8

The Amazing Apple

I took a swing at that humongous apple and missed by a mile.

Then Wyatt saw it too.

“It’s the hugest apple on the planet!” Wyatt cried.

“It’s my apple!” I said.

“Not if I’m the one who picks it!” he said.

We both swung our sticks at that gigantic apple.

And we both missed.

We swung again.

Crack! Our sticks hit with a loud whack.

“Boys,” Ms. Diz warned, “careful with the sticks!”

“It’s just one apple, you know,” Emma said. “There are hundreds of apples on this tree.”

“It’s a super apple!” I corrected.

“It’s Gigantor, the Killer Apple from Outer Space!” Wyatt added.

“Wow,” Gus said. “It looks like a basketball!”

I swung and missed again.

“Guys,” Emma said, “our basket is only half full. Everybody else has a ton of apples.”

“But they don’t have the Awesome, Amazing Super Apple!” Wyatt said.

He swung again and missed.

I had an idea.

“Gus,” I said. “Come here. It’s time for a ladder.”

“We don’t have a ladder,” Gus pointed out.

“I’ll be the ladder,” I said.

I got down on my hands and knees.

“Oh.” Gus grinned. “I get it.”

Gus climbed up on my back. He used his stick for balance.

“Ow,” I said. “Ow, ow, ow. Hurry, Gus. Your ladder can’t take much more of this.”

Whack! Whack! Whack!

Gus kept missing. “Keep still. It’s hard to balance when your ladder keeps breathing,” he complained.

“Hey, it’s cheating if you have to step on a friend,” Wyatt said.

“I don’t mind,” I said.

Even though Gus was turning out to be way heavier than I’d expected.

“Emma,” Wyatt said. “Come here. I need to step on you.”

“Excuse me? Emma said. She laughed. “No way, Wyatt.”

Wyatt turned to Gus.

“Gus,” he said. “We need to work together. Stay on Roscoe. I’ll climb on your shoulders and whack that apple down.”

“How about I climb on you?” Gus asked.

“How about nobody else climbs on me?” I asked.

“I’m taller than you,” Wyatt said to Gus.

Gus nodded. “Can’t argue with that.”

“Yes you can,” said Emma. “And are you three aware that this is dumb?”

“I agree with Emma,” I said with a groan. “And my back agrees too.”

Just then somebody yelled a cover-your-ears kind of yell. “OUCH! I’m hit! Call 9-1-1!”

Emma went to find out what was going on.

“It’s just Coco,” Emma said when she came back. “An apple fell on her head.”

Wyatt glanced over his shoulder.

All the teachers and parents were busy with Coco.

“The coast is clear,” said Wyatt. “Stand still, Gus.”

Gus stayed on me.

Wyatt climbed on him.

“UGH,” I said.

One kid is heavy.

Two kids is too heavy.

“I am thinking this is a way not-good idea,” I said.

I wobbled.

Gus wobbled.

Wyatt wobbled and whacked.

Whack! Whack!

Plop!

“I GOT IT!” Wyatt yelled.

Just before he fell.

And Gus fell.

On me.

“Ouch,” I said.

“YOU ouch? What about ME?” Wyatt said, rubbing his elbow. “I was on top.”

“Yeah, but I was on the bottom,” I said with a groan.

Ms. Diz ran over.

“Boys, what on earth is going on here?” she asked.

“Check out this apple, Ms. Diz!” Wyatt cried.

He pulled that beauty out of the net.

“Let’s eat it!” I said.

“Roscoe Riley!” Ms. Diz said. “The apples have to be washed first.”

“It’s bigger than a melon,” Gus said.

“It’s bigger than a Halloween pumpkin,” I said.

“It’s just an apple!” Emma said.

“No more misbehaving, boys,” Ms. Diz warned.

“Sorry,” we all said.

“You want to be able to go on other field trips, don’t you?” Ms. Diz added.

“I vote for the doughnut place next time,” I said.

“We’ll see,” said Ms. Diz. “It will depend on how much I can trust you to behave.”

“Five more minutes of picking!” called Abe.

Which was good news.

My arms were tired. And so was my back.

Plus I was kind of sore from being smushed.

I guess Gus and Wyatt were tired too.

Because they sat on the ground with me while Emma kept picking.

I think maybe she’s tougher than us guys.

Thanks to Emma, we got that basket almost filled.

But not quite.

“The magic fortune-telling ball was right!” I said. “We didn’t fill our basket. But we did get the giant apple.”

“Can I see that ball?” Emma asked.

I took it out of my pocket and handed it to her.

She shook the ball. “Magic ball,” Emma said, “who should get to take home most of the apples since she did all the work?”

Emma turned over the ball. She grinned.

“‘EMMA SHOULD, BECAUSE THOSE GUYS WERE BUSY FIGHTING LIKE MORONS OVER AN APPLE,’” she read.

I am pretty sure she was just pretending, though.

Because that is for sure not a yes-or-no kind of answer.