Seed by Caryl Lewis

Author:Caryl Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

SEVENTEEN

THE PUMPKIN HAD stopped growing. Despite being fed regularly with the seaweed tea and watered several times a day, its belly stubbornly refused to swell. It had swelled from the size of a soccer ball to the size of a large beach ball, but now it had somehow stalled. As if it had thought to itself, That’s quite enough, thank you, that’s me done. Grandad had been measuring it with a measuring tape every day and had become quieter and quieter and more preoccupied. Marty had watched him, unable to offer him any ideas, and then Grandad did something very surprising. Something very surprising indeed. Something Marty had never thought he’d do in a million years. He called a meeting. An allotment meeting. He spread some old paint cans here and there for people to sit on and lit a fire. He propped up an old piece of board and used the Tea Stirrer 300 as an easel. Over the board, he had spread the map from the shed wall. Marty had absolutely no idea what he was doing or what the plan was.

Marty watched as Sadiq and John, the lady from allotment number 7 who no one knew the name of, and Colin the milkman and a few others all came and filed in. They were talking among themselves, wondering what on earth was going on when Grandad whacked an empty tin bucket with a spoon and called the meeting to order. He cleared his throat, and for once in Marty’s life, he was sure he saw some uncertainty in Grandad’s eyes. Marty took the seat nearest the pumpkin and waited.

“Right, you’ve been called here in the strictest confidence because Marty and I, well, we need your help.”

Everyone looked at one another.

“I’ve tried everything, but I just can’t get that pumpkin to grow…”

John scratched his head.

“You’ve called us here for tips on how to grow that pumpkin?”

“Yes,” admitted Grandad, pulling at his collar a little as he was feeling so hot.

“But it’s for a very particular reason…”

And then, he went on to tell them everything. About the pumpkin and the plan and Paris and the whole lot. Marty couldn’t actually believe that he’d just dive in and tell them like that. There was something so risky about it. So bold that it felt like madness.

“We’ll have four days of fresh pumpkin. I mean, if you’ve ever seen those left over after Halloween hanging about on walls, you know they last ages,” Grandad continued.

Then he proceeded to pull an antenna that he’d taken off an old radio out to its full length and started pointing at the map.

“If we could get the pumpkin to Southampton, it’s a hundred and twenty-seven nautical miles to Le Havre.”

They followed his pointer across the map over the expanse of emptiness between England and France.

“I reckon, full tilt we could get that engine going at around twenty-five knots. With a good tail wind behind us, that’s…” Grandad screwed his face up in calculation.

“Four hours…,” Colin offered.

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