9. We Actually Grew Something!

9 We Actually Grew Something! Everybody thought it was hilarious that Mr. Tony bought veggies in the supermarket and put them in our garden to make us feel better. Even Miss Nichol laughed about it. And then, after we picked up all the store-bought veggies, she noticed something.

"Well, lookee here!" Miss Nichol said. We all leaned closer. And there it was! It was small, but it was there. A little sprout! "I reckon it's a zucchini sprout," said Miss Nichol. "Yee-haw!" we all shouted. "Ya-hoo!" It was a miracle! We were all yelling and screaming and ya-hooing and yee-hawing. "We did it!" shouted Alexia.

"We actually grew something!" shouted Michael. It was just a tiny sprout, but everybody was dancing around like we had just won the Super Bowl. I had to admit that it was pretty cool. And I hate veggies. Miss Nichol told us to simmer down, whatever that means. She said we would need to keep

watering and tending to the garden to make sure the sprout would survive and the other veggies would grow. Over the next few days, lots of sprouts started sprouting. Tomato sprouts. Cucumber sprouts. Zucchini sprouts. Cantaloupe sprouts. Even banana sprouts. Andrea said bananas have to grow on trees, but what does she know? All kinds of fruits and veggies were busting out all over! Every morning, we would rush out to the garden to see what had popped out of the ground. You should have been there! We watched the veggies grow with our own eyes. Well, it would be pretty hard to watch them with somebody else's eyes. The veggies were getting bigger every day. Soon they would be ready to harvest and eat.* That's when the weirdest thing in the history of the world happened. One morning, we rushed out to the garden. Miss Nichol and Mr. Tony were already there. I could tell something was wrong because they had on frowny faces. "Uh-oh," Miss Nichol said as she examined a zucchini. "We have a problem."

"What's the matter, Miss Nichol?" asked Emily. "Are you young 'uns sittin' down?" asked Miss Nichol. Oh no. Any time a grown-up has bad news to give you, they always ask if you're sitting down first. Nobody knows why. We all sat on the ground next to the garden. "Some rascal," said Miss Nichol, "took a bite outta this zucchini."