Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Fruit (10/10/05)
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TITLE: Troublesome Times | Previous Challenge Entry
By Shannen Maxwell
10/11/05 -
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A little ways past the deep orchards of Nevada, a young boy named Tommy was cutting down the sycamore trees in his back yard. His family was relatively poor. They owned a large farm in which they raised many sheep and cattle. They also grew a lot of corn and beans. Because of financial reasons, Tommy did not go to school. He worked as a shoe shiner in a store that was a couple of miles south. Tommy’s mother, Sara, home schooled him as much as she could, but due to her work as a house maid in the near by ranches she barley ever has the chance. A few months ago Tommy’s father, Richard, had been laid off. This led to a great struggle for food. Tommy did all that he could to help his father. He didn’t mind not going to school. If it saved his parents money he was OK with it.
As you can imagine, you couldn’t buy much with so little money. So every night for dinner they had cold soup. Every now and then, when Tommy or Sara got paid, they had a few slices of bread to go with it. Tommy had never eaten anything else except bread and soup. He really wanted to have a little change but knew it would be hard to get anything else without his father getting a job again.
One day as Richard was reading the newspaper, he spotted a wanted add for someone to work at the nearby mill. Richard knew that this job paid quite a bit since no one wanted to have to work that hard all day in a smelly mill. Yet, Richard thought of his family and decided to give it a try. He already knew how to work with wood. Fore he was the one who taught Tommy all he knows about it. So the next morning he suited up, drove into town and started work again.
A couple of months past and Richard was about to get his first paycheck. When his boss handed the money to him, he couldn’t believe what he saw. There were at least two hundred dollar bills in there! He asked the boss, “I didn’t know the pay was this much! I mean, in the ad it said a lot less than this, and I’m not as experienced as everyone else here and” But his boss interrupted him and replied, “I heard how much you needed it and you came to us here at this mill on such sort notice, so you can have it all.” Richard was speechless, but he didn’t disagree.
When he arrived home, he waited until after dinner to tell his family about what happened. Then he spoke up, “Well, uh I got my check today and the boss was being very generous so he gave me a few extra bucks.” Then he showed his family the money and everyone started yelling and asking questions and smiling. Then when all of the noise was gone, Tommy said to his dad, “Does this mean that I get to go to school now?” “Well of course!” replied Richard happily. Then a huge smile slipped onto Tommy’s face.
When school started, Tommy didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to do. He didn’t know to raise his hand, or where to go to the restroom, or anything that you and I would find very easy to do. When lunch came, he sat down at a table with a few other kids then looked down at his tray. He saw things that he had only heard of before. But then he saw a great looking thing. It was cut into slices with a red skin. He asked someone else at the table what is was. The kid replied, “Dude, it’s an apple.” “Oh,” said Tommy back. He tried it. He could feel the juice squirting out in his mouth. He loved this thing! It was sweet and delicious!
The next time father got his paycheck, Tommy was the one who went shopping first. He got plenty of what the other kids called fruit. He loved trying new ones. His favorite was the pineapple. It was the sweetest. His parents loved what he brought back from the shop and decided to let him go shopping everyday from then on. They had truly discovered the beauty of fruit!
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