Post-Halloween surprise

I was doing my post-halloween cleanup when I noticed an unusual amount of fruit flies around my house. Thinking I had a rogue banana hiding under a couch or in a cabinet I started my fruit fly hunt. I didn't find an abandoned banana and it seemed odd that the fruit flies were being generated near the tv in our family room. So I expanded my search, thinking maybe one of the kids threw an apple core behind the pumpkins that were sitting on top of our bookcase. I moved the biggest pumpkin to look behind it and instead of pushing it out of the way, I pushed my hand right THROUGH the pumpkin, which was rotten and black in the middle. Had I been paying attention, I would have noticed that our 3 big robust pumpkins that were proudly standing guard over the family room had been slowly shrinking and turning to a watery gooey mush that resembled the once statuesque gourds. So, there I stood, hand covered in what I can only describe as pumpkin vomit and noticed that the goo had dripped down the side and back of the bookcase. I sprang into action, dumped the slimey mess into the garbage and wiped up the sticky sludge that was creeping closer and closer to my poor innocent carpet. Now I have a house full of fruit flies (that came pouring out of the pumpkin when I so callously shoved my hand through it), an irrational fear of touching pumpkins, and a damaged bookcase that couldn't withstand the sludge that sat on it for who knows how long. Good times, my friends, good times.