Luke

By Luke S.

Title of Story: Tom

You know that crabby old man that lives down the block. I used to be that man. That was before Virgil came along. Since I’m old the kids automatically assumed that I was a mean person. So they made fun of me. They even made fun of my Irish accent! Well, that turned me into what they said I was, a crabby old man.

One day this kid ran up to my door, rang the doorbell, and ran away. I marched right out of the door and went up to his little group of friends and gave them the lecture of a lifetime.

You should have seen them! There they were cowering in ear of just some crabby old man (me). I called them some nasty names and contacted all their parents and told them they had raised little monsters.

Now, I wish I hadn’t done that it was cruel and unfair. Anyways my doctor said I should get out more often. So, I took my little stroll down the street and I saw the garden. It looked like a good alternative to watching game shows all day so I checked it out. I planted wonderful things. I liked root vegetables, so I planted carrots and potatoes. These were good but my best things were the tomatoes I planted. I grew them really big and juicy, I'd probably toss them in a salad when they're ripe.

But, knowing the neighborhood they would probably be all stolen by the time I could eat them. So, I put up a tall fence with a gate that had a padlock on it. However, those crafty kids would probably find a way to get at my food. About one week into my gardening I caught a couple of rotten kids stealing some tomatoes and I brought out my cane to whack them with. One of them desperately shouted "But they’re not yours!" I realized this and with no sense of justice said "Hobbit next time I'll get you!"

That next time came sooner than I thought. I walked over to the garden on the 5th of June and saw two boys, Charles and Rick, stealing my beautiful carrots. Well, I wasn't going to put up with that. I ripped a pitchfork out of some guy's hands and yelled at them "Hey! You two no good, evil, dirty troublemakers get out of here! I'll call your parents!"

I got a response like "Watch us you old dirty leprechaun!" Charles yelled that as Rick started to turn and flee. But, Charles didn't run instantly. He ripped my tomato plant out of the ground and threw it at me. "Here you take your stupid tomatoes." Then, he departed in a sprint. By now I was extremely angry. But, then a little actually good kid named Virgil walked up to me and said. "You know, maybe if you were nicer to them they would be nicer to you."

This was nice but I was in such a bad mood that I screamed, "You're just as bad as them!" And tossed the pitchfork aside in anger.

The next day I woke up and remembered Virgil's words. So before I left I grabbed a couple pieces of pie.

When I got to the garden Charles and Rick were there. I watched as Charles pointed at me and laughed. Well, I walked over there with the pie and offered them a piece. Charles started to say "God no, you old--" but he got interrupted by Rick who said, "Hey, it can't hurt." As he ate he said, "Mmmmm this is good." He gave me a hi-five and I knew I was accepted.