Around the Bend: Beans

For the rest of that day, we were very busy. All the newspapers wanted interviews with us, and the television people were there, too. We were given some nice new clothes and some scientists came and took samples of the vine. They drilled holes in the trunk and put the specimens into plastic bags. Mum made sure there weren't any seeds around for people to take. She also got a sign writer to do up a nice big sign for the front gate:

"FIREWOOD FOR SALE: $70 A CORD"

But in the afternoon Dad looked a bit bothered about something. He kept looking up at the bean-stalk, and scratching his head.

I waited till there was no-one round to listen in and sat beside him.

"What's wrong, Dad?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. "I keep thinking that this thing isn't as big as it was. It looks smaller somehow."

"I can't see any difference.'"

"Look at the house then. Doesn't it seem to be a bit nearer?"

"Could be," I shrugged.

That night we slept in a neighbor's home. Thankfully, we didn't have beans with our meal. If you must know, we had fish and chips.

Next morning Dad woke us up.

"You'd better come and see this," he said.

We went outside and looked. The bean-stalk was so small that our house had bent it right over. Even while we watched, the stalk shrank by a few meters.

"What's happening!" Mum cried. "All our lovely firewood! It's disappearing!"

"It's just shriveling up!" said Dad. "I can't stop it."

"But why?" said Mum, puffing hard on a cigarette "It's not fair!"

"The man in the shop said the beans needed water," I said, remembering. "He said they were small because they were dried out."