May 19, 2021 – Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Marie and Jason ate lunch together. They talked about vegetables. Jason thought he would be good at growing vegetables. Marie thought she would be better than Jason at growing vegetables. They decided to have a contest.
Marie and Jason drove to a greenhouse. They bought two small tomato plants. Marie planted one of the tomato plants in the garden next to their apartment. Jason planted the other tomato plant in the garden. If Marie’s plant produced the most tomatoes, she won the contest. If Jason’s plant produced the most tomatoes, he won.
Marie watered her plant every morning. She sang to her plant. She counted the leaves on her plant and took pictures of it. The plant grew. Its leaves were bright green. Marie saw tiny tomatoes hanging from the plant’s stems.
One morning the leaves were yellow instead of green. Then the leaves turned brown. Marie did not understand why the plant was sick. She looked at Jason’s plant. It looked green and healthy.
Marie did not want to lose the contest. She drove to the greenhouse and found a new plant. She pulled her sick plant from the garden. She put the new plant in the garden. She watered it every morning. Little tomatoes appeared. They grew and turned red.
Marie thought she would win the contest, but yellow spots appeared on her second plant. It was sick. Marie returned to the greenhouse and got another healthy plant. She replaced her sick plant with the healthy plant. The healthy plant grew and grew. Then it got sick.
Marie returned to the greenhouse and brought home a fourth plant. She put it in the ground and pretended it was the first plant she brought home. Jason was suspicious.
“This plant has more tomatoes than I remember,” Jason said.
“You are remembering wrong,” said Marie.
At the beginning of August, Marie and Jason picked every tomato from their plants. Marie’s tomatoes weighed 6.4 pounds. Jason’s tomatoes weighed 5.1 pounds. Marie won the contest, but she felt guilty.
“My plant kept turning yellow. I kept replacing it with new ones,” Marie said to Jason. “I cheated in the contest.”
Jason smiled and said, “I cheated too. I sprayed your plants with poison. That is why they turned yellow.”
Jason said his cheating was worse than Marie’s cheating. She deserved to win the contest. Jason and Marie laughed together. Then they looked for tomato recipes. They had a lot of tomatoes to eat.
For a more advanced version of the story click here: Green Thumb Tomato Killer
Questions about the Story
Where did Marie and Jason get the tomato plants?
Where did Marie and Jason put the tomato plants?
Why did Marie and Jason want to grow tomatoes?
How did Marie cheat in the contest?
Why did Marie deserve to win the contest?
Links and More Stories
Click for a list of all available Beginner Stories. Return to the Homepage to find a list of all the longer stories in the collection. Be sure to Subscribe for weekly updates on postings. Follow on Social Media or on YouTube.