The Zucchini That Ate Western MA

Every farmer knows that the best vegetable grown in western Massachusetts that won the blue ribbon at the county fair got a good cash award and bragging rights until the next county fair the next year. Cletus Courgette knew all too well about the contest. Ever since he started his own farm 7 years ago he tried and tried and tried but the highest placing he ever got was second place. He knew that this year he would win. He had tried a new method of growing and ALL of his crops were going so well, especially his zucchini. He KNEW he was going to win.

Since he was so confident, he decided to go on a little trip to Niagara Falls (something he had wanted to do since he was a little boy) with his dog, Stump (named for the fact that he loved to sleep on an old stump since he was a puppy). He left the care of his farm to his neighbor with detailed instructions on the specific amount of water, plant food and general care for each plant. But the neighbor, not being a farmer, disregarded all the instructions and gave them all random amounts of water and plant food every day and then left. That had made all the crops grow irregularly. And when Cletus returned just two days before the county fair, he panicked and doubled the food and water on his prized zucchini.

The next morning, Cletus woke up to Stump barking at something. He just shrugged it off and tried to go back to sleep. Then the floor started rumbling and then everything was shaking and a low noise that sounded like a roar came from the field. Cletus quickly ran out to the field and looked up at the source of all the rumbling and roaring. His zucchini had grown extremely large and mutated into a monster! It roared again and started eating some of the trees and then rolled away. Cletus quickly jumped into his truck and followed it as it caused much destruction. It occasionally stopped and ate the closest thing to it and then rolled off again.

Before Cletus knew it they were at the fairgrounds and the judges were judging more vegetables. As the ground started shaking they stopped and looked up just in time to see the giant zucchini right before it crushed them. The zucchini continued on but Cletus stopped. He got out of the truck and looked at all the chaos. The screams of terror were all drowned out by a different noise. It sounded like… music… and beeping…

Cletus then woke and looked around. Everything was fine, no damage, and when he looked outside he found, not a giant monster zucchini, but a perfect one, fit for judging.

Cletus finally won the blue ribbon after all these years. He gave his winnings to charity and sold the zucchini to a bake shop for them to make zucchini bread, he put his earnings into expanding his farm and putting in a play area for Stump. Cletus lived a happy life… and he never grew zucchini again.

THE END