“Is that Harvey’s pumpkin?” Lucrecia walked by the table, flipped her woven white hair and scoffed with the other pumpkin snobs. “Cute!” They all followed her while keeping their amused eyes on the dwarf gourd.

Harvey hid behind the fairground tent, embarrassed of his pumpkin. If the contest rewarded the smallest pumpkins, he’d be the winner every year. His patch was in the center of a few others and he always performed the worst at the fair. The pumpkins he brought to display were ridiculed year after year.

Listening for announcements, Harvey packed up while everyone’s backs were turned. Lucrecia won the fair, again. She trounced onto the rickety stage and grabbed the squealing microphone.

“I’d like to thank Harvey Tien. He makes this contest so much less competitive for the rest of us. Thank you Harvey!!” Everyone turned to see Harvey sheepishly packing up. He heard laughter and pity, dropping objects in a hurry to leave.

At his house, Harvey looked out his bedroom window at his patch. He looked around at his neighbors as well, noticing, even from the distance, that their pumpkins were significantly more impressive. The following year, he knew he had to redeem himself.

As the season rolled in and everyone prepared their finest pumpkins for the fair, Harvey grew his own. They grew large and he stayed with them until deep in the night.

When all the neighbors were sleeping, Harvey crept from patch to patch and with a dropper, poisoned lightly the roots of all the biggest gourds. He didn’t intend to kill them, just to stunt their growth enough for him to win. He started with Lucrecia’s patch, having seen her leave in his direction earlier and fearing she may come back soon. Her largest pumpkin was already twice his height, so he gave it an extra few drips of the solution he picked up from the general store.

In the morning, Harvey regretted his nefarious acts as he saw blue and red lights flashing across the way. All the largest pumpkins around turned gray and caved in or slumped over. The solution was too powerful; Harvey had gone too far.

Neighbors all pointed at Harvey as the police interviewed them. He watched from his window as they yelled and correctly blamed him for the sabotage. The authorities made their way over to his house and knocked on the door, so Harvey slipped out the back door into the pumpkin patch.

As the cops investigated the house, Harvey saw his chance to hide. His prized pumpkin, that he yearned to get in front of the town, would be his disguise. He cut the top off quickly and hopped inside, replaced the top and crouching quietly inside. Voices of police went back and forth, and Harvey began to feel dizzy. His breathing was short and his vision blurred. The smell was familiar. Poison!

Harvey, in his final moments, realized that Lucrecia had been cheating all along and tainting the pumpkins he grew. The toxic air was rapidly killing him and the pumpkin around him. He took his last breath with violent anger. As his spirit left his body, it refused to move on. It stayed with him, inside his masterpiece. 

After a few days, the contest was held. Everyone showed with their second best pumpkin and enjoyed simple festivities. Lucrecia, however, was rotting with hatred. She climbed on stage as the judging was ending.

“We can’t complete the judging without Harvey, are you nuts!? Let’s go everyone. Even if he’s too afraid to face the police, or to show his face here, we have to give his little tiny pumpkins a chance.”

The people would have been happy to move on and enjoy the fair, but reluctantly agreed to allow the old woman to carry out her bullying. They all walked down the street towards Harvey’s home. 

Lucrecia approached the patch, guiding the entire fair. The crowd walked onto a putrid field of death and decay. Lucrecia held her nose and tip toed further, determined to make a fool out of Harvey. The skies seemed to darken and the footsteps seemed to be upon flesh below.

“This must be it!” Lucrecia announced, walking up to the enormous pumpkin deep in the patch. “Sad, if he didn’t cheat, he may have had a chance to win.”

Everyone watched as Lucrecia stood in front of the grand pumpkin arrogantly. It spun in place ever so slowly, revealing a face that resembled Harvey. It was grotesque and evil in appearance. It began to breathe murky, thick air - in and out. On the next inhale, Lucrecia turned to feel her soul tearing away from her body.

Screaming in pain, Lucrecia reached for help from the others. Everyone was frozen with terror, watching her body dissolve into the ground as the glow of her spirit was sucked into the mouth of the pumpkin. When her corpse was fully gone, a little tiny pumpkin popped out of the ground. Her face, frozen in horror, was screaming for someone to help.

The grand pumpkin took all the neighbors who once scoffed at him. Everyone else ran and never returned.

Many years later, the area of decay spread to the entire empty town. Children would occasionally visit the urban legend, and if they went to lend aid to a horrified pumpkin, it would guide their soul to Harvest.