Vegetables

“Vegetables” -- A Peggy Scribble
By Michael Kroetch

The yard sale next door sold our wagon. The kid who bought it was too big for it – almost as big as us. But he got it anyway. He had red hair that looked like a weed you’d see growing where nothing else would. We watched him drag away the wagon. Peggy said he’d break it before he got it home. She knew he would. Peggy said he looked like the breaker type. We’d never broken it. We only broke things when we were upset. Peggy did this more than me. She threw a scissors at me once when I called her ugly. It stuck in the dinner table. She was also able to hold her breath under water longer than me or anyone I knew. Sometimes when she was under I was afraid she’d burst. Her face was gray as ash when she came back up. I’m back from the dead, she’d say. Now I’m special. Now you have to do what I say and eat all your vegetables.