Jeff The Talking Plant

• Isabella Wallis, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2019

For Edie, the best buddy ever.

All of LG11 was very excited for the holidays, and so was Jeff, the talking plant. Jeff had a spot on Tory’s desk where he could see all of the 1/2 community. He was looking at Edie, Winnie, Sophie, Emma, Audrey and Imogen as they were watching a movie. Jeff was watching too until the teacher clapped her hands. “Ohhhh, it’s time to pack up. This means almost holidays!” Jeff guessed. Everyone stood up, and soon all the students were running around bustling to make the community clean. Jeff could barely contain his excitement.

Once the community had not a pencil on the floor, not a stain on a table, and not a marker out of place, everyone went back to their class to listen to their teachers. Jeff listened closely as Tory said her ‘good afternoons’ to the class. The bell rang throughout the school and a cheer went up. All of the excited students ran out the door. Jeff patiently waited on the desk for the teachers to leave.
“Great term everyone,” Emily said.
“Yep, now we can rest,” Tim said walking out the door. Everyone laughed as Megan closed the door for the last time.

When everyone was out of sight, Jeff sprouted legs and jumped off Tory’s desk. “What should I do first?” he shouted with glee. He ran over to the beading area. He started to bead and create. He used big beads and small beads, shape beads and letter beads, wooden beads and plastic beads, solid beads and translucent beads, flat beads and round beads. He was deep into his work, until….

WOOPS!!

Beads tumbled, rolled and slid all over the floor. “Oh never mind,” Jeff shrugged, “I’ll go play at the doctor area”. He ran over and started to play, leaving the mess behind.

“Hello, how can I help you today?” he asked a toy doll with blond hair, a pink dress and a sprinkle of freckles on her face. “Oh no, you broke your leg!”

Doc Jeff sprang into action. He got all the bandages he could. He wrapped and wrapped and wrapped until the doll was in a much better condition. Jeff was very busy today. He had so many customers until…..

Woops!!

Jeff had made a mess. All of the dolls and medical supplies were strewn over the floor in a clutter.
“Oh well, I will play somewhere else,” he said, tapping his chin and thinking where to go next.

Jeff spotted the circus area. “Oh boy, that looks like fun!” he said dashing over. “Roll up! Roll up! Step right this way! Ladies and gents, you are about to see Jeff the world-famous ribbon dancer!!” Jeff changed from a ringmaster to a ribbon dancer. He took the stage. He was so graceful, so elegant! He finished with a flourish and his performing was so creative and amazing, that the crowd jumped to their feet, cheering and clapping in awe. For the rest of the show, Jeff was a fearless lion tamer, a high sky acrobat and a show hit clown. Until……

WOOPS!!

Jeff didn't put away the costumes once he was finished and clothes were strewn everywhere. Jeff was dismissive, “Never mind.

The school holidays went by in a flash and on the Monday morning, Tory, Megan, Tim and Emily came back to school to set up. But what they saw shocked them. Their mouths dropped open in horror, “Who did this?” Tory questioned. All the teachers shrugged.
“We have to clean this up!” Emily complained, starting to pack up the city. And before they knew it, an hour had passed and the 1/2 teachers had hardly made a dent.
“Oh no!” Tim said as some kids started to come through the door.
“What happened?” Edie asked as a whisper went up. “What happened?” The 1/2s bent down and started to clean.

That was when Edie spotted Jeff hiding. “Jeff, did you do this?” Edie asked picking him up.
“I just wanted to play,” Jeff whimpered.
“It’s ok to play but you have to pack up after,” Edie explained.
Jeff thought about how long the children had taken to clean up and he felt guilty. “Oh I'm sorry, you all spent so much time making the community clean and I made a mess. I'm sorry,” Jeff said looking at his feet.
“It's ok, we will help you make the community clean,” and together they did and from that day on Jeff always went to someone's house on holiday, and never made a mess again.