To you it was just a pumpkin. That crooked smile, that you probably didn't notice, was my daughter's handiwork and her very first time carving a pumpkin by herself. She was very proud of the Jack-O-Lantern she had created. Unfortunately, this Halloween she was pretty sick so she and I carved pumpkins to help her get her mind off of the medicine and the stuffy nose. She picked the gems to represent Jack's freckles and hair (maybe that's why you decided to take it). I was heartbroken to come outside and only find the pumpkin my husband and I carved. My baby girl's was nowhere to be found. I hoped maybe you were a less fortunate child who didn't have a pumpkin of their own, so you chose my daughter's because it was pretty. My husband decided to hop in the car and go try to find it. He did. Smashed in the gutter down the street.
That pumpkin held a glass candle that has lit my house for a long time, though it probably just looked like a tea light used in all pumpkins. Those gems that my daughter loved and that set her work apart were from when my husband proposed to me... Using pumpkins.
I cried when I learned that her pumpkin was destroyed, after all, I hadn't even gotten a picture. I took it for granted, thinking, "It will be there tomorrow."
I don't know why you chose her's. You were probably walking home from school with a friend, maybe he dared you, maybe you were trying to act cool for her. You walked by my house, as you have so many times and chose my daughter's pumpkin.
I know to you it was and is just a pumpkin. Hundreds of pumpkins get smashed this time of year, so what's one more? Except that it was MY sick daughter's pumpkin that she carved and took so much pride in. My daughter's pumpkin that held pieces from my engagement. Now it is scattered to rot in the gutter not far from here.
To you it was just a pumpkin.
To me, it was a memory I shared with my daughter and my husband.
