Page 50 of When It Burns

“Good morning, Margaret. And yes, the best night actually,” I respond as Margaret makes a face that is somewhere between a smile and a grimace.

“Oh my gosh, I am so excited about the pumpkins today! I am truly so ready for fall! All the cinnamon, apples, and pumpkin spice a girl could want!” Margaret says as she looks wistfully out the window.

“Of course you’re excited about the baking,” I say with a laugh. We chatter on about Margaret’s idea for creating a pumpkin pecan cinnamon roll with spiced cream cheese icing, and by the time we pull up to Hannah’s long driveway, my stomach is growling. I pull in front of the farmhouse and honk the horn. As we wait, I see a flash of pink come across the front porch.

Margaret and I look at each other before letting out a groan. “Leroy,” we mutter in unison before opening our doors and sprinting towards the porch.

As we get closer, I notice that Leroy is content on the porch munching on a pizza crust he found on the table nearby. He looks at us and wags his short, curly tail before rolling over for us to rub his large stomach. He puts his hooves in the air like he is trying to hold the crust in place while he wiggles and grunts at us for attention.

“This baby really thinks he’s a dog huh?” Margaret asks with a laugh.

“One million percent,” I say, shaking my head. I bend down to play with Leroy before yelling, “Hannah, you good?”

I hear footsteps coming from down the hall inside the house, and Hannah sticks her head out the door. “Yep, I’m coming! Wait, what’s Leroy doing?”

“Looks like he managed to escape again. We found him on the porch eating pizza when we pulled up,” Margaret explains.

“Damn little booger. I swear I can’t do anything with him,” Hannah says as she puts her hand over her face in a look of defeat. “Last night was a freaking disaster! I picked up pizza on the way home because I was starving. I was sitting out here eating and looking out at the farm when I realized there was another break in the fence, right where that light from the barn shines.”

“Oh no! Why didn’t you call us?!” I ask, already knowing the answer before it’s out of my mouth.

”I knew you were otherwise occupied,” Hannah says with an eye roll. “So anyway I ran out there and grabbed the stuff to patch the hole the best I could before the cows could realize it was down. I figured I would feed them to keep them distracted, but when I went to scoop it, I realized somehow water had leaked in and ruined all the feed. Apparently, the storm we had this weekend had knocked the tin roof loose and I didn’t notice until last night. I was out here until after 1 AM trying to fix the fence, and then was at the Co-Op this morning when they opened at seven to replace the feed. I spent the last two hours out here making sure they were taken care of before I grabbed a quick shower.”

“Hannah!” Margaret exclaimed. “I swear you are too freaking hard-headed for your own good sometimes!”

Hannah lets out a laugh and turns to Leroy. “And just what do you think you are doing sir?”

Leroy lets out another grunt and gives Hannah a look that is a mix of pure devotion and mischief as he continues to gnaw on the crust from Hannah’s forgotten dinner. Hannah leans down and leads him back to his pen where it appears that Leroy shimmied open the door earlier this morning. Hannah, Margaret, and I work together to get the pig inside before closing him in and stacking a few pieces of wood in front of the door to prevent him from escaping again while we’re gone.

Blowing out a breath and ignoring Leroy’s sounds of displeasure at being back in his cage, Hannah turns to us and says, “Alright ladies, let’s get our girl’s day started.”

* * *

We pullup to the local farm where the pumpkin patch is hosted each year, and I am not surprised to see that the lot is filled with people, despite the fact that the high for today is still over eighty degrees. Today may be full of fall activities, but as usual, the Alabama heat hasn’t gotten the memo that summer is over.

As we make our way to the entrance, we take turns chatting about the upcoming holiday season. The late September air holds the promise of new traditions, and I feel a bubble of excitement in my chest over all the possibilities.

After grabbing a wagon, Hannah, Margaret, and I begin walking down the aisles of the field looking for the right colors and sizes to match the Pinterest photos we saved earlier in the week. I am leaning down to grab a smaller white pumpkin, when I hear a chorus of, “Hey, Miss Caroline! Hey, Miss Hannah!”

I look up to see Maggie and a couple of the other girls on our cheer squad running over to us. They are all wearing big smiles, and a few of them are pulling wagons so full of pumpkins, I am surprised they can roll them.

“Hey, girls!” Hannah and I shout. “Y’all having a fun morning?”

“Yes ma’am,” the girls chorus.

“Miss Caroline, I heard you were kissing a boy last night,” one of the cheerleaders named Heather sing-songs.

I must have looked surprised because the girls break into a chorus of giggles as Maggie explains, “A couple of us were riding around last night after the game and we saw you kiss Coach Johnson in the parking lot. It was dark, but we saw your vehicles and put it together. Pretty sure everyone knows since Willy was in the car. You know he can’t keep his mouth shut about anything.”

I roll my eyes before responding, “Small-town life, I guess it was bound to happen eventually. Anyway, you girls have fun, and we will see you on Monday.”

“Yes ma’am,” the girls chorus back at us before making their way towards the entrance of the patch.

As they walk away, I turn back to Margaret and Hannah before saying, “Great. I’ll bet you both anything that I know what the headline of the STS was this morning.”

Hannah and Margaret break into a fit of laughter before Hannah says, “Hmm, probably something along the lines of ‘Hot School Teacher Falls Victim to Asshole Fire Chief—Prayer Circle Today at Noon’.”

“This won’t cause any problems for you will it?” Margaret asks, looking concerned.

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