The Golden Seed    by Denise Cassino

    Jacob Melbourne’s father was clearly worried. He sat silently and stared out the
kitchen window at the brown, empty fields. Sometimes tears crept into his hollow eyes. That frightened
Jacob. His father had never cried, even when their prize calf had gotten sick and died. Jacob could tell his mother was worried, too, by the way she twisted the dishtowel in her hands, over and over and wiped tears from the corners of her eyes when she thought no one was looking.
    It hadn’t rained a drop in many weeks. The cornfields were drying up and the stalks were much too small for midsummer. They were usually almost as tall as Jacob who was in the fifth grade. Even summer hadn’t been as much fun this year since Jacob’s father wasn’t driving the tractor or other farm machines as much as usual. Jacob missed riding with him on the big rigs. About the only job he had to do was feed the chickens. Oops! Speaking of which, he’d better do that right now.
    Jacob walked out the kitchen door. He was careful not to slam it knowing it would only upset his mom and dad. He went to the barn and filled the big bucket with grain, then hauled it toward the farm yard. The rooster and hens came squawking and pecking around his feet. The little baby chicks scurried behind.
    "Shoo, let me through here, you crazy chickens."
    Jacob laughed and it felt good. He hadn’t laughed all day. He tossed handfuls of grain around the yard. The chickens clucked and scratched around his feet. He made sure the little chicks got plenty. They needed to grow big and strong, too.
    Then, Jacob got the basket to gather eggs from the hen house. Wow, there were a lot of them today, big ones, too. He went from nest to nest placing the eggs gently in the big basket careful not to break any. Mom said they couldn’t afford to waste anything right now.
    As he headed toward the house with his bounty of eggs, he glanced down and saw an unusual piece of grain. It was long, slender, spiky and curved with a bright golden color. He squatted to pick it up, looked at it closely and turned it around in his fingers. This looked special somehow. He stood up and slipped it in the pocket of his jeans. Then, he took the eggs into the kitchen for his mom.
    "I’ll be outside, Mom."
    "Okay, honey, be careful."
    She always said ‘be careful’ even when he wasn’t doing anything dangerous. He figured that was just the way moms were. Heading into the barn, he found the hand trowel. He stuffed a handful of fertilizer into his other jean pocket and filled a jug of water at the spigot. Then he walked around toward the vegetable garden lugging the jug. He picked a spot in the corner. With the trowel, he dug a little hole, making it just deep enough that the grain sprout would still be able to push through the dirt on top of it. He sprinkled the fertilizer into the hole and then dug into his pocket for the piece of grain. He dropped it gently into the hole and brushed dirt lightly over it, just like he’d seen his mom do with other seeds. Then he poured just a little water on top of it. In a drought, there wasn’t much to spare.
    Jacob carried the jug and trowel back to the barn. He rinsed the trowel with a little bit of the water. His dad liked to keep his tools clean because they lasted longer that way. He dried the trowel on his jeans then hung it back where it belonged so they could find it when they needed it. He poured the rest of the water into the chicken’s water pan so he wouldn’t waste that either. Water was the one thing they needed most right now. When he came out of the barn, he saw his father coming out the back door.
    "What are you up to, Jacob?"
    "Nothing, Dad, where are you going?"
    "I’ve got to run into town. Want to ride along?"
    "Sure! I’ll tell Mom."
    Jacob ran to the door and yelled, "Mom, I’m going to town with Dad, okay?"
    She always liked to know where he was going, so she wouldn’t worry. Seemed like grownups did a lot of worrying.
    "Okay, Jacob, do you have a jacket?"
    "Mom, it’s hot out! I don’t need a jacket."
    She came to the door with his green jacket. "Take it anyway, better safe than sorry."
    He shrugged and grabbed the jacket and ran for the truck. He loved going in the big truck with his dad. It roared and bounced over the country roads. Jacob was tall enough now to see over the dashboard even with his seat belt fastened. The fields, empty and brown, flew past the window. They saw Mr. Johansen on his tractor. They honked, and he waved. The neighbors were sad and worried, too. Their crops were withering and drying up, but they never failed to be friendly and helpful.
    For dinner that night, Mom made a pot of soup from garden vegetables and beef bones. Jacob liked the soup, but Mom acted like it wasn’t a very good dinner.
    "This is good, Mom, what’s wrong?" Jacob asked, looking into her eyes.
    "Thank you, honey. I know, I just wish it had a little more meat in it, that’s all."
    Then Jacob understood that it was the crops she was thinking about. Without the money from selling the crops, they couldn’t buy food. Jacob tried not to eat too much, so there would be some for tomorrow, but Mom refilled his bowl anyway. He was so hungry he ate it, but he felt a little guilty.
    The next day, Jacob headed for the barn to feed the chickens. Then he remembered the seed he had planted. He finished his work then went around toward the garden.
    He couldn’t believe it! The seed was already six inches tall! He ran toward it in disbelief! It looked like wheat! Nothing else in the garden had grown so fast. He gave it a just a little more water. He pulled the weeds from around it. This might be a special kind of wheat!
    Each day for the next week, Jacob checked on his wheat. It grew taller and taller each day without much water. By the end of the week, it was 3 feet tall and sprouting. Now there would be more seeds. Finally, Jacob brought his father back to see the wheat plant. His father’s eyes widened, and he walked toward it and squatting, looking it over carefully.
    "Where did you find the seed, Jacob?"
    "It was mixed in with the chicken feed, Dad."
    "Well, this just might be something very special. It’s all ready to harvest, and I think we can get quite a few seeds from this to plant in the fields."
    They pulled the plant and hung it upside down to dry. The seeds filled with nutrients. In a few days, they were ready to plant. They plowed part of a fallow field and planted the seeds carefully. They couldn’t give them much water, but in a few days, the seeds had sprouted anyway. Then more seeds came from those plants and even more from the next plants. Soon the whole field was filled with tall green plants that didn’t seem to need much water.
    The neighbors began stopping by to see the amazing wheat. Jacob’s father gave them a few seeds, too. Soon the whole valley was filled with Jacob’s wheat, growing tall and green, making more and more seeds. After the wheat turned golden, the harvest was the most abundant in years. Tons of wheat sold at market. Everybody knew that Jacob had found the seed. So, all of the farmers in the area planned a huge harvest festival. It was in honor of Jacob because he saved the farms. They decided to name the festival "The Melbourne Wheat Festival."
    At the festival, the neighboring farm families brought delicious roasts and vegetables and pies and cakes and lemonade. They all joined in the three-legged race and the egg toss. The Mayor of their town awarded Jacob a special shirt with a picture of a shoot of golden wheat on the front and the words "Melbourne Wheat – a Golden Crop." For the first time in months, everyone was happy.
    That night Jacob’s father came into his room to say goodnight. He sat on the edge of his bed and said, "Jacob, when you found that seed, it looked like nothing on the ground, but you picked it up. You saw something special in it, and it turned out to be the answer to everyone’s problems. Now, all of our neighbors are well-fed, and we’ll never be hungry again. A big company is paying us a lot of money for your seeds. Always remember, a simple thing can be much more valuable than it looks - this one changed our lives."

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