Centerburg Tales by Robert McCloskey

Author:Robert McCloskey [McCloskey, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101663042
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 1977-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

“Oh, gosh, Homer, that’ll be swell. Mebbe they will be Strawberry Trees!”

“Nobody knows,” said Homer. “But working for Dulcy we’ll find out as soon as anybody. We’ll stop at Dulcy’s tomorrow after school and see what’s happening.”

“Okay, Homer,” said Freddy. “Good-by.”

“Good-by, Freddy,” said Homer. “See you tomorrow.”

Homer and Freddy stopped at the greenhouse the next day after school; they stopped every day all week, and nothing exciting was going on. The seeds had not come up. Dulcy was getting more and more restless and complaining about his back. Along about Friday he started complaining about a stiff neck from watching so steadily for the seeds to come up.

On Saturday morning Homer was late getting to the barbershop. He rushed in and shouted, “They’re up!”

“What’s up, son?” asked the sheriff.

“Dulcy’s plants! Dulcy’s plants are up, all thirteen of them!” Homer said.

“Let’s go look!” said Uncle Ulysses, throwing down his magazine.

And the barber and Homer and Uncle Ulysses went over to the greenhouse with the sheriff in his car.

“Look!” said Dulcy, proudly displaying the thirteen tender green shoots.

“Healthy-looking plants,” said the barber.

“You can almost see them grow!” said Uncle Ulysses.

“You can see them grow, if you look closely,” said Dulcy, and he started scooping vitamin plant food out of a bag and sprinkling it generously around the plants.

Even with a truckload of vitamin plant food to help out, the plants took weeks to get as high as Homer’s head. The tallest one of the thirteen plants came just to the bottom of his ear on the day school was out and Homer and Freddy started working at the greenhouse.

They sprinkled the plants with vitamin plant food and they sprinkled them with water. They carried bags of fertilizer and they listened to Dulcy complain about his back.

“Gosh, Homer, it seems like it takes forever for a plant to grow anything but stems and leaves,” Freddy complained. “Why can’t these things make a few berries or squashes or something, so we’ll know what they are?”

“They have got a lot of stems and leaves,” Homer agreed. “Sometimes when I look at them I think they’ll be bushes, and other times they remind me of vines.”

“They’re growing faster now that the weather is warmer,” said Freddy. “Look, Homer, this one has grown almost a foot today!”

Sure enough, when Homer stood next to the plant the top reached way above his ear; it was way above his head.

The next morning when Homer and Freddy arrived at Dulcy’s the tops of the plants were right up touching the glass roof of the greenhouse.

“We have to break out some sections of the roof and give them room to grow,” shouted Dulcy.

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