The Yellow Duck decides to plant a tree

The Yellow Duck was eating an apple one afternoon when he felt something hard and crunchy in his mouth. He spit it out into his hand and stared at it. Among the chewed up chunks of apple lay several seeds.

"I didn't know apples had seeds," the Yellow Duck said.

"Duh," Ms. Fish said. "That's how Johnny Appleseed planted all the apple trees up north. He went through the whole country sprinkling seeds, which grew into trees."

"That's just a legend," Toad scoffed. "No one could plant that many trees."

"You think these seeds would grow?" the Yellow Duck asked.

"They might," Toad said, squinting his eyes at them. "You could throw the chewed up apple in the hole for fertilizer."

"I think I'm going to try and plant them," the Yellow Duck said. Ms. Fish rolled her eyes.

"Apple trees don't grown here," she said. "It's San Antonio. It's too hot and there's bad soil."

"Well, I'm going to try anyway," the Yellow Duck said, sticking out his chin stubbornly.

"Suit yourself," Ms. Fish said, rolling her eyes. She went back to painting the side of her bowl pink.

The Yellow Duck dug a hole in the soil around the pond and dropped several of the apple seeds in. He filled the hole back up and covered the top with some mulch he found under a bush. Then he used a watering can to water the seeds. Then he sat and stared at his hole and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

When his mom finally came looking for him, the Yellow Duck had fallen asleep.

"Are you ok?" his mom asked, shaking him awake gently.

"Yes," he said. "I just wanted to see if my tree would grow."

The Yellow Duck's mother smiled. "It takes a little longer to grow trees than that," she said gently. "I'm sure in a few days, you'll see some results. Why don't we go home and have some supper?"

"Ok," the Yellow Duck agreed, allowing himself to be lead from his trees. When he returned a few days later, a small green leaf had sprouted.

"Look!" he cried, motioning to Toad and Ms. Fish. "My tree is growing!"

"Wow!" Toad cried. "I can't wait to eat apples!"

"I can't believe it's growing," Ms. Fish said, forgetting to be sarcastic.

The Yellow Duck grinned and posed, placing his rock on a leg. "Just call me Duckie Appleseed," he grinned.