close to the pumpkin and examining it.
“We want you to have this pumpkin, Mallow,” Penny said with a smile. “You leave it out in front of your cave as a decoration.”
Coco inched closer to the pumpkin. “You’ll need to move so I can cut open the pumpkin, Mallow.”
“Why?”
“Just watch.”
Coco cut a round opening at the top of the pumpkin and Penny lifted the lid with the stem. “Oh!” Mallow cried looking inside the pumpkin. “What is that?”
“They’re pumpkin seeds, Mallow,” Penny answered, setting the lid on the grass. “We’re going to scoop them out to eat later. Could you help us scoop them out?”
Then Penny started looking for Mallow. Coco started looking too. “Where did he go?” Penny asked.
Coco stood up to get a better look when Mallow popped his head out of the pumpkin with a loud, “BOO!” He startled both Penny and Coco. Coco jumped back and Penny fell over. Then they started laughing. “You sure scared us, Mallow!” Coco laughed. “You even knocked poor Penny right over!”
Penny sat up giggling and Mallow started to laugh too. Just then, Mallow came out of the pumpkin with all the seeds and goop in his arms. Penny and Coco stared in amazement at how quickly he had gotten all of it out of the pumpkin. “Wow, Mallow, I didn’t know you could do that!” Penny cried.
Mallow smiled and put the innards into the bowl Coco was holding out for him. “That’s amazing, Mallow!” Coco agreed. “This is usually the hardest part. I should have brought my pumpkin to carve today too!”
“Me three!” Penny said as she picked up a marker. “Mallow, what do you want your pumpkin face to look like?”
Mallow beamed. He loved it when he could be a big helper. But then he quickly changed his expression to a thoughtful one when he heard Penny’s question. “I don’t know. I’ve never made one before,” Mallow responded.
“Well,” Coco said, “You could make a happy face, a silly face, or a scary face.”
Mallow frowned. He didn’t like scary faces. They made him think of the scary monsters hiding in Moonlit Mountain. Mama always told him they weren’t real, but he knew he had seen them and he was very scared of them.
Seeing Mallow look scared, Penny started drawing. “Well, if you don’t want a scary face,” Penny said as she drew, “then let’s make a silly face!”
She turned the pumpkin around and Mallow started laughing. It definitely looked silly, except it didn’t really look like a face. It looked more like a bunny. Coco laughed too. “That’s a pretty silly bunny you drew, Penny,” Coco chuckled.
Penny looked at her drawing again and laughed along with them. After they had their laugh, Coco sat next to Penny and grabbed the marker. “I have an idea! Mallow, can you make a silly face? I’ll draw it on the pumpkin,” she said as she wiped away Penny’s drawing.
Mallow made the silliest face he could think of. Penny started giggling and Coco started drawing. After a moment, Coco was done. “There,” she said as she turned the pumpkin around again. “What do you think?”
Mallow blushed, grinned, and did a back flip in the air. “I love it!” he cried out.
Penny took a look. “Oh wow, Coco, that looks really good!” she said to Coco. “I’ll cut out the pieces. Do you want to help me, Mallow?”
Penny handed Mallow a little cutting saw and showed Mallow how to cut out the shapes. Then Mallow got to work, being as careful as a little ghost could be. After they finished carving out the pieces, Mallow’s eyes began to glimmer. “Do you like it, Mallow?” Penny asked.
Mallow didn’t answer. He continued to stare at it. It was starting to get dark, so Coco grabbed the tea light and placed it inside. Mallow’s eyes grew wider as the jack o ‘lantern lit up. “Do you like it?” Penny asked again.
Mallow stared a little longer. “It looks great,” he replied.
Penny and Coco smiled at each other as Mallow continued to look at his jack o ‘lantern. “Do I get to keep it?” Mallow asked.
“Yes,” Coco replied. “Can we help you carry it home?”
Mallow looked back at them and nodded. Penny picked up the pumpkin and Coco grabbed the blanket and supplies. Coco placed the supplies in the wagon and they walked back to Mochi Forest and to Mallow’s cave. Mallow flew into the pumpkin and sat there, snug the whole way home.
When they arrived at Mallow’s cave, it was almost dark. Penny set the pumpkin down in front of the cave with Mallow still inside. Mallow started to glow, just like all ghosts do when it’s dark, and now the pumpkin shone even brighter.
Penny and Coco looked inside the pumpkin and found that Mallow had fallen asleep on their walk to the cave. They smiled at each other again. “Goodnight, Mallow,” they whispered to him.
Then they headed home to Bubble Beach.
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