Eat Your Greens!

• Bailey Rickards, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2020

“No Mum! I hate them!”
Roared Benny as he started to viciously climb the stairs. The floorboards eerily creaked. The dark, gloomy house lit up as a flash of lightning struck nearby. Shivers were sent down his spine. Benny was a small boy that was a small, rude boy that was scared of everything and super spoilt. If Benny didn’t get his own way, the world would figuratively collapse. Benny hated pretty much everything. He hated cats, dogs, his parents, chocolate, people and sport. But there was one single thing that Benny hated more than anything else. Vegetables.

Every night Benny would receive piles on top of piles of vegetables on his plate that his mother would routinely serve to him. Nastily, he tosses the vegetables in the bin. He then continues on to devour the other semi - delicious food on his plate.
‘’Eat your greens Benny,” politely asks his mum. ‘’That’s how you grow big and strong.”
He would always selfishly reply with, “Nope! Desert please.”
Despite Bennys bad manners and horrible diet, she would always obey his orders and give him desert.
But this one night, right before Benny threw his entire dinner in the bin she announced, “From now on you have to eat all of your greens to be able to have dessert.”


“No!” wailed Benny. His eyes began to water. A storm began to brew inside of him.
“I hate vegetables! I want desert!” Roared Benny like a mighty lion.
His tiny stomach churned like a whirlpool. Two giant waterfalls suddenly began to drizzle down from his eyes. Benny stormed off to his bedroom and monstrously slammed the door shut behind him.

As the days of Benny not eating his vegetables grew into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, Benny’s health slowly deteriorated. His limbs suddenly appeared as twigs. Every day Benny would cripple up into a fragile ball in the corner of his bed crying in agony. He would immediately refuse any vegetables his mum tells him to eat. He grew so weak and timid that he was unable to get out of bed and continue his normal life.
“No veggies!!” He would chant every night as he drew vegetables on the wall then scribble them out with a crayon. His mental health grew so high that you couldn’t tell the difference between him and a mental asylum prisoner. One random day after Benny not eating vegetables for over two years, he suddenly collapsed while walking to the kitchen.
“Is he going to be alright?” Asked Bennys mother as he slowly zoned in and out of consciousness. Benny heard wheels clang on the smooth floor. The scent of disinfectant filled his nose. The soft cushiony padding supported Benny’s fragile body as he rolled across the floor. His vison slowly blurred and switched to empty darkness.

He suddenly awoke to an irritating, repetitive beep. Family members surrounded him like sea gulls.
“wh… what’s wr… wrong?” weakly stuttered Benny.
“Because you have refused to eat vegetables for two years, you collapsed and slipped into a coma.” Replied Doctor Julia.
“A-a- am I going to be o-o okay?” curiously stuttered Benny.
Everyone immediately broke into tears.
“I am sorry to break it to you son, but, you aren’t going to make it”, courageously replied Doctor Julia.
Benny attempted to cry but he didn’t have enough energy.


“You will get one last meal before you pass”, Doctor Julia explained.
“It’s your mother’s choice”, she added.
Doctor Julia handed Benny a plate with a pile of vegetables. But instead of throwing the dish into the trash, he wondered to himself, What if I try it?
He gulped and with all of his energy, Benny slowly lifted a spoonful of vegetables into his mouth and began to chew.
Against all odds Benny moaned, “Delicious!”
Suddenly the constant “Beep! Beep!” unravelled into a loud long “beeeeeeeep!”
Those were his last words.