By Franklin Dingemans
4th grade, Yolo county
Illustrated by Sheldon High School Art Students
Joseph and Philip's grandfather was telling them a story about when he won
a county fair competition for the most warped vegetable. He won a blue
ribbon and $50 for a zucchini that looked like a cat.
Suddenly, Philip exclaimed, "Maybe we could enter that contest and win money for the new bikes we want."
Grandfather said, "You can't buy two bikes for just $50. You'll need a lot more."
"Then we'll just have to find another way to make more money," Joseph said. "How about we find someone who will hire us to help on their farm?"
"How about you come and work for me?" said Grandpa.
"Yeah!" Joseph exclaimed.
"Can we also grow our prize-winning vegetable here?" Philip asked.
"Yes," said Grandpa, "and you can help me tend my walnut trees, corn, and tomatoes."
"Let's start tomorrow," said Philip.
For the next few days, Philip and Joseph worked hard preparing the soil and planting summer squash, pumpkins, and tomatoes. They planted the plants near together so they would grow into a hideous mass. They fertilized and watered.
One day, Joseph and Philip discovered that their pumpkins had
been invested by fruit flies. Philip yelled and called Grandpa.
Grandpa came running.
He said, "Oh, no! Your pumpkins are ruined. There is no time to regrow them. You will just have to hope that your tomatoes and squash turn out better."
Another day, Joseph and Philip were astonished to find that their
tomato plants were crawling with tomato worms. They had eaten up all
the sun-absorbing, life-giving leaves, so the tomato plants died. Now
the only vegetable left was the squash.
So, they took special care of their squash. They gave it extra
fertilizer. They sent all the irrigation water to the squash plants.
Now there was only one thing left to do—wait.
On the day of the county fair, Grandpa drove them to the
fairgrounds. In the large judging room, they saw their competition.
It didn't look good for them. Their friend, Jessica, had a sloth-shaped
tomato. There was also a very large, ugly man whose pumpkin had a striking
resemblance to him. There was a woman who had a potato that looked like an
owl. Philip and Joseph's crookneck squash looked like Abraham Lincoln!
All the competitors showed their vegetables to the judges. One person slipped and fell and squashed her tomato all over her shirt!!
The judges looked at the entries. Suddenly, the judge who was looking over Joseph and Philip's squash burst out in laughter because he though it was so funny. The head judge announced, "First place goes to Joseph and Philip Walker."
"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," said Philip. "We won!"
The next day, Joseph and Philip were riding down the street on their shiny new bicycles. Suddenly, Joseph braked.
He said, "I think I know why we won. We won because we grew a variety of vegetables. Even though some got eaten, we had some left. Maybe that's why Grandpa grows several different things, too."