LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — I thought I was going to need help from Charlie Brown Christmas Eve when I tried to find a pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner.

My mother didn’t tell me until Christmas Eve that my sister wanted a pumpkin pie for Christmas since she didn’t get one for Thanksgiving. I’m not one to wait until the last minute to do most things.

For Thanksgiving, I made a dried apricot pie from a recipe I found in a magazine. It cost a lot of money to make because I had to buy foods that weren’t in my cabinets including dried apricots, dried cranberries, golden raisins, walnuts, and dark brown sugar. It also took a lot of time to make.

The pie was all right, but it didn’t taste as good as it looked in the picture. The apricots didn’t cook up enough and the cranberries overpowered the apricots. My sister ate it anyway and said it was good. I gave my birds a bowl of the pie and they seemed to enjoy it, or they were starving. The rest of the pie is in freezer in containers so that I can give it to them when it snows and they can’t find food anywhere else.

Getting back to the pumpkin pie for Christmas. I started searching for the Great Pumpkin Pie. I went to Kroger’s on Ky. 192 where I usually shop for groceries and they didn’t have any left. They had some pecan pies, one of my favorites, left but not any pumpkin. They did have one peach pie left so I bought it because my mother and I both like that kind.

Next I went to the Butternut Thrift Store on south U.S. 25, but I didn’t even pull in because a big sign on the door said CLOSED. Because I was on the same road as Save-A-Lot , I stopped in there and I couldn’t find any pies left at all. Since I was there and the Butternut store was closed, I bought 10 loves of bread for the ducks at the pond at McHargue’s Mill. I didn’t have time to feed the ducks, which were just a short distance from where I was, because I was running out of time. The ducks would have to wait until after I found the Great Pumpkin Pie.

I don’t shop at Walmart because of the crowds. So my next thought was to go to the London BP Truck Stop on west Ky. 80. The Truck Stop never closes, I thought.  I knew it was a long way to go but I was desperate. It was getting close to 5 p.m. and I knew everything would be closing. I only needed about three slices of pumpkin pie because I already had a peach pie in the trunk of my car. I strolled confidently into the Truck Stop only to find the buffet closed.

My next thought was, could I make it back to Kroger’s on Ky. 192 to buy some pre-made crusts and a can of pumpkin filling so that my mother could make a pie. I wasn’t going to try to make a pumpkin pie after my disaster with the last pie I made.

On the way back to Kroger’s on Ky. 192, I realized I could make it in time if I stopped at the Kroger’s on North Main. I stopped in there and while I was making my way to the back side of the store where the cold items are kept, the intercom said, “Please select your final purchases, the store will be closing in 15 minutes.” Then I saw it. I saw an orange mirage in the store. Stacks and stacks of orange peering out of clear plastic box tops. I crept gingerly toward it so that the mirage would not disappear. I had found the elusive Great Pumpkin Pie and it was only 8 inches wide.

I left the store proud of my conquest and drove south on Main until I turned into the park entrance. It was getting dark by that time, but it still was light enough to feed the ducks. I didn’t want the ducks to go hungry at Christmas. Some kind person had already given them some bird food, but they were having a hard time picking up the small seeds. When I started throwing the bread slices down, they left the seeds and quickly started to eat the bread.

At Christmas Day dinner, my sister said the pumpkin pie was good. Little did she know just how ‘Great’ it was.



cmills@sentinel-echo.com