It all started one breezy October evening when Leprinthinya decided to make a quick run to the store for a new fall throw blanket. She swore up and down that she’d only buy the blanket… but Target had other plans.
As she strolled past the home décor aisle, there they were—two scarecrows sitting side-by-side, decked out in plaid, straw poking out in every direction, grinning like they had secrets. Something about the way the tall one stared at her with his button eyes made her pause.
"Girl, you’ve been single too long," she muttered to herself, giggling as she tossed him into her cart. The smaller one—his sister, cousin, baby mama, who knew—quickly followed.
When she got home, she set them up in her living room. That night, after a few glasses of wine and a long Netflix binge, she swore she heard whispering.
“Leprinthinya…” a low, raspy voice called.
She blinked.
“Uh-uh. Nope. Not today, demon.”
But when she turned around, the tall scarecrow was standing—standing—right behind her. Before she could scream, he tilted his straw hat and said, “Relax, baby girl. I just wanted to thank you for rescuing me from that store shelf. Do you… believe in love at first sight?”
Now, common sense should’ve kicked in. But after years of dating disappointments, something about this tall, plaid-wearing, field-scented man was strangely comforting. One thing led to another, and let’s just say… sparks flew.
Fast forward nine months later, Leprinthinya was in the maternity ward surrounded by doctors scratching their heads as they delivered… not a human baby, but a perfectly bundled little scare-baby, complete with tiny straw hands and a soft pumpkin hat.
The nurse fainted.
Her best friend screamed, “GIRL, what the hay is this?!”
And Leprinthinya, beaming with pride, just smiled and said, “Love grows in mysterious places… sometimes, right out of a cornfield.”
From that day forward, Halloween was no longer just about candy and costumes. It became a family reunion, where little scare-babies toddled around the porch while their daddy stood guard in the yard. And whenever people asked her about her unusual family, Leprinthinya simply replied with a wink:
“Listen, y’all can keep your tall, dark, and handsome men.
Mine’s tall, plaid, and stuffed—and he don’t talk back.”
The moral of the story?
Next time you head to the store for a blanket, don’t make eye contact with the seasonal aisle.
You just might come home with a lifetime of… straw-mazing surprises.
