10/16/09 The exercise: Write about a confrontation between The Great Pumpkin character from Charlie Brown and a famous villain from a horror movie, novel, or story.

Leaves stirred and fell on to the water, floating alongside a small boat tied to the pier. An owl called out, its hoot quickly lost inside a raging wind. Tree branches began to shake. A young woman of maybe 19 years of age came from a cabin into the darkness to observe the gloomy weather.

“Looks like rain,” a voice from behind said.

She jumped, turned, and saw the faces of one of the other camp counselors.

“Cody, you asshole!” she said, and slapped at him.

“What, you afraid ole Jason will get you?” he asked.

“No.” She crossed her arms and looked away.

“Lisa, you know all that bullshit was just a story, right? Something fun for Halloween?”

She was about to call him a foul name, but something in the air gave her pause. Was that the smell of…no, she must be crazy.

“Yeah, well all that stuff about a guy in a hockey mask coming back from the dead and killing all the young and horny camp counselors isn’t my idea of funny.”

“Why…are you horny?” Cody squeezed Lisa’s breast.

She pulled away. “No, you jerk!” she cried. She really wanted to use a certain vulgar name on him now, but again she had to stop and sniff the air. “Do you…do you smell that?”

“Smell what?” he asked, sidling closer. “I think it’s love.”

“It smells like…like pumpkin!”

Suddenly, a long blade slashed from the shadows of the forest—and straight through Cody’s chest, his body writhing as his arms hung for a moment in mid-air, still reaching for Lisa’s breasts, then went slack.

Lisa screamed as a hockey-masked madman stalked from the darkness toward her, raising his machete. She turned to run, got a few feet, then fell.

They always fell.

As Jason Vorhees raised his killing weapon, the water of the lake erupted in a terrible explosion! The maniac froze in confusion and watched as a huge, round, orange object emerged. A pair of black, triangular eyes stared at him as a jagged row of teeth smiled.

The Great Pumpkin flew at Jason with deadly viciousness. Jason brought his machete down, hacking pieces of orange into the Halloween night.

But the Great Pumpkin released its mightiest weapon: pumpkin seeds. Hundreds of them flew like bullets into Jason’s body, tearing it apart into small red bits.

Lisa stood up, picked up one of the gore-covered seeds, and ate it.

“The kids will love some roasted pumpkin seeds!” she said.

“Happy Halloween!” the Great Pumpkin exclaimed.