Kyuseisha no Hikari
The pumpkin patch was one of her favorite places to go in fall. The animals, the fields, all of it spoke to her in a way that the city really didn't. She marked on her calendar the day her family was slated to go, and crossed of the days eagerly until it finally arrived....
And her mother got sick. It was just a cold, but serious enough that she was stuck in bed, and needed Minny's father to stay home to take care of her. Minny's eyes welled up with tears when they said those terrible words...
"Sorry, we can't go this year."
Minny had run into her room crying, while her father shouted that she was in middle school, and acting like a child wasn't appropriate anymore. It was true, stomping her feet and throwing a fit wasn't how she should have acted, but she was just so excited....
And then her brother came to save the day. He offered to take her, and that was how, by a miracle, she was knee deep in pumpkins, white earmuffs blocking a little sound and a hot cider keeping her gloved hands warm. Joshua was hefting pumpkins, trying to decide which one he wanted while she wandered the field, joy evident across her face.
"I'm going to the petting zoo!" she shouted over the other people toward her brother. He waved a hand at her, lifting another pumpkin expertly. She chuckled and picked her way to the pens, where bleating could be heard.
