The Pumpkins That Didn’t Smile

Acacias Close, the night of 31 October. Twelve houses, a dry fountain and a game that had been waiting sixty years.

Acacias Close was the quietest neighbourhood in town: twelve low houses round a circular square, numbered clockwise, with a dry fountain in the middle and an old acacia tree in front of every door. Nothing ever happened there. So when Leire, her brother Pablo and their friend Sami went out trick-or-treating on Halloween night, they weren’t expecting much.

At number 1 the door was opened by Doña Amalia, who had lived in the close since she was a girl and never went out without her walking stick. Instead of sweets, she gave them a rusty key and a card written in fountain pen: “The pumpkins that smile give sweets. The ones that don’t smile give clues. The first one is waiting for you at teatime.”

“Teatime’s at five,” said Pablo, very sure of himself. “Always.” But the pumpkin at number 5 was grinning from ear to ear. The one at number 6, on the other hand, had its mouth carved as a straight line, as serious as a judge. Underneath was an envelope: “The next one, at the time they sent us to bed.”

“And what time did they send Doña Amalia to bed?” asked Sami. They went from house to house. The pumpkin at 7 was smiling; so was the one at 8. The one at 9 wasn’t. Then Leire stood still in the middle of the square and, for the first time, saw the close as if from above: twelve houses in a circle, numbered in order, and something fixed in the middle. “It’s not a neighbourhood,” she whispered. “It’s a clock.”

The envelope at 9 said: “And I sleep where the two hands meet at midnight.” “In the fountain!” shouted Pablo. “The hands always meet in the middle.” Leire looked at the fountain, made of solid stone. “In the middle they’re together all the time,” she said. “That wouldn’t be a clue.” And she ran towards the top of the clock face.

At the foot of the acacia at number 12, the roots had wrapped themselves around something hard. They dug with their hands and with Pablo’s sandpit spade until they pulled out a tin box. The rusty key fitted first time. Inside was a black-and-white photograph of twelve children in fancy dress by the fountain, which still had water in it back then, and twelve letters tied with string. The envelope on top said: “To be opened on 31 October 2026. Not a day before.”

Each letter had a house number on it. The one for number 1 was signed by a ten-year-old girl called Amalia: “To whoever lives in my house in sixty years’ time: I hope the neighbourhood is still playing.” When they got back to number 1, Doña Amalia was already waiting at the door, with her coat on and a torch in her hand. “It’s taken us sixty years,” she said. “Now, let’s deliver the post.”

Activities

1 Detective Inference

Why was the box buried under the acacia at number 12? Tick the correct hypothesis.

a) Because Doña Amalia could no longer dig and chose the acacia furthest from her house, so the game would last longer.
b) Because the close is a clock and, at midnight, both hands point to number 12 together.
c) Because something was buried at every house with a serious pumpkin, and number 12 was the last of the three.
d) Because the middle of the square was solid stone and the box wouldn’t fit anywhere else nearby.

Which clue proves it? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.

2 The Loom Order of events

Put the events in order, starting with the earliest. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.

Doña Amalia gives them a rusty key.
Pablo insists that teatime is at five.
The fountain in the square stops flowing.
They find an envelope under the pumpkin at number 9.
Twelve children are photographed in fancy dress by the fountain.
The rusty key opens the tin box.

3 The Missing Page Coherence

What do Leire, Pablo and Sami do next? Tick only one option.

a) They bury the box again without opening the letters, because the envelope on top said not to open them too early.
b) They go round the close house by house and deliver each letter to the door with the same number.
c) They give the twelve letters to Doña Amalia, who keeps them at home because her childhood friends wrote them.
d) They open the letter for number 12 and dig again in the fountain, because it says another box is hidden there.

Why do you rule out the others? Explain one of them.

4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading

Three statements don’t fit the story. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.

a) The twelve houses in the close were numbered clockwise.
b) The pumpkin at number 5 had its mouth carved as a straight line.
c) Doña Amalia gave the children a rusty key instead of sweets.
d) In the photo in the box, the fountain in the square was already dry.
e) Pablo thought the hands of a clock always meet in the middle.
f) Inside the box there were thirteen letters, one for each child in the photo.

5 The Gallery Visualisation

In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “Which map correctly marks the serious pumpkins and where the box was?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.