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Duncan offered me his arm as we followed her.
“She’s been planning this since the festival schedule came out.”
“I can tell. It’s nice to attend an event with someone else responsible for the itinerary.”
“Enjoy it while you can. She’ll have us walking the entire park twice if she thinks we’ve missed something.”
I slipped my hand around his forearm.
“Then we’d better keep up.”
The pumpkin-carving exhibit occupied a long tent with tables arranged beneath warm overhead lights. Some pumpkins were small enough to hold in one hand. Others were enormous, their surfaces covered with elaborate designs that must have taken hours to finish.
We found the dragon near the center.
It was spectacular.
The carver had used a large pumpkin for the body and smaller ones for the head and curling tail, with wings cut from thin sections of rind and supported by concealed rods. When the light inside changed, the dragon’s eyes glowed amber and its open mouth appeared to breathe fire.
Sienna stopped directly in front of it.
“See?”
“I do,” Duncan said, bending slightly to inspect the wing nearest him. “That’s some beautiful work.”
She looked up at him. “You like it?”
“Very much. Look at how they used the different thicknesses of the pumpkin for the scales. The light comes through the thinner parts, so you get more detail without having to cut all the way through.”
Sienna moved around to see the side he was indicating. I watched her study the design with the same intent expression I’d seen on her father’s face when he examined one of the Factory mechanisms.
“That’s why its neck looks bumpy even though it’s mostly smooth,” she said.
“Exactly.”
For several minutes, they discussed the carving, the angle of the lighting, and how the wings had been attached. Duncan didn’t simplify his explanations unnecessarily, and Sienna asked increasingly detailed questions.
I was perfectly content to stand beside them and listen.
Eventually she pointed toward a smaller pumpkin carved into an owl perched inside a hollow tree.
“I like that one too. The owl looks like it’s hiding until you walk past.”
Duncan studied the design. “Which one would you vote for?”
“The dragon’s probably harder to make, but the owl is more surprising.” She looked between them before deciding. “I think I’d vote for the owl.”
“Then vote for the owl.”
Sienna glanced up at him, apparently surprised that he wasn’t going to argue for the dragon.
Duncan handed her one of the little voting slips from the end of the table. She filled it out carefully and dropped it into the wooden ballot box.
As we continued through the exhibit, she reached for his hand.
He took it without interrupting their conversation.
I looked away before either of them caught me smiling.
