Allison struggled away from her white Renault, limping with the weight of the last of the pumpkins. She found Clark in the twilight4 on the twig-and-leaf-littered porch behind the house.
He wore a wool shawl. He was moving up and back in a padded glider6, pushed by the ball of his slippered7 foot.
Allison lowered a big pumpkin2, let it rest on the wide floorboards.
Clark was much older-seventy-eight to Allison's thirty-five. They were married. They were both quite tall and looked something alike in their facial features. Allison wore a natural-hair wig5. It was a thick blonde hood8 around her face. She was dressed in bright-dyed denims today. She wore durable9 clothes, usually, for she volunteered afternoons at a children's daycare center.
She put one of the smaller pumpkins on Clark's long lap. "Now, nothing surreal," she told him. "Carve just a regular face. These are for the kids."
In the foyer, on the Hipplewhite desk, Allison found the maid's chore list with its cross-offs, which included Clark's supper. Allison went quickly through the daily mail: a garish10 coupon11 packet, a bill from Jamestown Liquors, November's pay-TV program guide, and the worst thing, the funniest, an already opened, extremely unkind letter from Clark's relations up North. "You're an old fool," Allison read, and, "You're being cruelly deceived." There was a gift check for Clark enclosed, but it was uncashable, signed as it was, "Jesus H. Christ."
Late, late into this night, Allison and Clark gutted12 and carved the pumpkins together, at an old table set on the back porch, over newspaper after soggy newspaper, with paring knives and with spoons and with a Swiss Army knife Clark used for exact shaping of tooth and eye and nostril13. Clark had been a doctor, an internist, but also a Sunday watercolorist. His four pumpkins were expressive14 and artful. Their carved features were suited to the sizes and shapes of the pumpkins. Two looked ferocious15 and jagged. One registered surprise. The last was serene16 and beaming.
Allison's four faces were less deftly17 drawn18, with slits19 and areas of distortion. She had cut triangles for noses and eyes. The mouths she had made were just wedges-two turned up and two turned down.
By one in the morning they were finished. Clark, who had bent20 his long torso forward to work, moved back over to the glider and looked out sleepily at nothing. All the lights were out across the ravine.
Clark stayed. For the season and time, the Virginia night was warm. Most leaves had been blown away already, and the trees stood unbothered. The moon was round above them.
Allison cleaned up the mess.
"Your jack-o-lanterns are much, much better than mine," Clark said to her.
"Like hell," Allison said.
"Look at me," Clark said. Allison did.
She was holding a squishy bundle of newspapers. The papers reeked21 sweetly with the smell of pumpkin guts22.
"Yours are far better," he said.
"You're wrong. You'll see when they're lit," Allison said.
She went inside and came back with yellow vigil candles. It took her a while to get each candle settled, and then to line up the results in a row on the porch railing. She went along and lit each candle and fixed23 the pumpkin lids over the little flames.
"See?" she said.
They sat together a moment and looked at the orange faces.
"We're exhausted24. It's good night time," Allison said. "Don't blow out the candles. I'll put new in tomorrow."
【翻译】
Allison 挣扎着离开她的白色 Renault，一瘸一拐地承受着最后一个南瓜的重量。她在暮色4 中在房子后面散落着树枝和树叶的门廊上找到了克拉克。
他披着一条羊毛披肩。他坐在带衬垫的滑翔机6 中上下移动，被他 7 英尺高的拖鞋的球推动。
克拉克的年龄要大得多，他 78 岁，而艾莉森的年龄要大得多。他们结婚了。他们都挺高的，五官看起来有点像。艾莉森戴着一顶自然头发的假发5.她的脸上戴着一个厚厚的金发兜帽8。她今天穿着鲜艳的牛仔布。她通常穿着耐用的9 件衣服，因为她下午在儿童日托中心做志愿者。
她把一个小南瓜放在克拉克的长腿上。“现在，没有什么超现实的了，”她告诉他。“只雕刻一张普通的脸。这些是给孩子们的。
在门厅的 Hipplewhite 桌子上，Allison 发现了女佣的家务清单和其中的交叉项，其中包括 Clark 的晚餐。艾莉森快速浏览了每日邮报：一个花哨的 10 张优惠券11 包，詹姆斯敦酒类公司的账单，11 月的付费电视节目指南，以及最糟糕、最有趣的事情，一封已经打开的、来自克拉克在北方的亲戚的极其不友善的信。“你是个老傻瓜，”Allison读道，“你被残忍地欺骗了。随函附上一张送给克拉克的礼物支票，但不能兑现，署名是“耶稣基督”。
深夜，直到深夜，Allison 和 Clark 在后廊的一张旧桌子上，用削皮刀和勺子，用克拉克用来精确塑造牙齿、眼睛和鼻孔的瑞士军刀，将 12 个南瓜切成内脏并一起雕刻 13 个南瓜。克拉克曾是一名医生、内科医生，但也是一名周日水彩画家。他的四个南瓜富有表现力 14 且富有艺术性。他们雕刻的特征适合南瓜的大小和形状。两个看起来凶猛15 岁，锯齿状。一个记录的惊喜。最后一个是平静的 16 岁和喜气洋洋的。
Allison 的四个面不太巧妙地 17 绘制18，有狭缝19 和扭曲区域。她为鼻子和眼睛剪了三角形。她做的嘴只是楔子——两个向上翘起，两个向下翘起。
到凌晨一点，他们已经完成了。克拉克将他长长的躯干向前弯曲了 20 个工作，他回到滑翔机旁边，睡眼惺忪地看着外面什么都没有。峡谷对面所有的灯都熄灭了。
克拉克留下来了。就季节和时间而言，弗吉尼亚州的夜晚是温暖的。大部分树叶已经被吹走了，树木毫发无损地站着。月亮在他们头顶上圆圆的。
Allison 收拾了这个烂摊子。
“你的南瓜灯比我的好多很多，”克拉克对她说。
“就像地狱一样，”Allison 说。
“看看我，”克拉克说。Allison 做到了。
她手里拿着一捆柔软的报纸。报纸上散发着甜甜的气味 21 南瓜内脏22.
“你的要好得多，”他说。
“你错了。你会看到它们何时被点亮，“Allison 说。
她进去，回来时带着黄色的守夜蜡烛。她花了一段时间才把每根蜡烛都安顿下来，然后在门廊栏杆上把结果排成一排。她走过去点燃了每根蜡烛，并在小火焰上固定了 23 个南瓜盖。
“看到了吗？”
他们一起坐了一会儿，看着那些橙色的脸。
“我们已经筋疲力尽了 24 年。这是美好的夜晚，“艾莉森说。“不要吹灭蜡烛。我明天会放新的。
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