Carlton the pig's pumpkin raid

Carlton is a black pig with a blue collar and a big appetite for jack-o'-lanterns. He may look like a sweet little piggy, but at Halloween he is a trickster, and no pumpkin in the neighborhood is safe.

Then someone spots him with his loot. “Carl, where did you get that?” a voice asks, and then, “Oh my gosh.” It looks like a disaster. Surely his mom will have to go and apologize to the whole neighborhood.

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She doesn't need to, as it happens. The neighbors don't mind at all. They think the whole thing is adorable, and it is pretty funny. Most people throw their pumpkins in the garbage after Halloween anyway.

So his mom makes some phone calls. Soon there is a pile of old pumpkins outside, gifts from the neighbors for Carlton to eat, and some preschool students even make him a card.

More pumpkins keep coming, until there are far too many even for Carlton. He oinks, and his family decides that was a great idea. They'll take the pumpkins to the pig rescue where they adopted him, so every pig there can have a treat.

At the rescue, it turns into a Halloween feast. Pumpkins get smashed open and handed around, one for you and one for you.

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Once the pumpkins run out, Carlton heads off again, and there's a garden full of teeny pumpkins. “They're everywhere,” someone says. “Carlton, look what you grew!” Maybe he's a magic pig. More likely, the seeds fell out while he was eating and he planted them by accident. Either way, the pumpkin thief now grows his own.