beatrix bobbit and the pumpkin competition

No one had been quite sure what to do with Mr. Bobbit after they returned from the Pumpkin Pop Up Palace. He'd been muttering to himself, and spending nearly all of his free time carrying wheelbarrows filled with dirt and branches from the forest to the field behind their house.

He'd even been one minute and three seconds late in feeding Penny her dinner of lightly blanched carrots with a honey glaze! Something was going on with him, and it all had to do with Percy.

"Was Percy dad's best friend?" Sybil stood on tip toes over Mrs. Bobbit while she tried to knit a bright pink scarf. Unfortunately, the scarf still looked like a pile of tangled yarn.

"I wouldn't say best friend, Sybil, dear, but--"

"Why hasn't he been over here? Callum's here all the time and he always talks about his uncle," Beatrix had been the most taken aback by the revelation that Mr. Bobbit had at some point had a friend. He'd never had any friend over her whole life, and now, suddenly, he had a former interesting friend who built castles out of pumpkins?

No, something wasn't adding up.

"He's busy, Beatrix, dear," Mrs. Bobbit sighed and held up her tangle of yarn. Beatrix yanked it away, and, with a few flicks of her wand through the knots, handed it back to Mrs. Bobbit. Mrs. Bobbit stared at the yarn. "Thank you, Beatrix, dear. But I don't think I like knitting very much."

Mrs. Bobbit stood and flexed her fingers, then shuffled into the kitchen.

Beatrix plopped down on the warm part of the yellow sofa where she'd been sitting, and was soon joined by Sybil.

"It's weird right?" Beatrix asked, needing confirmation.

"Definitely," Sybil nodded and her pale hair floated around her face. "It's also weird he hasn't asked us to help."

"Maybe we should offer!" Beatrix leapt up and tugged herself along with her, darting through the kitchen.

"We're going to help Dad," Sybil shouted as they passed Mrs. Bobbit and flung themselves into the back garden.

Once outside in the garden, they looked around for Mr. Bobbit and Penny, but saw nothing other than wheelbarrow tracks in the otherwise pristine grass. Then, a loud crash and a grunt came from just inside the forest.

Beatrix and Sybil looked at each other before darting into the trees, calling "Dad? Are you okay??"

Dancing rays of light sprung through the trees, onto the pine needles and crumpled orange leaves underfoot. Beatrix smiled, and Sybil spun her arms wide preparing to twirl through the beams when a louder grunt interrupted them.

A few feet away, they found Mr. Bobbit leaning against a wide tree trunk and huffing heavily.

"Dad, dad, are you okay?" Sybil asked while they both ran to him.

"Eelbarr-" Mr. Bobbit huffed and gestured to the red wheelbarrow piled dangerously high with objects. But they couldn't see any of the objects due to the green tarp draped and tied over the pile.

Suddenly, another voice bounced off the trees from outside the forest.

"Beatrix, Sybil? It's Callum, where are you," Callum shouted.

Beatrix opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Mr. Bobbit clapped his dusty gloved hand over her mouth. His eyes were bright and wild, not unlike Beatrix's after a late night of spell work.

When Mr. Bobbit finally removed his gloved hand, Beatrix tilted her hand. "If you want help moving that, we're gonna need more hands."

Mr. Bobbit shook his head fiercely, then clumsily pointed at Beatrix's pocket. "Itch nonsense," he muttered.

"She's not itchy yet, but too much longer in this forest," Sybil giggled loudly, as Beatrix's hand clasped around the smooth wooden wand jutting out of her black robe pocket.

"NOOO," Mr. Bobbit garbled, finally removing his hand from the tree and almost toppling over.

"Why don't you want Callum to help us?" Beatrix asked with a smirk.

Mr. Bobbit huffed, and gestured to the wheelbarrow tower once more.

"Fine," Beatrix sighed. She bent down to the floor of the forest and scooped up a damp handful of leaves. She tapped them once with her wand, then began circling the wheelbarrow and tossing the leaves onto it. The creaking trees above stood still, and when Beatrix finished, she tried to push the wheelbarrow.

It rolled forward easily, and Beatrix allowed herself a victorious grin before she looked at Mr. Bobbit and Sybil. "We better get going if we don't want Callum to find us."

Mr. Bobbit grumbled something about pop ups and shuffled to Beatrix's side. The three of them followed the winding rock lined path to the bright green grass beyond the trees. Beatrix picked up speed, pushing the wheelbarrow along as if it weighed no more than a pile of leaves.

Once back outside the cover of trees with Sybil at her side and Mr. Bobbit huffing loudly behind them, Beatrix paused at the top of the hill that led to the open field below. She hadn't been down here in the many days of Mr. Bobbit's mysterious toiling.

But now that she was, she couldn't stop staring.

"You did all this?" Sybil asked wide-eyed and mouthed.

Mr. Bobbit shrugged, but a flinch at the edge of his mustache indicated how proud he was of what he'd managed to build. Beatrix had thought the Pumpkin Palace was the inspiration for Mr. Bobbit's sudden interest in disappearing outside for hours each day.

But this was entirely different.

A woodland estate spanned the open field. The centerpiece was a hollowed out tree trunk created out of different branches and sticks and logs. There were swings suspended from ten foot beams and wooden diving boards above gigantic piles of leaves. Wooden bunnies and raccoons and birds were placed playfully around the entrance to the hollowed out tree.

"It's not done yet," Mr. Bobbit scratched the back of his head and smiled shyly.

"What can we do?" Beatrix didn't hesitate.

"Yeah! This is awesome, Dad!" Sybil beamed.

"Well, the market needs finishing..."

"We're on it!" Sybil and Beatrix answered in unison, before rushing down the hill to the promise of excitement below.

They were definitely going to show up Percy.

Beatrix couldn't wait until Callum saw what they'd made, then blushed.