The Adventure of Wallie the Watermelon (a childrens story) By Amanda Mastrangelo

Wallie, the watermelon, is on the ground. He has been there since he was a little seed. Wallie is shy, so he is hiding his face.

The workers on the farm bring the truck and trailer into the field to pick watermelons. They load the watermelons onto the trailer. Wallie is on the trailer. The truck will take Wallie and the other watermelons back to the packing plant.

The watermelons are loaded onto a conveyer belt. The belt rolls the watermelons past the workers. The workers pack the watermelons into the bins, depending on their size. Wallie is a medium sized watermelon. Can you see Wallie?

Once the watermelons are put in their bins, they are stored in a big warehouse. The little yellow machine is a fork lift. This machine can lift the big, heavy bins of watermelons.

Wallie and the other watermelon bins go onto the big trailer. This trailer will be pulled by a big transport truck all the way to The Toronto Wholesale Produce Food Terminal in Toronto, Ontario.

Wallie is in the bin on the trailer. The trailer is being pulled by the transport truck. Wallie looks around and is very happy to see all his friends with him in the bin.

The Toronto Wholesale Produce Food Terminal is where all the fruits and vegetables go to be bought. Some of the fruits and vegetables are from Canada, and others are from all over the world. TCM Produce buys fruits and vegetables from the Toronto Wholesale Produce Food Terminal.

This TCM Produce truck went to the Toronto Wholesale Produce Food Terminal and brought back fruits and vegetables. TCM Produce will sell the fruits and vegetables to stores in Northern Ontario. The big box on the front of the trailer is called a reefer. The reefer is like an air conditioner for trailers. It keeps the fruits and vegetables cold.

Wallie is bored. It has been a long trip. He has traveled from the farm to the Toronto Wholesale Produce Food Terminal and now he is going to North Bay. To amuse himself, Wallie scares the other watermelons.

When the other watermelons tell Wallie not to do that again, he sheepishly grins at them.

The TCM Produce truck arrives in North Bay at the warehouse. It backs up to the loading dock.

This is Terry. Terry works at TCM Produce. He unloads the trailers when they come to the warehouse. Terry is opening the door where the truck is parked.

Terry is now opening the trailer door.

Wallie does not feel the truck moving any more. Wallie can see a little bit of light in his bin. Wallie peeks out to see what is happening.

Wallies bin is the last to come off the trailer. Wallie waves to Terry so Terry wont forget his bin.

The red machine that Terry is steering is called a power jack. The power jack lifts up heavy things, like bins of watermelons. The power jack will move the heavy things to where Terry steers it.

Wallie is going for a ride on the power jack. Wallie likes this ride!

Terry steers the power jack into the cooler. The cooler is kept cold by compressors. Compressors are like air conditioners too. They keep the fruits and vegetables cold. Wallie is going into the cooler.

Wallie waves to the other vegetables in the cooler. There is corn and strawberries, lettuce and broccoli.

This is Shelley. She works for TCM Produce. Shelley is talking to a customer. That customer would like a bin of watermelon brought to their store.

Shelley uses her computer to make an invoice for the customer. The printer prints the invoice that will tell the customer how much they owe TCM Produce for the watermelon bin.

Another TCM Produce truck parks at the warehouse.

Terry uses the power jack again. This time he pulls Wallies bin out of the cooler.

Terry puts Wallie on the new truck. Wallie likes the ride again.

Wallie is taken to the store. Here he is placed in the back storage area with other bins.

Wallie peeks out of the top of the bin to see where he is.

A worker at the store come over to the bin. The worker is going to open the bin and look at the watermelons.

Wallie is startled when the worker opens the bin.

Wallie laughs at himself, for being startled.

Wallie looks around. He see lots of people picking up fruits and vegetables. They carry the watermelons or put them in their carts.

Wallie went home with a lady who had picked him up at the store. At first he was scared of the knife.

But then he thought he looked pretty good on the plate.

When Wallie saw how happy he made so many people, he thought the journey was well worth it.

Wallie realized that the children where saving his seeds. The seeds were saved in a container over the winter.

The next spring, Wallies seeds were planted into the earth.

Wallies seeds grow to be full sized watermelons. Wallie sees the farm workers coming towards him. He can hear the truck that pulls the trailer. Wallie cant believe he is going on the big trip again!!