MY LIFE AS A PUMPKIN

 

Aeliana Ricci

 

I am 11 years old and in 5th grade.  All my life I’ve been bored because I always get told what to do, and I’m tired of that.  If I were an adult, I would get to go all over the world without a guardian.  The first place would be Mars.  Then I would get a hot air balloon and steer it.  I would fly a jet plane and drive a neon green muscle car and drive it to school.  I would go on rides where children are not allowed.  I would build great things and own my own pizza company.  I’d get to eat free pizza whenever I wanted.  I would have my own credit cards so I could buy lots of things.  I would get to stay up all night.  And I would like to sit at the end of the bar and talk to bar flies and bums.

 

              One day I had a great idea.  I wanted to be a pumpkin.  If I was a pumpkin, I could change my face whenever I wanted to, friendly, mean, happy, funny and scary face to scare bad people away.  I could also light myself up inside by putting a candle inside myself so I could see what is wrong with me.  And I could finally be free and do what I always wanted to do.  I really want to live in 50ft long and 60ft wide pumpkin!

 

So I moved to Alaska because of how much sunlight was there.  It was perfect to grow enormous pumpkins and maybe grow a pumpkin city!

 

          Once I reached Alaska, I found the patch of land that got the most sun all day. I took good care of my pumpkins.  I made sure to: shelter them from wind and frost, cover them during rain, use shade tents for the summer, don't put the pumpkins in wet or dense soil, and give them a lot of water.  I found well drained soil for the pumpkin. 

 

I filled a peat pot with grow mix, kept the pots watered, never let them dry out.  When my seedlings have the four or five leaves, I set them outdoor in hills about the size of a pitcher's mound, one plant to a hill to get gigantic pumpkins.

 

I protected the seedlings for the first few weeks with plastic covered frames, spaced each hill at least 20 ft apart.  There are more than 100 leaves to each vine.  As I was growing my 300 lbs. pumpkin, each pumpkin’s leaves is responsible four lbs. of weight.  Vines put out roots at every leaf.  I tore out the root of the vine closest to the pumpkin because it will give more room for my pumpkins to grow.  When 2 or 3 fruits reached the size of the softballs, I removed all but the most promising ones.

 

When September came, my pumpkins grew bigger and bigger each day.  One day I chose a perfect pumpkin, carved a hole on the top, two arm holes, and two holes on the bottom. Then I climbed into the pumpkin, slid my arms to the arm holes, closed my eyes, and wished I was a pumpkin.  When I opened my eyes, I was a PUMPKIN!  I was so happy I had finally become my most favorite fruit, a pumpkin!

 

        One week later I saw the biggest pumpkin in my life and thought to myself, this is going to be my pumpkin house.  I worked on my pumpkin house, carving the windows which look like eyes and wide door which look like a smiling face made out of wood.  The last thing I did for my pumpkin house was empty the inside and put things inside that I wished to have, like a king size marshmallow bed and a really big candle. When night came, I lit the candle to shine for all the world to see. Finally I could do whatever I wanted to do, for now I am free.

 

Aeliana is the daughter of Kawissara Ricci and attends Basis School were she is studying Latin, mathematics, science, geography, language arts, music, and classics.  Kawissara and occasionally Aeliana are students at The Learning Center. 

 

Dana Prom Smith and Freddi Steele edit Gardening Etcetera for the Arizona Daily Sun.  Smith emails at stpauls@npgcable.com and blogs at http://highcountrygardener.blogspot.com.