By Nathan Azevedo
3^rd grade, Colusa county
Illustrated by Grant Union High School

Hi! I'm Ryan the rice seed. I've been taken to a big airplane called a crop duster. The guys put me into the crop duster and the crop duster took off. It was a lot of fun until I was let out of the crop duster. I fell into a field of water. There was a lot of dirt at the bottom of the field. I was finally at the bottom of the field and I noticed a lot of other seeds. The dirt felt a lot like smashed tomatoes.

I turned around and saw my best friend Ron the rice seed. So I tried to get to Ron but I couldn't move. I found a stick and put it in the ground and I pulled up hard and I flew across the water and landed right next to Ron. Me and Ron played a lot together.

One day Ron started to grow a sprout. Ron finally got his head out of the water. But I was still at the bottom of the field. I started to cry. I went to bed and when I woke up I touched my head. I could feel a sprout!

The next day I grew bigger and I finally popped my head out of the water. I saw Ron but he was at the other end of the field. I saw a man walk by he said "look at all these heads of rice."

One day I turned gold. I thought I was turning into a banana. I started to scream. I don't want to be a banana! Everybody looked at me. They all said all at once "we're not turning into bananas!"

The next day a big red machine came with big spikes on the front of it. It was called a harvester. Then they brought in a big yellow machine with a spout. It was called a bankout wagon.

The men started up the harvester and they were coming straight toward me. Then they cut me. It didn't feel good at all. Next the bankout came and harvester pressed a button and I flew out the spout into the bankout. Then the bankout went to a truck and they poured me out of the spout into the truck.

The truck took me to a place where they weighed me. Then they took me to a place where they dried me with hot air. After that I was taken to a building where I was packaged and taken by a truck to the store. A woman bought me and took me to her house. There was a boy and a dad. While I was being cooked the woman called Fred to come and eat. Then the woman put me on a plate and gave it to Fred. Fred ate me. And now I'm here in Fred's stomach writing this story.