Pumpkin Spice

Assignment: Journal about your Thanksgiving preparations this week. Write it as if you’re writing it for someone who doesn’t know your family or you. Introduce what traditions you and your family partake in.

Due Date: Monday, 11/27/23

Monday, 11/20/23

To say the least, I was NOT looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. We always end up talking about embarrassing stories, and someone always forgets to bring one of the dishes. That was one of the downsides of having immortal relatives. Everyone knows what your grandmother did when she was three and your great-aunt always brings it up. But that’s just because we’re vampires. Not the blood-sucking monsters the stories always tell you about, but the beetroot-loving, borscht-eating immortals, who happen to have unusually sharp and long canine teeth. Yeah, we’ve got one of the worst stories, but let me tell you, werewolves don’t have it easy either. I would know because my best friend is one. Not that any humans know. Oh, don’t worry about that, us non-humans are very careful when it comes to humans. My dad used to be one, but then my mum bit him, so he’s one of us now.

Anyway, Mum is going to host this year, and I know everyone is going to be talking about me. How do I know that you ask? Because I’m almost 15. Yep. And I haven’t bitten anyone yet. I know, I know, why have I waited so long? Because I have no idea who to bite. You see it’s very important for a vampire to bite someone before they turn 15 because otherwise, they won’t be immortal. Yeah, big problem. And my 15th birthday is at the end of the month, on the 30th. 10 days away. That’s almost a week, and I haven’t even decided who I’m going to bite. Anyway, I’ve got to go, but just so you know, I’m only doing this because my teacher assigned homework today, and basically, we’ve got to journal about Thanksgiving week and what we do to prepare for it. She’s a non-human as well, but you wouldn’t guess it. She’s a tropical mermaid, and despite what the stories say, she won’t dry up and die just because she’s out of the water. She’s always cold so the blanket she uses to cover her tail isn’t suspicious at all. There are only three mermaids/mermen in our school, and one of them is Miss Blenny. The only merman in the school is Cynthia’s boyfriend, and Cynthia is my best friend. I call her Thia for short, mostly because she thinks Cyn sounds wrong when you say it out loud.

OK, I’ve really got to go now, but I shall return! Mum’s calling me to help with the pumpkin pie.

Tuesday, 11/21/23

Ugh. I can just FEEL my 15th birthday creeping up on me. My mother keeps giving me these looks when I come home from school, and she’s really disappointed when I shake my head. I just- ugh. I don’t want to bite my boyfriend, but that’s what my mum did and it turned out fine. I just don’t know if he’s the one yet. I really don’t want to bite him and make him a vampire and then it turns out we’re going to break up in two weeks, y’know? And I don't really have any other human friends, I just hang out with Thia and Zach (the aforementioned boyfriend of Thia). And of course, I couldn’t bite one of them because it wouldn’t do anything for them or me. There is this one annoying girl at school, but I don’t want to have to explain to her about the non-human thing and have her possibly expose our whole existence out of spite.

Oh, and I almost forgot! We made a HUGE pot of borscht today! We made a quintuple recipe, and the original recipe will feed our family for like two days if we eat it every meal. It better be enough for all the relatives! I also helped my younger twin sisters make some pumpkin spice cupcakes for their class. That was their assignment. They’re so lucky to be three grades below me. Anyway, my alarm’s going off, so I have to get ready for bed.

Wednesday 11/22/23

Today, Mum almost pulled me and my sisters out of school! We have SO much to do, we really should’ve started earlier, but that’s my mum for you. She’s always leaving the prep for the last minute. But basically, I’m stuck in the attic with my Aunt, because half of the family showed up early because they didn’t want to be late. Let me explain what happened after school.

When Mum picked us up (a little early because we had so much to do) she rushed to the house, almost running a couple of red lights, and she told us not to bother getting out of our school uniform so we could be ready as soon as possible. I dropped my bag off on my bed and joined my sisters in the kitchen after grabbing a sweatshirt from my closet.

“Right, Alexa, I want you to chop the veg, Flora, I want you to get the kettle hot and bring out the nice dishes, and Fedora, I want you to vacuum the entranceway and the dining room, ok everyone?” My mum said as she rushed around, trying to get all the ingredients out for all the cooking we were about to do. I was chopping the onions when I heard the doorbell go. Mum yelled out ot Fedora, who was still running the vacuum, to open the door. I hear the vacuum switch off and then the excited greetings of Aunt Page, Aunt Laura, Uncle Ben and Uncle Kevin.

“Mummy! Aunt Page and Aunt Laura are here!” Fedora yelled running into the kitchen and almost knocking over the bag of flour Mum had just put on the table. A little poof of flour came out of the bag and rested on her head as she ran around the island counter we have in the middle of our kitchen

“Oh my goodness! Page! Laura! I’m in here!” Mum called distractedly to our guests. She was trying to make the crust for the pumpkin pie, but for some reason, the lumps of butter weren’t mixing in very well.

“I’ve got it, Mum,” I said as I stopped chopping the carrots, and turned to her, “Go See Aunt Page and Aunt Laura and I’ll finish this.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Alexa.” She said dropping a kiss on my head as she walked out of the kitchen. 

By the time everyone had stopped chatting and Aunt Page brought her beetroot brownies into the kitchen, I had gotten all the lumps out of the crust, and was trying to finish the carrots.

“Hello, ALEXA!” Aunt Page said in a very weird voice.

“Hi?” I said tentatively, knowing that she was going to say something about my 15th birthday.

“So, you’re almost 15 now, aren’t you?” She said, leaning one arm on the counter I was working on, “Have you bitten anyone yet?” She asked eagerly.

“Uh, no, but I think I know someone who I MIGHT bite if everyone thinks I should.” Aunt Page nodded wisely.

“Ah, very good choice. Your mother, on the other hand, didn’t want to hear thousands of year’s worth of advice on who to bite and went with her boyfriend at the time. She got VERY lucky, though. I wouldn’t recommend doing it like that. Those horrible stories didn’t just appear on their own, you know. Someone wasn’t happy with their daughter growing fangs.” She winked conspiratorially, referencing the mishap with my great-great-great-great-grandfather, who unfortunately died in a car crash which (despite what the popular opinion claims) was entirely his fault. He actually only died a decade ago. And yes, vampires can die, we just don’t die naturally. Something has to kill us.

Anyway, Aunt Page, Aunt Laura and their respective husbands helped with the rest of the prep for tomorrow, and we all had sandwiches for dinner since no one wanted to cook anymore. Mum called Dad because he was late (He works late shifts in the grocery store), and then split Fedora, Flora and me up into different bedrooms so the Aunts and Uncles could be together without us kids in the way. I’m up in the small attic bed right now, with my little reading light on. I can hear Flora and Fedora beneath me, playing music and jumping around because the room they were put in has an Alexa in it. I know, it’s annoying to be called the same thing as our AI speaker. Although I guess I could’ve done worse. Imagine being called Google or Siri. That would be awful.

Thursday, 11/23/23

Well. I should probably start at the beginning.

At 8:00 in the morning, our doorbell rang. All of Grandmother’s family, including Grandmother, decided to show up simultaneously, so we had no time to set everything up. Like the extra tables and chairs in the dining room, living room, and kitchen. Everyone helped out though, so it wasn’t too bad. Grandmother brought the purple mash, as we had come to call the mashed beetroot and sweet potato that our family was famous for in the vampire world. Great-aunt Abby, the one who loved bringing up the story of how my grandmother told one of the girls in her school that she was a vampire, brought beetroot brownies; and great-uncle Vernan brought the raspberry trifle.

By the time the great-great-relatives arrived, we had set up all the eating areas, the meatloaf we had prepared yesterday was in the oven and the drinks were cooling in the fridge. That was about the time things started to get interesting.

“Mum! Darling! How are you?” Great-Aunt Abby called out to great-great-Grandma.

“Hello everyone!” Great-great-Grandad said in his booming voice as he sat at the head of the table in the dining room. At this point in his life, he was looking very middle-aged. He still had a couple hundred years until he looked old, but you definitely wouldn’t describe him as a spring chicken.

Mum was fluttering around, trying to show everyone to their strategically planned seating, and making sure all the older guests knew that she was following traditions and doing things “properly”. Then the smoke alarm went off.

“What’s that noise?”

“Can someone turn it off?”

“Where’s the fire?!”

“Oh, great, you’ve burned it.” This last comment came from Aunt Page. The slightly burnt meatloaf was pulled out of the oven by my Dad, who was vigorously trying to blow out the little flame that was dancing on top of it.

“Well, I set the timer!” My mum said self-defensively as Aunt Page looked down her nose at my mum (she could do this literally, as she was a lot taller than my mum).

“Yeah, but it’s no good now.”

“Oh, shut up, Page. You’ve always been so judgemental when things don’t go exactly how you think they should.”

“And you’ve always been forgetting something or leaving things to the last minute.”

“And who do you think is to blame for that?”

“If you’re implying that’s me, don’t even bother coming to Christmas. You’re always trying to find someone to blame.”

“Shut up! You were the one who always forgot to tell me what was happening until it was almost over!”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“GIRLS! BOTH OF YOU!” This was yelled by my Grandmother, who was standing in the kitchen looking very annoyed. “Look, I know you both have different opinions on lots of things, but can we please try to be nice for at least the first hour?” My mum and Aunt Page nodded sulkily, and my dad left the still-smoking meatloaf to pat Mum comfortingly on the shoulder.

By the time the first dishes were served, a couple of things were clear. One, no one likes Uncle Ben’s veggies (again), even though he’s tried loads of new recipes; two, great-aunt Adelle forgot the ambrosia, so mum had to find some yoghurt in the fridge instead; three, the meatloaf was still edible (much to Mum’a relief), it was just a bit crunchier than expected. After the first dishes were finished, everyone started talking about me.

“Oooh, Alexa, you’re 15 now, right?”

“No, she’s ALMOST 15, but it’s only a couple of days away.”

“Have you bitten anyone yet?”

“Do you have any ideas who to bite?”

“I can share some funny stories with you if it would help with the decision?”

“Do you need some tips on where and when to bite them?”

Do you even know WHO to bite?” When I shook my head no at the last one, everyone gasped.

“But,” I said hastily, as I could see loads of people about to speak, “I’m pretty sure I know who to bite, but I wanted to ask everyone today if they think the human is okay.” A couple of family members nodded eagerly for me to elaborate. So I did.

“Basically, he came up to me and my werewolf friend and started asking us about vampires and bats.” Everyone gasped again.

“Does he know?”

“Have you told anyone you’re a vampire?”

“What did he ask you about bats?”

“Why did he ask you?” I held up my hand to stop the flow of questions. Once everyone had stopped speaking, I grinned.

“No, he didn’t know I’m a vampire. I was worried for a second that he HAD guessed my secret, but he must’ve seen the confused or worried expression on my face because he explained that he was asking everyone about it to see what they knew about folklore. He actually asked my friend’s boyfriend about werewolves, which was funny because he knew a lot more than he was allowed to say. Anyway, I said not much other than they bite people to make more vampires, and he nodded and walked off. He did seem genuinely curious, so I was wondering if everyone thinks that I should bite him so he can learn the real truth?” There were a couple of nods, a couple of “eh, you could find someone else” faces, but mostly there were affirmatives.

“That would be great!”

“How old is he?”

“Do you think he wouldn’t tell anyone?”

“Sounds good to me!” But the one I was looking to most for an answer stayed silent and thoughtful.

“Great-great-Grandad?” I asked timidly. He sighed and tilted his head a little.

“The thing you need to think most of when you bite someone is how they’re going to think about you afterwards. Is he a friend? Do you know him very well at all? Is he going to hate you? These are all things that should be taken into consideration before you bite anyone.” I nodded in agreement and thought about it through the rest of the meal and all the squabbling that came with it.

Once everyone had finished eating, we all moved the table in the living room out of the way and then everyone found a seat, whether it was on the floor or a sofa, and chatted for a while longer. Some of us played a card game, and others watched. After a couple of hours, everyone started packing up and helping with the dishes and the food. There were a couple of spats over who got to take which of the food home, but it was soon sorted out and then everyone left. Mum, Dad, Fedora, Flora and I were so tired that as soon as the last of the family left, we collapsed into our beds. My hand’s cramping and I can barely keep my eyes open, but know that I’m writing all of this down for you, Miss Blenny! I’m going to bed now.

Friday, 11/24/23

Well, there was a lot of cleaning today. Dad went out to buy some stuff from all of the Black Friday sales, and Mum, the twins and I stayed in the house and got everything back to normal. We had leftovers for lunch, and then we all watched a movie in the evening. But after I had slept on it, I knew who I was going to bite. That’s pretty much it.

-Alexa Orlova