Trading Pumpkins

Trading Pumpkins

Kyria Abrahams

Tammy lives on the Little Acres Farm with her family. It has been in her family for generations now. They have almost everything on the farm, including apple trees and corn. For animals, they have cows, chickens, horses and pigs. The only problem is, they don’t have many pumpkins.

In October, they sell tickets to the farm, and create a maze made of hay bales. They call this “The Haunted Maze.” However, people like to see pumpkins on Halloween, and the farm doesn’t have very good pumpkins. For some reason, they never grow properly. People who visit in October always complain about the lack of pumpkins.

The funny thing about Little Acres is that it’s actually enormous. In fact, it’s the biggest farm in the area. There used to be a bunch of small farms in the area, but they couldn’t compete with Little Acres. After a while, they all agreed to sell their property to Tammy’s family. All except for one farm: The Shelbys’. The Shelbys won’t sell their farm under any circumstances.

Supposedly, the Little Acres Farm will go to Tammy when she grows up. She isn’t all that interested, though. She likes having the Haunted Maze, but she thinks it would be better with pumpkins.

One morning, Tammy’s father called a family meeting. “The Shelby Farm is planning a Haunted Maze this year,” Dad said.

Trading Pumpkins

“Oh no!” said Tammy’s mother. “That means they are going to compete with us. They’ll take away our business!”

“Well, we’ll just have to make ours bigger and better,” Tammy suggested. “How can we do that without decent pumpkins?” Tammy’s brother asked.

“I need someone in this family to go over to the farm and see what they are up to,” Dad said. “Tammy, you’re very diplomatic, so I want that to be you. Can I trust you to do a good job?”

“Of course you can, Dad!” she said. “I’ll find out what’s going on and come back with a full report!”

Tammy felt like a spy from Little Acres Farm. Early the next morning, she awoke, and took her bicycle from the barn. She rode for quite a while, with a basket on the front of her bike. Her wheels were wobbling on the dusty country road. When she got to the farm, Mr. Shelby was staring at piles of hay in front of the barn. He was scratching his head and looking confused. In his hand was a bright orange pumpkin.

“Hello, Mr. Shelby,” Tammy yelled from the driveway. Mr. Shelby didn’t seem at all suspicious. He didn’t know she was a spy. “I was just coming by to see if you...” She paused. She hadn’t thought about what to say ahead of time. “I wanted to see if you had any pumpkins.”

“Don’t you have any pumpkins over at the farm?” Mr. Shelby asked.

“Well,” said Tammy. “Sort of. But...I thought maybe yours were...” She stalled for a minute, not wanting to lie, but not knowing what to say. “More orange?”

“You thought my pumpkins might be more orange?” he asked. “Yeah. Our pumpkins are kinda green and they don’t grow properly.” Mr. Shelby shook his head. “Tammy, why are you really here?”

Trading Pumpkins

A shaky feeling rose in Tammy’s chest. She started to breathe heavily out of fear. She was frozen in place, unsure of what to do next.

“Tammy? Why are you here?”

And then, quite suddenly, Tammy ran right at Mr. Shelby. He looked very startled and let out a small yelp. He didn’t move out of the way. After all, he was six‐feet‐tall, and she was just a child. She lunged at Mr. Shelby and snatched the pumpkin right out of his hand!

“What on earth?” he exclaimed. “That’s a ten dollar pumpkin!” Tammy put the pumpkin in the basket on her bike, and started pedaling down the driveway.

“I’m going to tell your parents about this!” he said, shaking his fist in the air. “They’ll have to pay for that pumpkin! You owe me ten dollars!”

Tammy was halfway home before she realized what she had done. The dust from the dirt road kicked up all around her, and turned the bright orange pumpkin into a dusty shade of brown. When she got home, she showed the pumpkin to Dad.

“You stole a pumpkin?” he asked. “You were supposed to find out information about their Haunted Maze, and you just stole a pumpkin?” Dad was so disappointed.

Tammy looked at the ground and blushed. “I’m sorry. I panicked!”

She really had panicked. She’d never stolen anything before in her entire life, and here she not only took something from Mr. Shelby, but took it right out of his hands!

“I thought I could trust you to be diplomatic!” Dad took the pumpkin from Tammy and got in his car. He left the driveway, and turned in the direction of the Shelbys’ farm. He was returning the pumpkin.

About three hours passed while Tammy waited for her father to return. When he finally did, he was not only holding the one pumpkin, but a whole basket full of pumpkins!

Trading Pumpkins

“Did you steal more pumpkins?” Tammy asked.

“Of course not,” her father said. “We brokered a trade.”

“A trade? For what?”

“Yes. Well, first of all, I apologized to Mr. Shelby on your behalf. He knows that you know what you did was wrong, and that you just panicked.”

“That’s true. But what are you trading?”

“I told him that as an apology for your theft, you would go back over to the farm, and teach him how to make a haunted hay maze.”

“But Dad—”

“I had a very long talk with Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. We came to the realization that we’d all be better off if we worked together on the maze instead of competing. After all, stealing that pumpkin and running away didn’t work very well, did it?”

Tammy nodded. It hadn’t been a very good plan. And the Shelbys did have a great big barn. Her father handed her $10. She knew what to do with it.

Tammy got on her bike and rode back to the Shelbys’. When she got there, she gave him $10 and apologized for stealing the pumpkin. He said he forgave her and immediately put her to work.

She showed Mr. Shelby how to stack the hay to create a difficult maze. She showed him how to set up the decorations, how to dress up like a scary monster, and stand right at the entrance. Then he gave her pumpkins to take home. It had been a good day’s work.

When Halloween came, Tammy’s family went to the Shelbys’ farm. At the end of the driveway was a sign that said: The Shelbys’ and Little Acres Farms present The Haunted Hay Maze.

Trading Pumpkins

“Hey there, Tammy!” Mr. Shelby said, waving her over. “Would you like some hot apple cider to celebrate our new maze?”

“I sure would!”

Tammy had initially gone to the farm to spy on Mr. Shelby, and maybe even sabotage him. But it turned out that working together was a better idea, at least for now.

Questions: Trading Pumpkins

Name: Date: _______________________

1. What does Tammy’s family build every Halloween?

A a haunted house

B a maze of pumpkins

C anobstaclecourse

D a hay maze

2. What main problem does Tammy’s family have?

A Their Halloween maze doesn’t have good pumpkins.

B The Little Acres Farm cannot compete with larger farms.

C Noonewantstovisittheir“HauntedMaze”thisyear.

D Tammy stole a pumpkin from Mr. Shelby.

3. Tammy’s family is worried about the Shelby Farm hay maze. What evidence from the passage supports this conclusion?

A Mr. Shelby questions Tammy about why she is at his farm.

B Tammy’s father sends Tammy to get information about Shelby Farm.

CPeoplewhovisitLittleAcrescomplainaboutthelackofpumpkins.

D Tammy suggests that they make their hay maze bigger than the Shelbys’.

4. Read the following sentences: “When she got to the farm, Mr. Shelby was staring at piles of hay in front of the barn. He was scratching his head and looking confused. In his hand was a bright orange pumpkin.” Based on this information, what can you conclude about Mr. Shelby?

A He does not know where the hay came from.

B He does not know why he is holding a pumpkin.

C Heistiredanddoesnotwanttoworkanymore.

D He doesn’t know how to build a hay maze.

5. What is a main message of the story?

. A Sometimes it’s better to work together than to compete with each other.

. B Pumpkins are the most important decoration on Halloween.

. C You should never steal something from a person’s hands.

. D Owning and running a family farm is hard work.

Questions: Trading Pumpkins

6. Read the following sentences: “‘Well,’ said Tammy. ‘Sort of. But...I thought maybe yours were...’ She stalled for a minute, not wanting to lie, but not knowing what to say. ‘More orange?’”

As used in this sentence, what does “stalled” most nearly mean?

A told the truth

B yelled out loud

C delayed

D told a lie

7. Choose the answer that best completes the sentence below. _________ of competing against each other, Little Acres and Shelby Farm agree to work

together .

A Obviously

B Instead

C Inclosing

D Meanwhile

8. Why is Tammy’s family worried about Shelby Farm’s hay maze? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

Questions: Trading Pumpkins

9. What trade does Tammy’s father make with Mr. Shelby? ______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

10. Explain why it is better for Little Acres and Shelby Farm to work together on the hay maze, instead of competing against each other.

______________________________________________________________________