Seedfolks Stories
by Ms. Coots' 5th Grade Class, Madrona Elementary / Nov 21, 2011
These stories are the product of an In-Schools collaboration between 826 Seattle and Ms. Coots’ 5th grade class at Madrona Elementary in SeaTac, Washington.
To start, the students in Ms. Coots’ class read the novel Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman--a collection of stories from the point of view of 13 diverse characters, all living in a rough neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. In the novel, each character helps to transform an abandoned lot into a beautiful garden and in the process, undergoes a personal transformation as well. Using Fleischman's novel as inspiration, the Madrona students each wrote an original story of a new character living in similar circumstances.
Together, these stories make up the second Seedfolks crop.
"Amelia"
By: Barbie
I was surprised when my Dad said we were moving to America. I remember the night my father told me, I had come out of my room snooping for a snack. When I saw my Dad looking at the bills, his face was red as a tomato. He sighed. I went to the living room.
“What are you doing, Tommy?” I said to my little brother.
“I’m watching TV,” he said.
Before I knew it, it was 9:32 pm. My Dad barged in.
“We’re moving to Cleveland.” He barked.
The next week, we boarded the plane. We had to leave Nathan, my big brother, because he had to go to college.
When we arrived in Cleveland, we went to our new apartment. I saw black, dull carpet on the floor. I went to my room. I saw a lamp, an old bed, and a closet full of dust. I went outside to try to make friends, but the other kids thought I was weird because I was Canadian. I went back inside to my bed and fell asleep.
The next day, I felt a cold breeze on my face. It woke me up from dozing in my bed. As I got up, I went to our new kitchen and grabbed some cereal. My Dad came in.
“After breakfast we’re going to the community garden,” my Dad told me. I nodded, half asleep.
Once we were in the garden, I looked to my right and saw a boy looking at an old man. His name was Gonzalo. I decided to help him. After I helped, I saw an older girl. She had black hair and blue eyes.
“What’s your name?” I asked her.
“My name is Kimberly.”
She went to the high school by my middle school. We became friends. At least I have one friend, I thought to myself.
It took a long time for the plants to grow. “It’s been six months, Dad, they’re wilting,” I said.
Then my new friend, Kimberly, came over. She helped our plants grow in four days. Our plants grew tall. My Dad was so happy. We danced and sang and thanked Kimberly. The next week, we sold our plants. At night, I fell asleep and dreamed I had lots of friends.
I became happy in Cleveland with new friends. Two weeks later, my brother, Nathan, was on summer vacation so he was able to come visit. My little brother, Tommy, was very happy. Nathan came and he played with him all day. Later that day, Kimberly came over. We went to the garden to look at some other plants. There were some tomatoes wrapped in chicken wire. I was happy in Cleveland. It was awesome.
The End
"Kimberly"
By: Craig
Kimberly was watching her favorite movie, “Because of Winn-Dixie” again, sitting on the couch. She was remembering Seattle, her mom, and her younger cousin, Lauren, who was seven. She remembered a day two years before like it was yesterday. She remembered walking through the mall looking for purple eye shadow for her mom for Mother’s Day. She remembered thinking her mom would say, “I love it!” when she saw her gift. Kimberly missed how her mom would say that to everything she gave her.
When the movie was over, somebody was knocking on the door. Kimberly opened it. It was a strong guy and he had some tomatoes in a container. He looked like he was about 35.
He said, “Hi. My name is Curtis. I saw you just moved in. These tomatoes are a welcoming gift so you don’t feel like you’re left out.”
“Where did you get those?” Kimberly asked.
“From a garden,” he said. “I’ll take you there.”
She said, “OK.” She knew he wasn’t going to kidnap her or something because he had given her a present, so she knew he was nice.
He took Kimberly to a beautiful garden and she saw lots and lots of tomatoes. There was a sign that said Latesha’s Tomatoes. Kimberly decided to grow some purple roses because they reminded her of her mom. She asked Curtis if should could plant the flower seeds.
“Sure,” he said. “You can grow them if you make your own little garden area. Then you can grow flowers.”
Kimberly went to the gardening store nearby to buy some seeds. She came back to the garden and started digging and put the seeds in. The next day, she came back and nothing had changed. Already, she felt impatient for the flowers to bloom.
High school was hard for Kimberly because she was going to college the next year. She was already 19 and about to turn 20. She had to repeat a year of high school when she was in Seattle because she had not been paying attention. She had been thinking about her mom after she died.
She and her dad moved back to Cleveland to be close to her dad’s family and because it was cheaper. But Kimberly missed her friends and her cousin, Lauren, she had left behind in Seattle.
Kimberly liked going to the garden. She went everyday to water her flowers and check on how much they’d grown.
“You can water my tomatoes if I’m sick too,” Curtis told her, and she did. Kimberly was happy in the garden where she didn’t feel left out.
After two months, the shoots of the flowers started to show. Kimberly was excited. After another two months, there were delicate buds showing. Kimberly was careful not to squish them. When they finally opened, Kimberly picked the flowers. She took them back to her apartment and wrapped the stems in paper to make a bouquet to put them in a vase. She wanted to give them to Curtis to show him how well they’d grown and how hap
py she was. But she realized she didn’t know exactly where he lived. She waited until the next day when she saw him in the garden.
“Wait here,” she said, and went to her apartment to get the flowers. She brought them down to Curtis.
“Here you go,” she said. “This was my mom’s favorite color and I thought you’d like them.”
Curtis smelled the roses. “These smell good,” he said. “The smell reminds me of growing flowers where I used to live when I was a little kid. Thank you.”
Kimberly went home. When her dad got home, she told him what happened. “Dad, I gave flowers to my friend Curtis today and he liked them.”
“That’s great,” her dad said. He looked like he was about to cry. Kimberly could tell he was remembering how her mom used to give flowers to the neighbors too.
Kimberly felt happy and sad at the same time. She felt more comfortable in her new apartment now, but sad that her mom wasn’t there to see the flowers. She put four roses in a vase and took them to her room.
The End
"James"
By: Elias
I watched Raol’s footwork with the green and black soccer ball, passing it from left foot to right as he sped toward my goal. He kicked the ball, it was headed left. I jumped and blocked! The referee called, “Game over!” The score was 1-0; we won! Then my teammates grabbed my hands and shook them. While they were congratulating me, I thought about my dream of becoming a professional soccer player. But first, I had to go to college. No one would see my skills if didn’t go and get on a college team because that was how the professionals were noticed.
After a great day, I headed home, brushing grass off of my clothes from soccer. I noticed that I still had dog hair all over from my job as a groomer too, so I tried hard to brush that off as well. Instead of going straight to my apartment, I decided to visit my Tio Juan and my cousin, Gonzolo.
Once I got into Tio Juan’s house, he yelled at me for being dirty. I went to grab a snack. After my snack, I said, “Sorry, Tio Juan,” in a whisper. Then I went to the garden and watered my pumpkin to make sure that it was OK. I was growing the pumpkin to win a $1000 prize to use to go to college. After I finished, I went to my apartment and put on my pajamas and went to sleep.
At night, I heard a noise and I looked out the window. Someone was trying to steal my pumpkin. I grabbed my baseball bat and I went outside and I chased the person out of the garden all of the way out through the parking lot. I went back to my apartment and went back to sleep.
The next day was the day before the contest. The first thing I did was water my pumpkin and check to see if it was OK. Then I went into the car and went to work. After work, I checked on the pumpkin. I went to my apartment and got a tent and set it up in the garden next to the pumpkin. I wanted to sleep next to it so no robber could come to steal it. After I set up the tent, I went to Gonzolo’s apartment and asked him to watch my pumpkin while I went to Safeway to get some dinner. I bought some noodles, chicken, and potato salad and then I went back to my tent and told Gonzolo to go back to his apartment.
Finally, it was the day of the contest. The first thing I did was pick up the tent. I asked Gonzolo if he could come watch my pumpkin while I made two hot pockets for breakfast in the microwave and got changed. After breakfast, I went to the garden and cut the vines off my pum
pkin. At about 9:40, I started loading up my pumpkin in my truck and I drove to the contest.
Once I got there, I started thinking, what if I don’t win? Then I had trouble unloading the pumpkin off the truck which made me very nervous. I couldn’t find a good spot to put my pumpkin for the inspectors to see it. Five minutes later, I found a spot shortly after the contest had begun. The inspectors started to measure and check and the color of the pumpkins. I started to feel really nervous.
An hour later, the inspectors started to announce all the winners. They called my name! Once I heard my name, I started jumping up and down with excitement. I went up on stage and said my thank-yous. Right away, I thought about going to college and becoming a professional soccer player.
The End
"Packie"
By: Jerry
Oh, this is great! Now I know why Mom never left it,” Packie said. Packie used to be a most wanted criminal in Russia. It turned out that the cops were breaking into houses and many of the mob leaders were put away. Packie took a private jet to Cleveland, Ohio to live with his mom. He took a taxi to his mom’s and saw his li
ttle sister outside waiting for him.
“Packie,” said Dynasty, his sister. “Great to see you. I read the newspaper everyday to see what was going on in Russia.”
“Russia got worse,” said Packie. “Where’s Mom?”
“She’s in the house watching TV,” said Dynasty.
When they stepped into the apartment, they saw their mom looking at pictures of Packie. “Mom, I got a surprise for you,” said Dynasty.
Just then she saw Packie jump from behind, and Packie’s mom dropped a tear.
“Oh, Packie! I haven’t seen you in years,” said Mom. “I didn’t even know you were coming. I didn’t prepare.”
“It’s all right, Ma. I love the house,” said Packie.
“You look like you’re tired. Go get some rest. The room is exactly how you left it.”
When he got inside of his room, he saw his Batman bed and it brought back childhood memories.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Packie.
He hopped on the bed and closed his eyes and it was the best sleep he had had since leaving Russia. The next day, Packie woke up and woke to his mom yelling, “Unbelievable!”
Packie ran into the living room and asked his mom, “What’s wrong?”
“The rent is $40,000,” she said.
“How long since you have paid?” said Packie.
“A year,” said his mom. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to come home while it was like this.”
“There’s nothing wrong with working,” said Packie.
“Wake up your sister,” said Packie’s mom, “and tell her that she’s finally getting a job.”
Packie’s first interview was with JC Penney’s. They didn’t want to hire him because they had heard of his past. After a hard day of interviewing without luck, he went to see a friend of his, Vito.
“Packie, you finally left Russia and came down here to be saved,”
said Vito. “I know you just got here, but if you’re looking for a job, here’s my number. I work at the garden and I pay $1,000 each day. I’ll have my fifteen workers show you the ropes. Think about it.”
Packie said, “I thought about it, and yeah, I’ll be there.”
“You start tomorrow at 8 am. Don’t be late.”
Packie always kept his mom’s strawberry seeds under his pillow. He prayed they would work, but he could only wait. When he went to work, Vito told him he was a second late. “You should have got here earlier,” he told him.
Packie learned the gardening work. Plant. Water. Plant. Water. By the time the weeks passed, the seeds had grown and after a few weeks, the strawberries were selling like hotcakes. He sold them to the rich neighborhoods and made $30,000. He paid the rent by making a killing selling strawberries. He died because of a heart attack, but his son took his place.
The End
