Chapter Three
Mountainville
“Get ready!” Marshal Dax yelled. “We fire in…”
He raised his left hand to the crowd of spectators, revealing a trio of fingers. They all shouted with him in unison as he ticked off the countdown, lowering each finger one by one.
“Three! Two! One!”
The cannon-like gun hissed and popped before giving one final belch that sent a pumpkin from its mouth. The pumpkin soared over the desert, swooshing past several signs marking the distance. The cheers grew louder the farther the pumpkin traveled. Then, it became just a dot on the horizon, visible in any detail to only those spectators who had binoculars. Finally, the orange fruit fell to the ground with a wet splat, having finished its trajectory.
Bo, one of the town’s law enforcement officers, was out in the vacant field, acting as the official judge. He ran to where the projectile had landed and gasped as he saw it. In disbelief, he raised his walkie talkie and said, “Dax, he did it. That thing flew over six thousand feet!”
Back in front of the bleachers that had been erected for the contest, Dax raised is own radio and said, “That would be a world record!”
They’d looked up the official records of the world renown sport of Pumpkin Chunkin’ before. Some one in Utah had shot one over five thousand feet. If Stryker’s cannon had busted six thousand, then it was indeed a new global record.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Dax said, addressing the eagerly awaiting crowd. “He did it! A new world record! We’ll have the exact measurement soon, but the pumpkin flew over the last marker. Meaning, it cleared over six thousand feet. Stryker is the world champion!”
The crowd broke into cheers and applause.
Atop the platform, where Stryker was standing, along with his best friend Harrison, he smiled, waving at the crowd.
“I couldn’t have done it without Harrison,” he said, grabbing his friend’s hand and holding it up high in triumph.
Harrison waved with his free hand and smiled as the crowd cheered.
“And now,” Dax said, “let’s call our esteemed mayor forward. Eli? Where are you?”
The crowd cheered once again as Eli—flanked by his “security detail”—appeared and walked toward the platform. That security detail consisted of Katie and Stella, both wearing their usual baby doll dresses (only this time with leggings beneath them, thanks to a chilly November wind that swept over the desert) and sunglasses. In their hands were large weapons.
Slime guns built by none other than Stryker himself.
Dax rolled his eyes at the theatrics but still smiled, finding his wife and Little, Stella, adorable—no matter how ridiculous the situation was.
And with the Mountainville Gang, things were often ridiculous.
Eli took the cordless microphone from the marshal, made his way to the top of the platform, and stood by Stryker and Harrison as he addressed the crowd.
“Let’s give it up one more time for our champions!” he thundered.
Despite his trim frame, his voice could pack a punch when he wanted it to.
Once the applause had died down, Eli continued. “It is my honor to present to them, the First Annual Mountainville Pumpkin Chunkin’ Trophy!”
The crowd clapped again as Dax handed the prize up to Eli who in turn gave it to Stryker.
“It’s also my honor to announce that through this event—sponsorships, entry fees, and donations—we’ve raised over ten thousand dollars for the local homeless alliance! That will go a long way in helping folks facing hardship this holiday season!”
This brought the biggest applause of all.
A moment later, Eli said, “I want to close by inviting you all to the annual Thanksgiving community dinner coming up next Thursday. And remember, Thanksgiving and football just go together. That’s why we’re having the first annual Mountville Bowl! It’s a game like you’ve never seen! Make plans to be there. Have a good day, folks!”
The crowd clapped again before breaking up.
As Eli climbed down, Dax approached him and said, “Mayor, if I could have a word.”
“What’s up? Do we need privacy?”
“No. This concerns all of you and some of the others,” Dax said.
He waited until Katie, Stella, Harrison, and Stryker had gathered around, too.
“I received an interesting phone call this morning,” Dax said. He went on to explain the situation, finishing by asking, “Do y’all think you can help me with that?”
“Can we?” Eli said with a gleeful smile. “We’d love to!”
Dax chuckled. “Don’t get too out of hand. I hate asking you to do something like this. But…well, it’s called for in this situation. Just keep the craziness to a minimum. Please. For the sake of Mountainville!”
“We promise,” the Littles said in unison.
Dax groaned.
“I’m going to regret this,” he muttered, walking away.
“I’m going to regret this big time.”