Page 64 of Pumpkin
Frankie gave her an exacerbated look. “Sweetie, I hate to tell you this, but Pumpkin’s a bit of a reclusive celebrity around here. Theentire town knows about his accident and there area lotof women here who want to win a date with him.”
Dosia scowled, which only made Frankie laugh. Right as the bidding started, though, a voice from behind Dosia distracted her, “Um, Dosia?”
She turned to see Calliope behind her, Oolong on her shoulder. JJ gasped out, “Auntie!” and scurried off Dosia’s lap to run to her great-aunt.
Frankie nudged Dosia to get her attention. Dosia heard someone bid a hundred dollars for a date with her man, and her entire body stiffened. Standing up, Dosia shouted as loud as she could, “Five hundred!”
Everyone in the crowd turned to stare at her. Her face burned with embarrassment, but Dosia held her ground. The utter relief on Pumpkin’s face at her bid made Dosia feel not so crazy about her ridiculously high amount.
Unfortunately, though, someone else yelled, “Five hundred and fifty!”
Shit. Dosia looked at Pumpkin, unsure he wanted to pay that high, but the look he was giving her was nothing short of a plea. He was standing without his cane too, the dipshit. Just for that, she should let him sweat a bit, but she wasn’tthatcruel.
“Six hundred!” Dosia shouted.
Louisa, the woman announcer, let out a nervous laugh. “I think we have a bit of a bidding war on our hands. Ladies, please make sure you can pay. Is there?—”
“Seven hundred!” another woman shouted, a different one than before.
Son of abitch!Dosia’s head spun back towards the stage, where Pumpkin was mouthing the word “higher” to her. Fuck. She sure hopedhecould pay, because she sure as hell couldn’t.
“A thousand!” Dosia yelled.
A hush of amazement fell over the crowd. So far, the highest bid had been for seven hundred and fifty dollars for a man and his service dog.
“A thousand,” Louisa said into the microphone excitedly. “Going once, going twice…” She waited a heartbeat and then yelled, “Sold!” before hitting her gavel on the table.
Dosia collapsed back into her seat. Despite the coolness of the fall day, she felt hot and flustered. Her heart was racing a mile a minute, and she was either hungry or nauseous.
She caught Frankie’s eye and the two of them burst out laughing. Dosia hastily tried to wipe the sudden tears from her eyes. “That was terrifying!”
“Hey, you won!” Frankie nudged her shoulder. “You get to go on a date with your man.”
Dosia nodded, relief washing over her. Turning, she saw Calliope was sitting on the grass behind her with JJ on her lap. She was wearing a black witch’s outfit with a wide-rimmed pointed hat. JJ was very animatedly telling her great-aunt about her new hairy daddy while petting Oolong on Calliope’s shoulder.
Calliope looked up at her, and the two women stared at each other for a long second. Then Dosia smiled. Calliope met her smile, and Dosia knew the two of them would be okay.
“We need to talk,” Calliope said quietly over JJ’s story.
Dosia’s eyebrows drew down. “Everything okay?”
Calliope nodded, her eyes reassuring. Dosia let out a sigh of relief. That was good at least. Whatever it was could wait, though, until JJ was done speaking.
It took some time to get through the rest of the auction bachelors. It wasn’t just the club members who were being bid on either, but police officers, teachers, and even the captain of the fire department. The entire town had a blast with it, and not just because they got a bit of a strip tease from Captain Hunter.
Only two club members were left when the lady next to Dosia got up, freeing a seat at the table. Calliope snatched it before anyone else could. Dosia moved JJ’s coloring pages in front of her aunt so her daughter could continue now that Calliope was filled in on every detail about Pumpkin JJ could think of.
“You look good,” Calliope said with a smile.
Dosia smiled back. “I feel good.”
“Really? After spending a thousand dollars on a date, I’d be,” she covered JJ’s ears, “shitting my pants,” she said in a mock whisper.
Dosia chuckled. Sitting back, she introduced Calliope and Frankie.
“Ah, so you’re the infamous, younger aunt,” Frankie said while shaking Calliope’s hand. “JJ’s told me a lot about you.”
“Has she now?” Calliope tickled JJ’s sides to her great-niece’s delight.
