Junie’s Slow-Roll Game — Under the tin roof, with rain ticking softly on the shed door, Junie made up a game called Slow-Roll. She wanted one pumpkin that did not bump, thump, or rattle before supper. Read the full story →
Under the tin roof, with rain ticking softly on the shed door, Junie made up a game called Slow-Roll. She wanted one pumpkin that did not bump, thump, or rattle before supper. The rule was simple: roll past each pumpkin patch so gently that even a dry leaf would stay asleep.
Out she puttered into Pumpkin Hollow, where the air smelled like damp straw and cold vines. At the first dip, a pumpkin knocked another—bonk! Junie backed up. At the fence bend, mud hugged her tires and made her engine cough. “Easy now,” she whispered. She waited while a field mouse crossed the track with a seed in its mouth. Waiting cost her the last gold stripe of sunlight, but it showed her the smoothest path between the grass tufts.
By the time Junie came back, the wagon held not one quiet pumpkin, but a whole hush of them, nestled close as pillows. The shed lantern glowed honey-yellow, and the rain had turned to drip-drop music. If you follow the wagon rails with your eyes, can you find the pumpkin that won Slow-Roll under the tin roof?
