Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Welcome, all. This is not a tarot reading post. Although, I’ve been intrigued by the deck above. The cover art went perfectly with this post, so Pamela Love gets a shout-out. However, The Pumpkin Hat Girls are back again for another contribution to Dan Antion‘s 2026 Thursday Doors Writing Challenge (TDWC). I’m picking up where we left off last time. For this story, my inspiration door is from the amazing Resa McConaghy, photographer, and costume and gown designer extraordinaire .
If you want to join the fun challenge, then pick one of the doors (blue link above) that were submitted at Dan’s blog as inspiration for the challenge — and write. It doesn’t have to be a story. Write anything your chosen door image inspires in you.
PREVIOUSLY: Pepper’s new boyfriend was pushing for a big romantic step — a weekend away. However, she had such strong doubts that she and the Pumpkin Hat Girls ended up outside his house… and caught him with another woman. Buckle up — the girls are headed for a blue door.
The Pumpkin Hat Girls
The New Boyfriend-2: Secret Handshake
“Oh, snap!” I hissed when I saw the door to Simon’s house begin to open.
I threw my rented car into reverse and hit the gas. The Pumpkin Hat Girls started yelling at me in what could have been a discordant four-part harmony — including a baritone from Kelly.
“Pepper, what’re you gonna do? Back the car all the way home?” Penny hollered from the backseat.
Maudie was saying something that I couldn’t really hear above the cacophony. She put her hand on my arm and gave me the look she used when we were teenagers and I was about to panic. Something about her eyes when she did that always made me calm down. I shifted back into park. The next thing I knew, Kelly was climbing across from the back seat.
“Scoot over, Pepper. You can duck and I’ll drive. Does Simon even know your car’s in the shop?” Kelly asked and I mutely shook my head. “So, he doesn’t know you have a loaner. Even if he sees this car, he won’t know it’s you,” he added reasonably.
Kelly took off the bright orange “pumpkin hat” beret and replaced it with a tan ball cap Penny had been wearing before Ursula handed out the hats, and a pair of sunglasses. I scrunched down as far as I could, between him and Maudie. Kelly settled into the driver’s seat.
“Well? Why aren’t you driving?” I demanded in another hiss.
“Why are you whispering?” Kelly chuckled. “I’m going to see if that’s him coming out of that door. This would be too early for him to leave for work. Oh, girl… I’m sorry. It’s a woman. Stay down,” he added and Maudie squashed my head back down.
“Tsk! He’s kissing her and that’s not a cousin’s kiss,” Maudie remarked and sucked her teeth in disdain. “Everybody duck. Both of them are leaving on the scooters.”
Kelly muttered that they were heading the opposite direction from us, and four orange-hatted heads popped up again. Penny commented that it had been a near miss and that as early as it was, the woman had been there all night.
I groaned, because of course that made me feel worse. However, when I thought of the romantic weekend away that Simon had been pushing for, well… that just creamed my corn!
Meanwhile, Ursula muttered in the tongue of her homeland, outraged because she had decided Simon had to be charming. I’m sure Ursula was riled up on my behalf — at first. Although it seemed like she was taking the man’s affront personally. Ursula looked like she was mad as a wet hornet.
“Where now, Pepper? Do you want to follow them?” Kelly asked, hand on the gear shift, but I shook my head. “Umm… Ursula, should I check your blood pressure before I put the car on the road?”
“Of course not,” Ursula snapped. “I am chillaxed.”
Some of us tried harder than others to hold back laughter at Ursula’s remark. I felt frustration more than any other emotion. I thought I might fall for Simon, but I hadn’t allowed myself to feel romantic about him. I felt a little betrayed, but I wasn’t really “invested” in him.
Penny had not been joking when she said three of my past boyfriends had lied when they told me they divorced. What she didn’t mention was the other two who had played the sympathy card for being recent widowers — but failed to mention that they had already remarried. Kelly was the only “Pumpkin Hat Girl” who didn’t know that story.
“I know what you need, Pepper,” Maudie piped up. “You need Madame Indigo!”
A chorus of questions replied to Maudie’s proclamation. It turned out that Madame Indigo was a new psychic in town, and she was causing quite a buzz among people who were into that kind of thing.
When Kelly asked Maudie which way to go, everyone looked kind of devious, because that was the direction Simon and the woman had gone on the Vespas. I groaned. The morning was going wrong in more ways than one.
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Following Maudie’s mysterious directions, Kelly drove us to a long, low, gray stone building. It wasn’t in the most upscale part of town, but it wasn’t bad. It once housed various types of professional offices, but most of them seemed to be empty.
“That one over there,” Maudie directed, pointing at a blue door at the far end of the building.
“Maudie, we don’t have an appointment or anything,” I protested, but held scant hope of getting out of it, not when Maudie had set her mind on something.
“For your information, Pepper, I actually do have an appointment. It’s the first one of Madame Indigo’s day, and I’m giving it to you. You can thank me later,” Maudie responded with raised eyebrows and a little smirk. “Although… my appointment isn’t for a couple more hours. But don’t worry. There’s a secret handshake that she’ll accept during off hours.”
“A secret handshake?” Kelly asked with a laugh while Penny chortled from the backseat. “Okay, I’ll bite. What is it?”
Maudie sullenly admitted that she had no idea what the secret handshake was. Nonetheless, Kelly pulled into a parking space right beside the blue door. The door was painted with a mural of a woman with a blue afro and “third eye” on her forehead. At the very top of the door, a white ceramic hand protruded.
Everyone stared curiously at the hand. It was just about the oddest thing I’d ever seen. Ursula uttered a little gasp and then she spat three times over her left shoulder and knocked on wooden doorframe. Maudie told her that she didn’t think the knock would result in the door being answered — because of the secret handshake thing.
“No, no, no, Maudie Rocket. You misunderstand. Do you not ‘knock on wood’ to unjinx yourself?” Ursula asked and we all made ahh sounds of comprehension.
“Ope! It’s a weird deal. That’s a crazy-tall door,” Penny commented, head tilted back. “At first I thought maybe you were gonna need to shake that white hand, but none of us is ever gonna reach it.”
Kelly said something to Maudie that I didn’t catch. Her eyes bugged out and she made a sound of surprise. Then she started giggling. The next thing I knew, Maudie was sitting on Kelly’s shoulders. She swayed dangerously before getting her balance.
“Don’t you even think about saying anything about me being heavy, Kelly,” she warned him between bouts of giggles.
Kelly moved to stand directly below the ceramic hand. Maudie reached out and slapped the hand in a “high five.” Just in case, she gave it a firm handshake too.
Gazing up, I studied the odd ceramic hand. Kelly jokingly asked me if I wanted a lift for a better look. I murmured that there was an eye in the hand. It was watching us.
“You mean like one of those Hamsa Hands, to protect against the evil eye?” Penny asked, coming to my side and looking upward with me.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I mean like a security camera.”
Just then the blue door opened. A statuesque woman who was the spitting image of the mural stood before us. She was 6’4” if she was a day. She was tying on a quilted bathrobe.
Maudie immediately began babbling apologies for being so early. She went on to include confessions and regrets for everything any of us had done since we entered the parking lot. I placed a hand on her arm to quiet her. However, Madame Indigo was smiling.
“All of you need your own TV show. That was the funniest thing I’ve seen in weeks,” the woman told them with a big smile and invited them inside. “I’m guided to give you a group reading, whether or not that’s what you had in mind. You have the most unique collective energy. That absolutely must be explored. But you’ll have to excuse me for ten minutes while I finish getting dressed.”
Soon we gathered around a round table. Maudie described what had happened earlier, at Simon’s house, along with the relative background. The reader nodded sagely. Once she looked at me very curiously. Then to my surprise she got up and left the room to brew a pot of tea.
Returning a tea tray, Madame Indigo served each of us. Then she did all sorts of readings for us individually, but with the fact of our group interlaced throughout. She did palm readings for some, tarot for others, and even intuitively examined the “bumps” on Kelly’s head. At the end, she read the tealeaves at the bottom of each of our cups. She was so caught up in her “exploration” of our group energy that she extended the hour to an hour and a half.
After a fascinating 90 minutes, everyone began filing out of the room. Madame Indigo held me back.
“Pepper, your relationships and romances are your business. You have to choose the path that is right for you, regardless of whether your friends approve,” she began. “Although, don’t dismiss their opinions lightly. They’re a smart, insightful group. But this… This situation with Simon is something different,” she added and paused with a distant expression in her eyes.
“Things there are not what they seem. But I can’t get a sense of what is hidden. It’s as if multiple energies converge to obscure my vision,” she finally went on. “I don’t think this man is out of your life. Not even if you want him to be. Promise me you’ll keep your eyes open — including your third eye,” she added with a small mysterious smile and pointed to the center of her forehead.
I gulped. I nodded ascent. I nearly freaked out.
***
The end?
***
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Friendly comments are welcome. Stay tuned to the 2026 TDWC homepage for links to stories and other creative efforts from all the participants. Thanks for opening this door. Hugs!
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Naturally, the obligatory shameless self-promotion must be included.
A Peril in Ectoplasm
Universal Purchase Links
Kindle: relinks.me/B0BJ9N1GBX
Paperback: relinks.me/B0BJBXGJ7L
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This post is part of Dan Antion 6th Annual Thursday Doors Writing Challenge (TDWC). Click the blue link for more information about the challenge and how to showcase your stories.) Fortunately for me, Dan’s rules for the writing challenge are wonderfully flexible and include any sort of creativity.
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Copyright © 2026 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene
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