I bought six pumpkins this week after what most people would consider undue deliberation. Determined to buy pumpkins with curly stems, I parked myself outside Walmart, Lowes, and Kroger (in that order), standing next to huge cardboard cartons nearly as tall as I was. For over a quarter of an hour at each stop, I hefted pumpkins from the tops of the piles, setting the orange gourds on the ground around my feet. Most stems were hacked off, broken, or mangled. Where were all the pumpkins with lovely curly stems?

Curly stems are a must for pumpkins. Otherwise, they lose their fairy tale quality.

After carefully replacing all the subpar pumpkins in all the cardboard pumpkin boxes at almost all the stores in town, I called my husband.

“We’re not going to have pumpkins on the front porch this year,” I said. My hands were grubby and I had broken out in a sweat from all the heavy pumpkin lifting. My husband was at home, suffering from a stomach bug.

“What?” he said, groggily.

“No pumpkins. Their stems are ridiculous,” I said.

“Ah. The curly stem,” he said. “Maybe they don’t sell them like that anymore. Just get one with a regular stem this year.”

“Never! I have NEVER purchased a pumpkin with a plain, jaggedy, broken-looking stem; and I’m not about to start now!” I said.

“Well…don’t give up,” my husband said, more so he could get off the phone and continue convalescing than as real encouragement; but I took heart.

I remembered I hadn’t checked at Meijer; and there I found SIX curly-stemmed pumpkins…an autumn miracle.

My husband has weathered the stomach bug, our porch is adorned with pumpkins fit for Cinderella’s coach, and I can rest assured that I didn’t settle for a subpar pumpkin.