She took one of the mysterious seeds and tossed it into the air, catching it as it came back down. Nothing happened.

She popped it into her mouth. It was warm and coated with dirt. She spat it back out. It looked the same as it did before, only wet.

She took off her shoe and sock and stuck the seed between her toes. She walked around like that all day, but the seed did not change.

She put it under a heating lamp for a couple of hours. She burnt her fingers when she picked it up to examine it. Nothing had changed.

She poured water over it in the sink. Nothing happened. She dropped it in a bowl of cereal. Nothing changed.

Finally she decided to do what she suspected all along she would have to do. She poised the seed between two fingers over her open mouth.

“What are you doing with that rock? Oh no. Not again.” her mother yelled. But it was too late. She had already swallowed it. “We’re going to the hospital.”

“I thought it was a seed.” she explained.

“You always think it’s a seed.”

© 2008 Ginna C. Original for CCF (Ginna C. grants CCF first electronic rights for one month; CCF may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).

* CCF does not publish students' last names on the work they submit for publication.