Who Would Steal the Poor Teacher's Pumpkins!?

There is this horrible tradition on Monhegan that every Halloween the sneaky island children TRY to steal the poor teacher's pumpkins! If the pumpkins are stolen and the teacher does not catch the culprit(s) the school children do not have to have homework for a week... however if she DOES catch them it is LOTS of homework for all the kids. Let me just say, I did not start this tradition... but for as long as I have been the teacher, I have tried really hard to keep my pumpkins safe from the little hooligans of Monhegan. And this year was no different...

My plan this year was to keep my pumpkins somewhere that would be oh-so-difficult to get to... like suspended from my second story window!

Of course a lot of duct tape was needed for this particular endeavor.

Step 1: Secure pumpkins with rope and duct tape... check!

Step 2: Suspend Pumpkins from my bedroom windows so I can see any little sneaky-peaky action at all times through the night.... check!

Step 3: Step back and admire my masterful plan... check and check!

So... Halloween night came and went. And my pumpkins went untouched. I thought I was in the clear. But then on the night after Halloween I was sitting on my couch working on the computer and I heard a bunch of noise coming from outside. I thought it was neighbor putting stuff in my basement, so I didn't think much of it... but THEN I heard a huge bag against the side of my house!

MY PUMPKINS!!!!!

I grabbed my flashlight, put on my boots, and ran outside but the little monkeys had run off with one of my pumpkins!!!! I heard a bunch of rustling in the bushes and tried to get Millie to go find them, but she was too scared.

I went back to the scene of the crime and found a pair of men's gloves and saw that one of my pumpkins was still hanging from the window. I grabbed the gloves and went inside to wait.

A couple of minutes later I heard more noise outside. I jumped up from the window and shinned my flashlight. The suspects were not in sight... but I could hear them.

I whispered out the window, "I have your gloves! And I can hear you breathing!"

They irrupted in laughter!! I knew right away the little sneaks I was dealing with... it was none other than my bratty eighth grader, Dalton and his criminal like step-father, Travis.

Dalton and Travis came inside to retrieve the gloves and have a good laugh. They said they would get their ladder and be on their way... making me think they would leave my final pumpkin be.

I should have known better... as soon as they got outside they climbed up the ladder and started pulling down my second pumpkin! I ran up to my bedroom to try and pull up my pumpkin but I got there too late!

They got my pumpkins! And not only did they steal them...

They smashed the crap out of them :(

Poor little pumpkins.

So the bad news was... even with all my efforts my pumpkins were stolen.

The good news was.. I caught them red handed, which meant homework for everyone!!

I have to say, I will miss this tradition a whole lot. I hope the next teacher fight the good fight of protecting the teacher's pumpkins!