The people in this story actually exist. The events of the
story is fictional; however, the essence of the story and of
its characters exist in memories of not long ago.
No part of this publication may be duplicated or printed
without written permission of the author.
"Hey, Miss A, how about handing me that salt shaker when
you get done with it," said Uncle Bill as he brought over his
quarter piece of watermelon and dangled his feet over the edge
of the front porch.
"OK," Ava gave one last shake of salt to her watermelon
and handed the shaker to him. She then took her knife and care-
fully cut up her melon. She cut it into three blocks high
and eight blocks down the length of the watermelon. Ava liked
to do things in a certain way all the time. She always cut her
watermelon the same way each time and then speared each piece
with her knife and put it in her mouth.
Uncle Bill, on the other hand, didn't care one way or the
other how his melon was cut or even if it was cut -- he just
brought the watermelon up to his mouth and ate and ate until he
had juice running all down his chin. He only stopped to spit
out the seeds.
Ava, her Mama and Daddy, and her two big brothers, Sammy
and Tony were at their great grandmother's house along with
their aunts and uncles, great-aunts and great-uncles, cousins,
second cousins, and people she'd never even heard of before.
They were celebrating Grandmother Great's 70th birthday. They
had already had a huge potluck dinner at noon. Mama had brought
marinated carrots, which Ava hated. She also brought Purple
Durple Salad which Ava and Sammy both loved.
After dinner they had gone to Red Creek to go swimming.
Sammy and Tony could jump off the rope into the water with all
the big cousins. Ava wanted to do it, too, but Mama wouldn't
let her, so she had to play in the shallow part of the creek
with all the younger cousins.
Now they were all back at Grandmother's eating watermelon.
Later they would have homemade ice cream and birthday cake.
Uncle Bill had just finished his slice of watermelon and
Ava was halfway through her middle row of watermelon when Ava
said, "Hey, Uncle Bill, look at all the watermelon seeds! Do
you think I could plant them and grow watermelons?" Ava wasn't
sure she could or not because one time she planted vanilla
wafers when her Daddy was planting peas and butterbeans and
corn and nothing came up.
"Yeah, you probably could. But you just take care you
don't swallow any of them seeds. If you do, do you know
what'll happen?" Uncle Bill had a serious look on his face,
but his eyes were bright with mischievousness.
"No, what?" Ava was anxious to know what would happen, "What
would happen?"
"Well, that watermelon seed would go down to your stomach and
stay there and then grow until you had watermelon vines come
out of your ears!"
Ava's eyes widened, her mouth dropped open, and she sat
there thinking about what it would be like to have vines grow-
ing out of her ears. She speared another block and slowly ate
it. She counted three seeds in her mouth and decided that she
would spit them out just as far as she could.
"Watch, Uncle Bill, I'm gonna spit these seeds clear out
to the road!" She sucked in her breath and spit the first one
out just as far as it would go. It landed in the ant bed in
the middle of the yard and thousands of ants came out to in-
spect the black oval invader.
"I bet they think that's some kind of meteorite, huh,
Uncle Bill?" Ava laughed. Uncle Bill had his face in another
slice of watermelon and could only manage a muffled "Um-hm."
She spit the next seed out and it landed just on the
other side of the ant bed. "I'm gonna try to hit it again."
Ava sucked in as much air as she could, closed one eye, and
aimed her mouth directly at the ant bed.
POW! She felt something hit the
back of her head and heard her brother, Tony, yell, "Get out
of the way, you little brat!" as he lumbered past her down
the steps. Ava yelled back, "You better quit, Tony Baloney
Macaroni. That hurt! I'm gonna tell Mama!"
Then, with a start, she realized that she had just swal-
lowed her third watermelon seed. "Oh, no," she thought,
"Now I'm gonna have watermelon vines coming out of my ears!"
The next week was very busy because Ava, Sammy, and Tony
had to get ready for school. Ava was going to be in the
second grade. This year she would not have either of her
brothers at her school because they were both in high school
now.
One day they all went to Cloverleaf Mall in Hattiesburg
to go shopping for new school clothes and school supplies.
They were in the boys' clothes department at Sears when Ava's
stomach began to rumble and grumble and make all kinds of
noises. The boys were trying on jeans and Ava was hiding
inside the circular belt rack pretending she was in a jungle.
"Mama, I'm hungry. I want something to eat," she called out
as she cut through the thick brush of the jungle and came back
out into city.
"You're hungry already? You had two bowls of Fruit Loops
and a banana for breakfast this morning. You must be getting
ready to grow," Mama said.
"Nah, she probably got worms from playing with Boogedy
and now they're eating up all the food in her stomach," Tony
said while coming out of the dressing room.
"I do not have worms! And Boogedy doesn't have worms
either!" Ava argued. Tony stuck out his tongue and waggled
his face at her face and Mama said, "Y'all quit fighting.
I'm going to go pay for these clothes. Y'all decide where
you want to go eat."
Tony wanted to go to Ward's because he liked their chili
burgers. Ava wanted to go to McDonald's because she liked the
free toy she got with each Happy Meal (and besides she hated
chili burgers). Sammy didn't care as long as he got a couple
of hamburgers with nothing on it except bread and meat. Mama
finally decided that they would go to the chicken place and get
a huge bucket of 15 pieces of extra-crispy, spicy chicken along
with mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and rolls. That way, Daddy
could eat what was left over. Mama had two pieces of chicken,
coleslaw, mashed potatoes, and a roll. Sammy had three pieces
of chicken, mashed potatoes, and two rolls. Tony had three
pieces of chicken and three rolls. Ava normally would eat just
two chicken legs and a roll, but this time she ate two chicken
legs, a chicken wing, two rolls, and the crispy skin off of one
of Sammy's piece of chicken (which he did not appreciate).
Mama was quite pleased with her appetite because she normally
ate like a bird. Tony, on the other hand, continued to
aggravate her and suggested that she go to the vet with
Boogedy and get her worm shots before school started. Other-
wise she would be the cause of a schoolwide epidemic of worms.
Ava didn't have to go to the vet even though her appetite
continued to increase. School started and Ava was happy to
find out that she was still in the advanced reading group and
the advanced math group. She was also in Brownies which met
on Fridays after school.
The day after Labor Day, Ava was playing "The Indian
Dance" on the piano. She loved this song and often played it
loud and fast even though it drove everybody crazy at home.
She especially liked to play it when Tony was doing his
Algebra homework. She played it so often that she had it
memorized.
She had barely started playing when Mama came by and
said, "What is that noise?"
Ava said indignantly, "This isn't noise. This is 'The
Indian Dance'."
Mama said, "No, not that. I mean what is that rustling
noise? Do you hear it?" Ava kinda shrugged her shoulders.
She had heard it. In fact, she had been hearing that noise
since last week. She had already been questioned by her
brothers and even her teacher at school. But even before that,
she had felt the rustling -- in her stomach! It felt like a
lot of paper moving around. At first she thought maybe she
had the flu, but she'd never had the flu before, so she really
wasn't sure. She was getting kind of hungry though, so she
looked up at Mama and said, "I think it's my stomach growling."
She then finished playing "The Indian Dance" and went to the
kitchen to get a snack.
Even though Ava tried to keep as still as she could, the
rustling noises continued. Ava was glad when fall came and the
leaves on the trees turned colors and fell off because then she
could blame the rustling noises on the leaves on the ground.
One morning, Ava and the boys were eating breakfast before
going to school. Ava was eating Fruit Loops which is her
favorite cereal, and, all of a sudden, Tony popped her on the
shoulder. Ava looked up and said, "Mama, he hit me and I
didn't do nothing!"
Mama said, "I was talking to you and called your name
three times and you didn't answer." Ava said, "Oh. I guess
I didn't hear you -- but he didn't have to hit me!"
Sammy said, "You haven't been hearing a lot of stuff
lately. Maybe you need to get your ears checked."
Ava stuck her finger in her ear and said, "My ears are
fine except they itch like crazy. Mama, you need to clean
my ears for me. I think I have too much wax in my ears."
Mama said, "Get your finger out of your ear! You're
not supposed to ever put anything in your ear except your
elbow!"
Tony jumped up and said, "No time now -- the bus is
here!" They all jumped up, got their school books and ran
out to get on the bus. Ava was kinda quiet on the bus ride.
She was worried -- she had not even heard the huge bus
coming down the road.
As the week went on, her ears continued to itch and one
day she put her finger in her ear (she forgot what Mama said)
and to her surprise, she could barely feel something in her
ear. A couple of days later she could actually scrape it
out with her fingernail. When she looked under her nail,
there was green stuff there (and no, it wasn't boogers).
It wasn't long before the green stuff could be seen
coming out of her ears. Naturally, her family found out
and took her to the doctor to be examined. Dr. Clark
took an x-ray and showed it to Ava and Mama. "It appears
that Ava has a plant growing in her stomach and the stems
are growing out of her ears. Do you have any idea what
could have caused this?"
Ava stared bug-eyed at the x-ray and said, "I know what
it is -- it's watermelon vines. I swallowed a watermelon
seed and it grew in my stomach, just like Uncle Bill said
it would!"
Dr. Clark and Mama were surprised. They decided to
let the plant grow until it could grow no more and let it
die because winter was coming and surely the plant would
not survive in the cold weather. Dr. Clark assured Ava
that she would be alright as the watermelon plant grew
and died.
By the time the end of October came around, Ava had
her halloween costume ready. she was going to be a Fruit
Lady. Mama had made a hat with all kinds of plastic fruit
sewed on it and a dress that also had plastic fruit sewed
on it. For earrings, she had two real live watermelons that
dangled all the way down to her shoulders. It would not be
long before they would be ripe and could be picked and eaten.
At her school's Halloween Carnival, she won first prize for
her costume and got her picture in the Hattiesburg
American. Her watermelon vines were bringing her a lot
of attention!
"Get up! It's time to go!" Ava's brother's voice
shouted in her ear. Ava opened her eyes, stretched her arms
out and looked around her. She saw her mother gathering up
left-over Purple Durple Salad and empty dishes in Grand-
mother's kitchen. Uncle Bill was turning on the evening news
across the room. Tony had bounced out the door toward the car
and Sammy was following close behind. Ava called out, "Sammy,
Sammy, come here."
Sammy turned and came over and said, "What is it, Doll?"
"I swallowed a watermelon seed. Uncle Bill said that if
I did that I'd have watermelon vines growing out of my ears!"
she whispered urgently.
Sammy cracked a smile and said, "No, you won't have vines
coming out your ears."
"Are you sure? How do you know?" Ava still wasn't sure.
"I'm positive. I learned in school that plants have to
have sunshine to grow. It's dark in your stomach and the
light can't get inside, so the seed won't grow into a plant."
Ava sighed with relief, "Oh, good! I'm glad. Don't tell
Tony, ok? He'd say I'd have to get worm shots!"