Drabble #231: Drooling

[redwolf]

For this prompt, we continue with our one-word/phrase drabble roots:

Drooling

Tell us all about it. Labyfic-style, of course.

Given our entries from recent months, let's continue with the suggested limit of 500 words. Though remember that shorter pieces are most definitely welcome!

Your entry should take the following format, posted as a comment on this entry:

Word count: # of words
$your_beautiful_drabble

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Pumpkin

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

There were Above traditions that Sarah sometimes missed, but she had no intention of foisting them on the Underground. Aside from enjoying the local celebrations that were wonderful in their own ways, experience had taught her that some things were best left alone.

The first time she’d shown her brother how to carve pumpkins she’d been delighted when her drooling goblin entourage had been so enthusiastic about devouring the pumpkin innards she had been scooping out. She should have anticipated that she would then have to negotiate to prevent them from immediately eating the rest of the pumpkin.

In the end she had managed to explain that carved pumpkins sat outside houses as a form of protection until Halloween passed. The goblins accepted this logic in their typical goblin manner and the moment the clock struck midnight, they not only ate Sarah’s carved pumpkins, but all of those in a several block radius of her parents home. As there was no mess or property damage, most of the neighbours assumed they’d been removed by a keen gardener for composting.

Then there was the ritual of trick or treating. They had been surprisingly quick to grasp that they could get away with showing themselves provided they followed the rules of knocking on a door, saying the magic words and brandishing a receptacle.

Escorting Toby through the streets always came with more than the usual complement of goblins on Halloween. A number that grew in subsequent years to the point that the overflow started attaching themselves to other groups of children in the area. Even after Toby had outgrown the practice, Irene let her know that children dressing as goblins never seemed to wane, despite the ever changing fads of other costumes.

The veto on eating the pumpkins had also been extended to the goblin’s hauls of treats. Between the end of collecting and the midnight deadline, there was an active market in trading treats, with some preferring one type and others trying to collect a full set. Sarah was just happy that a large number of highly sugared goblins refrained from indulging Above.

The chaos was only marginally higher than any other day Underground. While having a heap of child sized creatures bounce off the walls Above might have been missed when their own children were similarly under the influence, even the dimmest of humans would eventually notice the headcount of children in their family had increased.

The goblin’s ongoing participation in the annual festivities did adapt over the years as decorations became more elaborate. The neighbours may have considered an increase in their budgets a little onerous when the trade off was limited to the removal of pumpkins, but when their seasonal lawn ornaments and lights were neatly packed up and left at their doors the next morning, they were most appreciative.

Sarah didn’t know if the practice had spread beyond the neighbourhood or how it was explained to new arrivals, but it seemed to have reached a happy medium.