Not so very long ago, Bumpa and Noma were bidding farewell to Rootsie, Tootsie and little Squeedunk after a day at the lake.
“Goodbye, Rootsie,” Bumpa said. “Goodbye, Tootsie. Goodbye, Pumpkin.”
“I’m not a pumpkin! I’m a watermelon!” Squeedunk hollered back.
And, indeed, she was a watermelon that day for she was wearing a bathing suit designed to look like a slice of watermelon. Her outfit was largely colored watermelon-flesh red and dotted with black watermelon seeds. A green strip trimmed the outfit like a watermelon rind.
Bumpa laughed. “Goodbye, Pumpkin,” and drove away.
For months and months, every time Bumpa and Noma would part from the children, Bumpa would say: “Goodbye, Rootsie. Goodbye, Tootsie. Goodbye, Pumpkin.”
And Squeedunk would always holler back: “I’m not a pumpkin! I’m a watermelon!” no matter what she was wearing that day.
Noma likes quilt stores just about as much as Bumpa likes a good cigar or… or… bacon. Noma can unearth a quilt store in most any town through which the two of them are passing.
Sure enough, one day, while driving around Bend, Oregon, Noma spotted a quilt store and the old couple just had to stop. There being no cigar stores or bacon stores nearby, Bumpa followed Noma in.
Displayed, as in many stores of this genre, were the works of quilters from throughout the area. Big and small, bright and subdued, geometric, log cabin, spirally, patchwork and abstract: all manner of quilts hung from the walls and rafters including a pumpkin quilt.
Bumpa saw it first. Then Noma.
“That would be perfect for Squeedunk!” Bumpa said. “It just needs one thing.”
Noma nodded. “And I know just what it needs.”
Thus, the seed was planted – a watermelon seed –
-- for Squeedunk’s Pumpkin… Watermelon! Quilt.
© 2019
Church of the Open Road Press
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