Dig, Dug, Done (2nd Place)

“Ok, kids. Line up. Time to apply the sunscreen.” Samantha beckoned with her hand as three kids complied.

“Why do we have to do this, Mom?” Billy whined.

“Because it’s time to harvest the garden, and we’re all going to help.”

“Are you serious?” Mark, the oldest, piped up. “How many meals are we going to get out of this anyway? Last year the potatoes were the size of golf balls.”

Stephanie just crossed her arms in disgust as Samantha smeared the goo all over her.

“We are going to harvest this garden. Your father planted it. He worked hard planting it. Now, we need to keep up our end of the bargain.”

With that statement, they all marched to the overgrown garden where they plopped down and began picking pitiful portions from the puny vegetable plants. After fifteen minutes, a snake scared Stephanie, a bee stung Mark, and Billy decided corn worms would make good pets. The grunts and groans began -- “This is too hard.”, “Why do we need green beans?”, “Can I run the lawn mower instead?”, “Shouldn’t Dad be doing this?”

“Enough!” Samantha stared down her children. “You all are going to learn a lesson today about hard work paying off. You will see that this carrot plant is a source of pride.” She reached down, pushed a few weeds out of the way, and pulled the stubby carrot from the ground. A ground swell of ants scrambled onto her foot and started biting her. She hopped around howling in pain. She smacked at the tiny demons.

The kids rolled on the ground and held their stomachs laughing.

“Fine.” She rubbed her welts, and flicked the last insect off herself. “Let’s go to the vegetable stand down the street. Don’t tell your father.”

298 Words
Flash Story Must contain: Sunscreen, Lawn mower, Garden