Oliver's Family Tree

By Eric Harrelson
5th Grade, Sacramento County
Our Lady of the Assumption School - Mary Pat Jones, Teacher

Once there was a little olive named Oliver who lived in the City of Oroville, California. He had one big problem. He didn't know what he wanted to be when he grew up. There were lots of options for him because olives are used for so many things.

Oliver's parents, Oswald and Olga, are olive oil. His cousins Opie and Owen are olives you put into drinks. His grandma and grandpa, O.J. and Oprah, are olives that are put on salads. Odelia and Ophelia his friends are olives used in face creams.

He thought about every option. He wanted to be just the right thing because he is so nutritious and has so many vitamins. Oliver grows in a hot, dry climate and doesn't grow during the winter, which was the season he was in, so he had a lot of time to think about this.

One Monday morning Oliver woke up very excited because he knew that this was the day they were going to talk about career choices. He happily went into class and they got started.

Their teacher, Mrs. Odonald started with this, "How many of you know what you want to be when you grow up?" Fifteen of the thirty-two students raised their hands. "So how many of you want to be olive oil?" she added. Six raised their hands. "How many of you want to be olives on salad?" she continued. Seven raised their hands. Finally she asked, "How many of you want to be olives in drinks?" Two raised their hands.

The rest were undecided. Then they played a game to help the young olives decide. She had a survey and all the olives filled it out, except for Oliver. He couldn't think of one answer. The rest of the olives had their decisions. Oliver was the only one who didn't. After school Oliver sat on a park bench to think about it some more. Suddenly, a group of olives from his school came by. They made fun of Oliver for not being able to decide what to be. He ran back to his tree brokenhearted.

A few weeks passed and finally it was summer. Oliver was losing time to decide. Each day he kept growing until he was bigger than all the other olives. One Saturday morning Oliver set off on a voyage. He went to Mexico to visit his cousin Oberto and his wife Viola. They showed him around the restaurant where they worked. Oliver asked Oberto why he was olive oil instead of other things. Oberto said, "It just felt right, and because I have so much vitamin E, iron, and dietary fiber and the right amount of calories." Oliver said goodbye and headed for Sonoma Valley, California. He went there to visit his friend Odelia.

When he got there she showed Oliver the salon she worked at. She told him how she was a facemask and how she can make people look younger. Next, Oliver got on a train and decided to head home. On the ride home he started to get hungry. He got off the train and went to a local restaurant. He sat at the table waiting for the waiter to take his order.

Clumsily, as the waiter was passing by to get to another table he tripped and the pizza he was holding flew from his hands. The waiter bumped Oliver and Oliver fell onto the pizza. Quickly Oliver jumped off. Then he realized that he had seen olives on pizza before. He got on the train and rushed back home to his tree in Oroville. He told everybody he wanted to be an olive on a pizza.

The truck arrived when it was time for Oliver to be transported. He got on the olive truck and was put in a crate. He went off to an Italian restaurant in California. Young Oliver had finally decided what he wanted to do. He was a topping on a pizza!