By Chris Messer
6^th grade, Stanislaus county
Illustrated by Winters High School

Conrad Corn had a good life, lots of friends, was good in school, and had just been voted president of the Veggie Club. Everything was perfect, until he started middle school. His first class of the day was Agriculture 1 with Ms. Kendall, she was an ear of corn too.

One day Ms. Kendall Corn gave the class a fruit and vegetable quiz. There was a list of foods and you were to put an "F" by the fruits and a "V" by the vegetables. Simple enough, or so he thought. Little did he know it would change his life forever. When his quiz was returned to him he had only missed one. Not bad. Then he noticed what he had missed. Next to corn he put a "V", but she marked it wrong! He thought that she must have made a mistake. After all, Conrad himself was corn, and he had always known that he was a vegetable. Even Ms. Kendall was corn, so she has to know that we weren't fruits!

Conrad raised his hand. He felt as if every kernel in his body was going to pop. "Ms. Kendall," he said, " think you made a mistake on my quiz. I put a "V" next to corn and you marked it wrong." Conrad wasn't prepared for what he was about to hear. "It was no mistake," Ms. Kendall said. "Corn is a fruit. You see, a fruit contains the seeds, and if you are the leaf, stem or root of a plant, then you are a vegetable. As corn, you and I are fruits."

Poor Conrad, here he was voted president of the Veggie Club and he isn't even a vegetable! After school he went to room V-8 for his Veggie Club meeting. When the meeting came to order, poor Conrad stood up and looked at all of his friends. Would they even want to be his friends after he told them that he was a fruit? Slowly he began to speak, telling them what he had learned in school. Then he announced that he could no longer be president. They all stared at him in disbelief. Cecilia Celery fell out of her chair and Larry Lettuce lost a leaf! Then he looked at his best friends, Gary Green Bean and Percy Pea. They were laughing! Conrad couldn't believe his ear, they thought it was funny! Then Gary Green Bean said, "Do you know what this means?" "Yes, I'm out of the Veggie Club," said Conrad. "No," said Percy Pea, "it means WE are out of the Veggie Club. Because, if a fruit contains the seeds, then you, Gary, and I are all fruits! Suddenly being a fruit wasn't so bad after all. Then, they got up and went over to the Fruit Club to make some new friends.