I Found A Money Tree!

• Rose Wild, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2011

One day in 2017 I went down to the back of the orphanage’s garden, (yes I live in an orphanage, by the way I’m Jerry, I’m 14 and I’m a girl). I went down to water my flowers and I saw this funny looking small tree with the most extraordinary leaves! They looked like hundred dollar bills!!! I went closer and saw that it looked around a metre and a half tall and its bark was like a Chinese scrub bush. And I was right! It was a money tree covered in hundred dollar bills!

Immediately I started pulling off leaves and putting them in my pocket. I thought to myself well there’s the iPad7 and iPhone9 that I wanted! Then I thought I could use it to bribe people into doing things for me! I could have a carefree life all because I had found a money tree!

Well a week and a half later I was living life well! I had people doing my jobs around the orphanage, people doing my homework, an iPad7 and iPhone9! I was loving it! Also I was suddenly invited to everyone’s parties! It was great… until people started asking me for money!

Then some people said they were my parents and that upset me because my mum and dad were killed in a car accident. Then more and more people started asking for money. More and more people said they were my parents! And in the meanwhile my poor tree was providing leaf after leaf after leaf. And it started to look a little funny. But then something cool happened…

It turned out that my one of my friends had written to a news company and I got a call on my new iPhone9 from them asking if I would do a filmed interview with some reporter lady. So I said yes! Who would give up the opportunity to go on TV?!?!?!

Two days later this big van with ‘WIN NEWS’ on the side pulled up outside. I took a big breath and went outside. As I got outside a really pretty lady got out of the van and shook my hand warmly. You must be Jerry she said. ‘I’m so sorry but we really must be quick’. So I took them down to the tree who wasn’t looking its best. I quickly grabbed some notes that had fallen down hoping they hadn’t seen them. We did the news thing and they left. It was shown on TV that night…

The next day I got a call from the government saying ‘how had I done this, where did you get this tree, this is illegal forgery blah blah blah blah’. I just hung up on them. The police came, but a friend told them I was away for a week in Transylvania. The next day the tree died. The government called again but I said the tree has died and sent them a photo for proof…… But I kept a few notes………