儿童英语读物 The Garden Thief CHAPTER 6 The Lumpy Shapes

The following morning the children had breakfast at their usual time, in their usual place: at home.



Mrs. McGregor had made granola and served it with milk and fresh strawberries that Benny had brought home from Mr. Yee’s garden.



“These are delicious strawberries,” said Mrs. McGregor.



“Mr. Yee has two long rows of them,” said Benny, “and it’s my job to water them. He let me pick these yesterday.”



“I’m so glad you’re helping 1 Mr. Yee,” said Mrs. McGregor. “When your grandfather comes home this afternoon, he’ll be very pleased that you’re helping his old friend.”



“What are we going to do today, Jessie?” Violet asked her sister.



“We’re going to harvest carrots and radishes,” Jessie answered. “Mr. Yee says we can bring some home to Mrs. McGregor.”



Mrs. McGregor was making toast for everybody. She looked confused. “How can you harvest full-grown carrots if they were baby carrots just two days ago?” she asked.



“Because Mr. Yee has spread his plantings two weeks apart,” Jessie explained. “He plants a section of carrots every two weeks, and a section of radishes, and lettuce 2, and kale.”



“I see,” said Mrs. McGregor. “That way, not all of the vegetables are ready at the same time.”



“There’s something ready all season long,” said Henry. “Except for plants like tomatoes, which Mr. Yee put in all at the same time.”



“Are you going to work on the broken towers today?” Jessie asked her brother.



“Yes,” said Henry



“Who would do something mean like break tomato towers?” asked Violet. “Why would they do that?”



“The vandal must have a reason,” said Henry.



“What about the thief?” asked Jessie. “I don’t think the thief and the vandal are the same person.”



Her brothers and sister agreed with her.



The Aldens were still speculating about who might be the vandal and who might be the thief when Mr. Yee arrived. It was time to leave.



As before, Mrs. McGregor drove them all to the community gardens and dropped them off at the end, by Sections D and E. And as before, the children and Mr. Yee walked toward Section A, greeting all the gardeners they passed.



This morning, they did not see Taylor Harris standing 3 at her garden gate, looking perplexed 4. This morning, they saw two lumpy shapes on the ground, in front of Section A, Plot 1. One shape was long and low. The other shape was round and high.



“What in the world is that?” asked Mr. Yee, scratching underneath 5 the cast of his broken arm. “It’s in front of Roger’s plot.”



“Look!” Benny pointed 6 at something that sat between the two shapes. “It’s a Rex rabbit!”



As the Aldens and Mr. Yee got closer, they saw that the long low shape was a sleeping bag, with somebody inside it. The high round shape was a burlap bag. The Rex rabbit was sitting and scratching an ear with a hind 7 leg.



Just then, Lucasta Kirk came around the far corner of Plot 1. She hobbled along slowly, dragging her broken leg, which was covered from toe to knee with a green trash bag.



“Why are you limping?” Mr. Yee asked her. “You are young, you should be healed by now.”



“I need my cast,” said Lucasta, picking up her rabbit.



“Did you let your rabbit out of its cage?” Benny asked her.



Lucasta frowned. “It hopped 8 out when I went to put lettuce inside.”



The shape in the sleeping bag groaned 9. It moved. Then it sat up.



Everybody could see that it was Roger Walski inside the sleeping bag.



“What’s going on here?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.



“What are you doing on the ground?” asked Mr. Yee.



“I’m guarding my plot,” Roger answered. “So that nothing else is stolen.”



“Is that your breakfast in the big bag?” asked Benny, pointing to the bag.



“Bag?” asked Roger, looking around. “What bag?” Then he saw the big burlap bag sitting on the ground. “What’s that? That wasn’t there when I went to sleep,” he said.



“That means somebody put the bag there after you fell asleep,” said Henry.



“And that means you are not much of a guard,” said Mr. Yee. “Not if somebody can sneak 10 up in the middle of the night and deposit a big bag next to your head.”



Roger scowled 12. “Never you mind,” he said to Mr. Yee. He crawled out of his sleeping bag. As Roger crawled out of the bag, a clipboard and pen fell out of the bag. Henry stooped to pick them up, but Roger shouted at him. “No! Leave that alone!” Roger quickly grabbled the clipboard and pen and shoved them far into the sleeping bag.



Henry wondered why Roger didn’t want him to see the clipboard. I wonder what’s on it, thought Henry.



And then Henry noticed a small tool kit 13 alongside the sleeping bag. When Roger saw Henry looking at the tool kit, he shoved it into the sleeping bag, also.



Roger stood and stretched. Then he leaned down and cautiously opened the lumpy burlap bag. “Cucumbers!” he said in surprise. “The bag is full of cucumbers!” Roger removed a cucumber from the bag, inspected it, and bit into it. Everybody heard the loud, juicy crunch 14 as he did so.



“Good,” Roger declared, “but they wouldn’t win a blue ribbon.”



Violet saw Lucasta’s rabbit sniff 15 at the cucumber. The rabbit tried to jump out of Lucasta’s arms, but she held it close and didn’t allow it to escape.



Rabbits must like cucumbers, thought Violet.



Mr. Yee and Benny both took cucumbers out of the bag and bit into them.



“This is good,” said Benny.



“But not good enough for a blue ribbon,” said Roger.



“How can you tell?” asked Jessie.



Roger held out the half-eaten cucumber and pointed to its green skin. “The skin is too thick,” he said. “A thinner skin is better because it’s less bitter.”



“That is correct,” said Mr. Yee as he finished eating his cucumber. “This is a good tasting cucumber, but not quite good enough for first prize in a contest.”



“Well,” said Roger as he took several cucumbers out of the bag, “I’m going to take some of these home to eat. Everybody else is welcome to take some, too.”



“Thank you,” said Jessie. “We’ll take some home to Mrs. McGregor.”



“And I will take some, also,” said Mr. Yee as he reached into the bag.



“What about you, Lucasta?” asked Roger. “Do you want the rest of these cucumbers for your rabbits?”



Lucasta stroked her Rex rabbit and shook her head. “No,” she replied.



Roger Walski looked surprised. “No?” he asked. “Why not?”



“My rabbits are prize-winning rabbits,” said Lucasta. “They deserve only prize-winning vegetables. They need to eat the very best in order to have the shiniest fur and brightest eyes.”



Mr. Yee nodded his head slowly. “That is why you raised beautiful vegetables in your garden but did not enter them in the fair—you fed them to your rabbits instead.”



“My rabbits are going to win first prize again this year,” said Lucasta. “They win every year. That’s important.”



Lucasta turned and hobbled away, heading toward the barn across the road.



“I don’t understand why her leg seems to be hurting,” said Mr. Yee, looking puzzled. “Yesterday she had her cast off. Her leg should be healed by now.”



Just then Henry remembered that he never got a chance to give Roger yesterday’s message from Alex Kirk.



“Roger,” said Henry, “Alex asked me to give you a message. He said, ‘My father still says no.’”



“Is that so?” said Roger with a scowl 11. He bent 16 down and rummaged 17 in his sleeping bag. Finally he pulled out the clipboard and pen and held them to his chest. “We’ll see about that,” he said.



The children and Mr. Yee watched as Roger Walski walked away from them. They watched him walk up to Section B and talk to a gardener.