Free Death of a Pumpkin Carver by Lee Hollis Page A

taking off again with promises to return, but they had heard those words before and so they had learned to be a bit more skeptical.
    They loved having their father around, and it bothered Hayley that no matter how hard she worked to protect them from getting hurt sometimes it was just impossible.
    â€œHey, babe, do me a favor. Say good-bye to Uncle Otis for me, will you?” Danny asked as he headed for the door.
    â€œYou didn’t see him today?” Hayley asked.
    â€œNo. He never came home from his moonshine run last night,” Danny said, shrugging.
    â€œThat’s a little odd,” Hayley said.
    â€œNot really. Sometimes after a big sale, Otis goes on a bender to celebrate and can be gone days at a time. Trust me. I know the guy. This is not unusual behavior.”
    â€œWell, I’ll be sure to tell him the next time I see him,” Hayley said.
    Danny stopped at the door, turned around, and then marched back and put his hands on Hayley’s face. “Can I at least get a good-bye kiss?”
    â€œOn the cheek,” Hayley warned.
    Danny nodded, removed his hands, and kissed his ex-wife gently on the cheek, and then without another word, pivoted around and walked out of the house.
    Hayley went to close the door when the police scanner on top of the refrigerator in the kitchen crackled to life and she heard the voice of the dispatcher. “All units, we have a 10-54 at the Ledgelawn Cemetery.”
    â€œThat’s a possible dead body,” Hayley said.
    Hayley’s cell phone rang.
    It was Randy.
    She quickly answered the call.
    â€œHey, it’s me,” Randy said. “You listening to the scanner?”
    â€œYes. We just heard. What’s going on?”
    â€œApparently a few kids were playing at the cemetery and stumbled across a dead body lying face down next to a tombstone. They thought it might be a Halloween prank and the guy was going to jump up and scare them, but they kicked it a few times and it looked like a real dead body so they called 911.”
    â€œThat’s awful. Do you they know who it is?”
    â€œYes. Otis Pearson.”
    Hayley dropped the phone and ran to the door, swinging it open in time to see Danny climbing into his rental.
    â€œDanny, wait!”

    Island Food & Spirits by Hayley Powell
    There is nothing I enjoy more on a chilly fall evening in October than a good hearty bowl of Pumpkin Soup. Even better than that, there is nothing I enjoy more to drink while preparing my soup than a strong Pumpkin Cocktail.
    So as I downed my cocktail and gathered my ingredients, I was reminded of a woeful tale that happened years ago when I made my very first batch of Pumpkin Soup. Eager to have some taste tasters try my first attempt, I told my husband at the time, Danny, to invite over his uncle Otis and his wife, Tori, since our kids were at the time visiting their grandmother in Florida. Otis, who didn’t get invited to many places because of his aversion to soap and bathwater, was thrilled and even offered to bring us a few pumpkins that he recently “acquired.”
    When Danny announced Otis had offered us free pumpkins he “acquired” I was immediately suspicious. Otis, who had a long record of run-ins with the law during his youth and some years beyond, was not to be trusted. And in my mind, “acquired” was just a fancy word for stolen !
    Danny insisted Otis had turned over a new leaf and was now a law-abiding citizen, and his past transgressions were just that . . . in the past. So I relented and they showed up at the house in their beat-up Ford truck twenty minutes later.
    Danny ran outside to help Otis with the pumpkins while Tori joined me in the kitchen for one of my signature Pumpkin Cocktails.
    A whole hour passed as Tori polished off three of my cocktails all the while complaining about her deadbeat husband who made her life miserable. She hardly took a breath except to slurp down her drink.
    The soup was