Hello, I’m Cassandra, and this is my story of a jalapeno, a thief, and a bountiful harvest of deception.
Let’s start off with a little about me. I am short. I have brown hair, brown eyes, and a smile that could warm up even the coldest tundra. I was a bright young girl with a loving family, good grades, and no problems at home. Then one day, everything changed.
I was working on my jalapeno garden and spotted a peculiar sight. One of the jalapenos was colored purple! I was amazed and couldn’t believe my eyes! When I finally calmed down I had come to the conclusion that one of my parents had colored it purple as a joke. It was fully ripened so I picked it, and took it inside to wash off what I thought was the coloring. Inside, I turned on the water and proceeded to scrub it, gently at first, then faster as my frustration grew from the color not wearing off. Stunned, I set the jalapeno down and went to ask my mother if she knew anything about the purple jalapeno. I found her and she said that she hadn’t colored any of our vegetables. My father hadn’t either. I was perplexed!
The next day at school I asked my science teacher, a man of about average height and had a scraggly grey beard, if he had heard of such a thing ever happening; he said that some fruit can be discolored, but never a whole new color entirely. I asked him if I could talk to him in private after school that day. I didn’t want to ask him in front of the class because they would all think I was nuts!
After school that day I went to go show my science teacher my jalapeno. He was so stunned he was speechless. He looked at it under a microscope and said that it was, in fact, a purple jalapeno. He told me to make sure I kept it in a very safe place so that no one could try and take it. I put it in my locker and went home.
The next day at school I went to my locker to make sure that the jalapeno was still there when I opened it. I looked inside and the jalapeno was gone!! I was so heartbroken I fell to the ground and started to cry. My science teacher, whom was walking by, stopped and asked me what my problem was. I told him that my purple jalapeno was gone and that I didn’t know where it was.
He told me that one of the janitors probably took it. Perplexed as to why he would accuse them, but too frightened to ask, I went up to the head janitor and asked him if he knew anything. He told me that he did not, but that we could check the cameras.
What we found was shocking. The sight on the monitor was an adult, about 5 feet tall with a grey beard. He looked familiar to my eyes, but the picture on the screen was fuzzy and undeveloped. Though my brain told me that it was not true, my eyes told me that the man on the screen was, in fact, my science teacher. I informed the school officer about what had happened. He and I promptly went and questioned the teacher, an arrest was made, and my jalapeno was returned.
All was fine, and as it turns out, my jalapeno was an entirely new species of jalapeno! Since I was the one who discovered it, I had the opportunity to name the new vegetable. Maybe soon you too will see the Cassandrapeno in your local supermarket!