Our story begins in a budding vegetable garden. This garden expanded acres and acres across a lone grassland. Every year, upon the Harvest Moon in the beginning of Autumn, this patch blooms a bed of greenery of all sizes and shapes. There, you can find the common arrays of succulent eggplants, towering mounds of illustrious corn cobs, tomatoes that are as red as the roses of June, and a widespread of vegetation that could expand to the mountain range if possible. However, within this collective of vegetation and foliage, contained the biggest prize of all. Deep within the recesses of this lovely garden held a pumpkin patch. This patch was nary an ordinary patch, but instead was special. Legend has it that this pumpkin patch held the largest, healthiest, most humongous pumpkins that one would ever lay their eyes on. Some of which were packed with most bountiful seeds you ever could see, feel, or even taste.

One would wonder, who would ever be so lucky to even nurture such a bountiful harvest. That’s the thing… nobody ever did. One man may have done it, at least, that was the rumor. But since that day, no one has ever come and cared for this mysterious garden. It all just came to fruition all on its own.

“Now that sounds unfathomable”, you may say, “A garden does not flourish on its own ventures, nor could they sustain life at a time such as this. That is the beauty of nature, my friend. We might not be fully capable to understand all its proficiencies, but we can surely come to appreciate the gifts they offer daily.

Within the confines of this ever-expansive garden, the pumpkins rise from their cocoons of leaves and shrubbery, greeting the beautiful sunlight above with an everlasting shine. A shine that not only gives them their stems a welcoming company of leaves, but also something… Something strangely magical upon their velvety orange skins. The sun shined on one pumpkin particularly, giving the vegetable the most of its alluring rays. It wasn’t until a sudden burst of magic shot into the pumpkin, awakening it with a skip in its step and a smile gently carved into its face. The pumpkin shot upwards with a loud bellowing moan before crashing down into the grass that it had birthed from. The vegetable then looked around and saw that many of the leaves had fallen from the trees. It saw that the air was breezy, but just right for plants such as he. The pumpkin took a deep breath and closed its eyes. Suddenly, a whisk of wind breezed across its face, fluttering its leaves like daisies. The pumpkin then opened its eyes and began to bounce around, joyfully proclaiming, “IT’S FAAALLLLL!!!!” The pumpkin couldn’t help and wanted to share his announcement with the others.

“Guys wake up! Wake up! It’s Fall! It’s FA- WHOA!!!” the pumpkin decreed until accidentally tripping on a tangled vine, tumbling it down the hill and bumping into his fellow pumpkin brethren, causing a chain reaction of pumpkins to be rudely awakened from their slumber. The other pumpkins were tossed, flipped, tumbled, and rolled into each other in an ungraceful manner. All the pumpkins continued to stumble until being carefully stopped by an accommodating wall of vines. If there was any other way to awaken your companions from their hibernation in a rude manner, this would be it.

“Ugh… Paaauuulllll!!!” one of the crumpled pumpkins shouted, leaving Paul to stare and sheepishly laugh at his single mistake. Beyond the field of disorganized squash plants, a tiny, young vine could be found cording itself around the trunk of a very large tree. This vine, though small, and a little bit slim, housed a bud unlike any other. This bud was large, larger than any pumpkin bud known throughout the garden. Standing near it were two pumpkins whom were awaiting the arrival of this new member to the pumpkin family. The pumpkin parents, per say, sat there with hope in their eyes, as this bud began to stir. Their anticipation peaked as the petals began to open, exposing the strands of vine that kept it secure. The small vines opened the sprout even further as a tint of orange was slowly revealed. The parents took a small step back, letting nature take its course. With the powers of the sun that shined through the waning shades of this luscious tree, the pumpkin parents closed their eyes as the large sprout rose from its holding and lowered itself to the ground. The bud slowly lifted its head as the vine that kept it in place began to shrink.

After a few sounds of crinkles and creaks from the vine itself, the sprouting seemed to have come to a complete stop. The two parents then opened their eyes and turned back to the lone tree. At first, they didn’t see anything. Confused, they decided to hop closer to the tree. The father wondered where their big pumpkin child would be, beginning to shop around for clues. His wife then called to him quietly, using her vine to turn him around and point him down. Faced in front of him was not a pumpkin of devoutly large grandeur, but instead a pumpkin that was as small as little baby would be. The father lowered his head, disappointed that their pumpkin wasn’t as large as he wanted it to be. It wasn’t until the child slowly opened its eyes in order to change his mind. The youngling’s yawn of life was enough to make the mother swoon. But, as soon as the child opened its eyes to the father, that was when all his disappointment was suddenly whisked away. He stared deeper into this child, only to be taken by surprise when it made its first sound.

“Gah!” the child exclaimed, taking kindly to its newfound family. The mother gently raises the child and observes its beauty. The mother sees the curl on its stem and realizes that their new baby pumpkin was a girl. She kindly smiled once the baby made another sound, and happily cuddled it against her ridges. The mother pumpkin looks towards her husband and asked, “Why, dear, this is a blessing. Especially on an Autumn like this. What should we name her? Tell me, what should we name this new child?” The father pondered to himself for a while, letting his vine scratch his chin before being handed the baby to hold. Once in his grasp, the baby yawned, and slowly closed her eyes. He watched as the little child fell asleep in his arms. It wasn’t until the sun’s bright light gave him an idea. He looked to his wife, then slowly to his child, and watched as her stem curl gently grazed on his skin. Suddenly, a note of joy entered his heart, and a name would slowly come to be.

“Joelle,” the father quietly proclaimed, “We’ll call this little pumpkin child, Joelle.” The mother and father smiled at each other before wrapping themselves into a loving embrace. A new family had been birthed on this beautiful autumn day, with Joelle being a new member that would be here to stay.